experimental/diy airpots

germanico

germanico

Hey folks,
 
Airpots ( aka root trainers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_trainer ) seem to become a big thing for pepper growers in germany atm. Since I wanted to give it a try, too, I started some "upcycling", building up some airpot-like "pots" from old stuff/trash, just to see, if it'll work this way.
 
does anyone here has experience in root-trainer systems? what type do you favour and why?
 

here, I built three "pots" with each about 90 liters with open walls for my rocoto plants.
gro.jpg

 
 
 
these are the current 4 liter "pots" for my younger wild varities (+one rocoto), made out of jute sacks and wire.
klein.jpg

 
 
sorry for the bad image quality, but my smartphone-cam isn't that good. :-)
 
germanico said:
does anyone here has experience in root-trainer systems? what type do you favour and why?
Click to expand...
 
I favor "Tender Crop" model Air-Pot. The link I gave you is their home distribution site in UK. I went through a list of about a dozen manufacturers before I settled on these. I live in the US and Smart Pots (fabric bags) happen to be manufactured just a few miles away in my home state, I like to buy local when I can. Unfortunately I couldn't get them to answer me what materials they were made out of. This was the case with all of the other manufacturers I contacted as well.
 
Whether you grow organic or not, if you are growing in containers, you should be concerned about what is leaching into your soil from the container baking in the hot sun and constantly being watered. Air-Pots are made out HDPE recycled milk jug plastic which is considered to be the safest type (BPA free as well) and non-leaching.
 
I've had good success growing with these. I overwintered a couple of Annuums in them from last season, this season I've got Annuum, Baccatum, and Chinense growing in 6 of them and they are definitely trouncing the same species I have growing in regular containers.
 
I'm using the 10 litre which if memory serves equates to 3.8 gallon, the research I did indicated that these would produce results on par with a 5 gallon regular container. I've got massive pods producing in these.
 
The only fabric material I would consider safe to use would be jute. I've seen a couple of sites that sell these but they are pricey. Also, they do break down, so from an economical standpoint, I think the Air-Pots are superior tech. It looks like you already got a line on the jute bags, hopefully you got them for cheaper than what I could find around here. I think you'll have a good grow with those.
 
The jute-pots were DIY-pots made out of old potatoe-bags. in germany, 25 and 50kilo-bags of potatoes usually come in jute - so it's actually free, if you eat potatoes sometimes. maybe there's some coffee roaster in your area - they often work with jute, too. ;-)
I stabilized them using simple wire - so it's pretty much low-budget + low-waste.


The only fabric material I would consider safe to use would be jute. I've seen a couple of sites that sell these but they are pricey. Also, they do break down, so from an economical standpoint, I think the Air-Pots are superior tech. It looks like you already got a line on the jute bags, hopefully you got them for cheaper than what I could find around here. I think you'll have a good grow with those.
 
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