Selecting A Pot or Container
There are 3 widely used options for pots for growing cannabis in. The old standby plastic Nursery Pot, the Fabric Pot, and the Air-Pot® or similar.
The Nursery Pot is widely available and comes in a wide range of sizes. They generally are made of ABS plastic, have a few drain holes on the bottom, are easy to clean and are by far the most affordable option. Probably the biggest issue with nursery pots is that roots tend to grow toward and focus on the base and side walls of the pot causing the roots to elongate and circle around the bottom of pot. This circling creates a couple issues. First, circling roots don’t fork as much because they are not being air pruned. Air pruning is when a root tip meet the interface between the open air and soil. The root dries out and prunes it self and this encourages the root to send new fibrous feeder roots off laterally in other directions to seek water and nutrients. Second, when the roots are concentrated along the base and side of a pot they are susceptible to drying out more quickly than if the roots were distributed more evenly throughout the medium or soil. Third, when you go to transplant, circling roots are slower to colonize the new medium and larger pot, adding some days onto your veg cycle.
The Fabric Pot, like the Nursery Pot, is also extremely popular and widely available and comes in a range of sizes. The fabric pots tend to be a little bit wider, perhaps in order to be more stable without a rigid bottom. They come in mostly Black and Tan but there are many fabric pot makers out there with a variety of fabric types and colors.
Manufacturers like Smart Pot®, GeoPot® and Grass Roots® come to top of mind for good quality at a modest price. Rain Science™ for a good quality alternative to try, with the fabric being a tightly woven plastic mesh rather than felt. For custom designed & colorful high quality check out Honor the Plant™ Grow Bags.
Fabric Pots have some important benefits over Nursery Pots, with the most noteworthy of them being the air pruning of roots that was mentioned earlier. The fabric is a thick horticultural grade felt that keeps soil in but allows air, water and roots to migrate through easily. And when the root tips grow through the fabric layer they are air pruned and the lateral forking creates a much denser root ball as a result. Dense root balls are more drought resistant as the plants draw more evenly from all the medium in the pot. This also maximizes the value you are getting from your medium and nutrients as well. Fabric also breathes and drains well, keeping the root zone cooler, oxygenated and less soggy than plastic pots. A couple things to mention on Fabric pots. First they are a bit difficult to transplant out of and requires considerable care when doing so. Some manufacturers add a velcro strip to open up the side wall on smaller sizes but it is still a bit more cumbersome of a process than rigid pots. Second is that they are a little more money than nursery pots and have a relatively short life span (2-5 years depending on use and care). While you can clean fabric pots to some degree, it is a losing battle over time and nutrient build up and grime can accumulate on even the tidiest of grower’s fabric pots.
Finally the Air-Pot®. Air-Pot® is a Scotland based company founded by the Jamie and Susie Single in 1990. This pot is the most high performance pot on the market I am aware of. The pot is made up of a specially designed side wall that wraps around a plastic base and is secured to itself with 2 fixings into the side wall holes. It’s difficult to describe the molded design of the side wall but it has like a deep waffle design that guides the roots to small holes on the side wall where they are air pruned just like the fabric pots. The base gives shape & structure to the side wall and acts a screen to keep the medium in and lets air, water and roots through easily. The base also sits at least an inch or so off the bottom so there is no potential for roots sitting in a puddle. These pots make some of the densest root balls I have seen and they make the absolute most out of your soil. With a bit of care every square centimeter of soil will be occupied with dense roots fibers. When it comes to transplanting, Air-Pots® are easy to remove without damaging roots and the rootballs they produce don’t skip a beat when colonizing new medium. The ABS Plastic components they’re made of is great quality and are designed to last for years. The only real downside to these is the set-up, break-down and cleaning of them. It takes some time and effort for sure but it’s worth it over the long run. And pro tip if you soak them fully submerged in a tub of water overnight it will make the work load much lighter:). The price of these may scare away some but the ROI on them is excellent.
