Cloth vs Hard Pots and Watering

[Organic357]

I have used cloth pots for a number of years now and been satisfied with them. I know another very successful grower who has been growing for about 40 years and uses hard pots in a 'dish' of water letting the roots grow out of the 4 holes in the bottom of the pot. He describes it as top feeding and bottom watering. I have seen his grow and wondered how those four root 'shoots' provide his plants with the optimal amount of water they may need. He also gives his plants compost tea. I have tried his cured harvest and it is definitely potent. I was wondering if anyone had switched from cloth pots to hard pots and if so what their experience was. Also, I was wondering if anyone has used the technique of letting roots grow out of the four holes in the bottom of a hard pot and their experience doing that. I will be growing in a living soil so I will just water my plants and probably give them compost tea on a yet to be determined schedule.

[Lucky13]

I use both actually. I have a few packs of 5gal cloth pots, and a variety of smaller plastic pots. I use some for seedlings, and some of the "larger" ones for autos. This is mostly due to space concerns though, and Im sure any size plastic pot is just fine. I'll include a pic for ya. I love my plastic pot for the bottom watering! It really helps even out your root structure! I used to water and feed directly near the stem, and it would always produce a plant, but not a healthy root system. Now when I water, I water around the edges of my fabric pots, and fill up the bottom of my water tray, while feeding the top a bit. I keep some rocks in the bottom of my tray to help with humidity. (the rocks create more surface area for the water to evaporate quicker) I did not actually know about letting the roots grow out the bottom, though that typically happens in my fabric pots, I just dont have a tray of water there to keep them alive.. huh.. I have a pic of my favorite plastic pot with a fully flowered sativa, and the cleaned out pot afterwards... its so easy to clean them.. The root system thats covered in dirt is from the sativa, but it also had bud rot, so they dont look very good, but they did extend all they way to the bottom of the plastic pot... the other pic is from a healthy root system on an indica that I grew in a fabric pot. This is a result of watering around the edges, and using the bottom water technique.

I believe the reason most use fabric pots is because your soil gets access to more oxygen this way. Additionally, using cold water instead of room temp also adds a small influx of oxygen into your soil. This helps with the microbiome inside your soil, and works to release nutrients your plant can use. At the end of the day, they both hold soil, and can grow a plant, and while I still like to use my water tray, I think fabric pots are the way to go. I just get better results using them I think.
Good luck!

[Rwise]

I went to fabric pots and I like them, when I dig up a plants root system it is not root bound as when I used plastic, the root system goes to near the bottom and sides and as the soil edge/bottom drys the roots self prune. Drill the plastic pot full of holes and it will breath as well,,,

[Organic357]

Thank you Lucky13 for your comprehensive answer. I think I will try your technique with the cloth pots maybe with one layer of the hydroton clay pellets as they can be sterilized and reused. I also may add a layer to the top of the pot as it is suppose to help as well. The one thing I hated was when a soil mix had a lot of perlite by the end of my grow a lot of the perlite had migrated to the top of my soil.

Also thank you Rwise for your input. Since my life is really busy right now I am going to stick with what I know, cloth pots.

Funny but I think I almost enjoy growing and talking to growers more than consuming my harvest.