yeah...smartpots turn the root inward to produce a fuller root ball..any roots that do grow through the fabric are of corse air pruned...the air pots...more expensive but supposed to be great...do self prune the roots.....you assemble yourself but what i have seen is 1 transplant once from clone into final air pot..the air pots have pretty big holes so many people are using silicone to plug the top 2 rows of holes as nutes were just runnin' out the holes during watering.....not a big deal for a couple plants but if ya got a bunch and hand water it saves big time..if you find air pots this side of the pond let me know
Hi Deacon, I did a lot of research on this last week in preparation for my next grow. I decided to go with air pots vs root trappers due to size and humidity issues. I bought RootMaker airpots directly from RootMaker (based out of Alabama). I also found the same products at Better Grow Hydro, but bought directly from the manufacturer because of the quantity I bought. I grabbed a bunch of 1g squares and some of those 18 cell "express" trays for starting my clones.
ive decided to just try out the smart pots for flower bc who cares about roots when the plant is getting chopped.as for veg the black plastic 1 gal pots are super easy to transplant from and no roots get disturbed.
I've been using smartports for several months now, I like them. The bad thing is they go through a lot of water, but they are a pleasure to work with. I have over a dozen in #3 smartpots right now. I run them through the washing machine after harvest, they clean up nice and store easily until ready to use again.
I use Growpots, which are sold by HTG for a decent price. They are basically some type of fliece with handles which have helped when it comes to moving. I have noticed that they go through water VERY fast. I have to water 3 gallon pots with 1.5 liters of water per day. I have also noticed that the roots will pop out of the fabric, turn a yellowish color and fall off. I presume that is air prunning. Atleast that what it looks like. All plants I have grown in these pots have exceeded my expectations by far. I would suggest them to anyone that wants to grow esp a newbie, (so they won't have to worry about over watering.) As mentioned about, I just throw them in the washing machine (don't throw them in the dryer) let them air dry and they are ready to be used again. They are not expensive really. 3 bucks a piece if you buy ten. Products I did notice the same type of fabric when I was dragged (kicking and screaming) into jo ann's fabric. I think I will go back there and grab some so I can make my own 5 gallon pots Hopes this helps anyone that may be interested in them, this is what I noticed about them. The plant I had in a plastic pot was overwatered with ease compared to the ones in these grow pots ( Which I have only managed to underwater once when I waited two days, lucky for me that it took about 20 minutes after watering and the leaves to popped right back up, and looked nice and healthy again.)