Author Topic: Air pruning pots--opinions?  (Read 15141 times)

Tropicaliste

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #25 on: August 13, 2014, 06:33:09 PM »
No, Microkote isn't the cheapest. I did the math though. The 8 ounce including the shipping was about $25. My local source for super roots pots charges about 5 or 6 $ for 1 1gal pot. The 8 ounces has so far coated 3 2gal, about 5 1gal, about 8 1/2gal, and some small green pots, and still enough to coat more left. Not to mention, the problems listed on the above Cons. Find a friend and split the 32 ounce ... :)

bangkok

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #26 on: August 13, 2014, 08:33:47 PM »
Yeah, MicroKote is a a little pricey.  Pots look good though!  I've always used Griffin's Spin-Out and when I run out, I'll make my own.

Good luck

Mark it was 100 gram copper in 1 litre latex right? I forgot to bookmark your recipe.

I have 2 litre indoor latex now, the basic one, not the washable version and i hope it's enough for about 20 huge pots.

Mark in Texas

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #27 on: August 14, 2014, 07:27:16 AM »
Mark it was 100 gram copper in 1 litre latex right? I forgot to bookmark your recipe.

Try returning to the previous page LOL.  :) 

bangkok

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #28 on: August 14, 2014, 11:45:05 AM »
Mark it was 100 gram copper in 1 litre latex right? I forgot to bookmark your recipe.

Try returning to the previous page LOL.  :)

Turmeric helps against alzheimer, that's why in India nobody has that disease. ;D

If i remember correctly it was 10% copper of the total weight, so that's what i will try.

Mark in Texas

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #29 on: August 14, 2014, 03:27:02 PM »

Turmeric helps against alzheimer, that's why in India nobody has that disease. ;D

My name is Mark.  Glad to meet you.

bangkok

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #30 on: August 21, 2014, 07:51:20 PM »
If one grows a seedling tree in a rootpruning or micro-cote treated pot  then the rootsystem will be pruned all the time and give a dense small rootball. But what happens if that tree will be planted in full soil? Can a tree with such a rootsystem be planted on top of a drain in full soil?

I would think thats no problem because better have 1000 small roots around the drainpipe instead of a huge fat one who can lift or break the pipe. . ?


SeaWalnut

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #31 on: April 27, 2019, 06:10:13 PM »
The price of airpots its the biggest dissadvantage and its true that they loose soil from the top and needs added periodically.I found a way to build my own airpots from polypropilene plastic sheets used for construction( concrete casting) and they are put together with pop rivets.The first 12 centimeters on the top of the pot has no holes because it will leak the water out immediatly as you pour it.These are my pecan seedlings in my homemade airpots.

tve

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #32 on: April 27, 2019, 11:57:51 PM »
interesting! How tall are these pots?

SeaWalnut

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #33 on: April 28, 2019, 12:17:48 AM »
70 cm or so tall ( 2 feet) .

tve

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #34 on: May 13, 2019, 01:46:17 AM »
I found a way to build my own airpots from polypropilene plastic sheets used for construction( concrete casting) and they are put together with pop rivets.
What type of product did you use? I looked at concrete forms and couldn't find anything similar. What is the original use of the PP sheet?

SeaWalnut

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #35 on: May 13, 2019, 04:12:01 AM »
In english its called dimpled membrane and its made of HDPE not PP .Its used for drainage over basement or building foundations.Every home depot like shop here has it for sale.It doesnt have holes but i made them easy by adding manny layers and drill through all of them at once. https://kent.ca/65-6-x-6-chocolate-brown-dimpled-membrane1021758#

tve

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #36 on: May 13, 2019, 12:37:26 PM »
Interesting, I'll have to see whether I can get that here. Looks like the type of product that US construction might discover in the next century...  :o

Update: I looked into the specs of two manufacturers and I didn't see anything about UV resistance, which makes sense given that these membranes are designed to be installed underground. I'm not a plastic expert, but as far as I know, UV resistance doesn't come for free, it requires relatively expensive additives. Plastic without such additives breaks down after 6-9 months in the California sun. Unless I'm missing something, that kills this idea for me  :'(.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2019, 12:51:46 PM by tve »

SeaWalnut

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #37 on: May 13, 2019, 01:57:36 PM »
Interesting, I'll have to see whether I can get that here. Looks like the type of product that US construction might discover in the next century...  :o

Update: I looked into the specs of two manufacturers and I didn't see anything about UV resistance, which makes sense given that these membranes are designed to be installed underground. I'm not a plastic expert, but as far as I know, UV resistance doesn't come for free, it requires relatively expensive additives. Plastic without such additives breaks down after 6-9 months in the California sun. Unless I'm missing something, that kills this idea for me  :'(.
i keep them outdoor and in full sun .The plastic its verry thin but on the most exposed parts looks like new,didnt discolored or lost flexibility.Only a single pot has a dimple that cracked and i toght its because of UV radiation but its not because its almost in the shade.If kept in a greenhouse then the UV its filtered or best would be to keep them in the shade .They are made for constructions and are a tough material.

tve

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #38 on: May 13, 2019, 02:54:33 PM »
Interesting, I'll have to see whether I can get that here. Looks like the type of product that US construction might discover in the next century...  :o

Update: I looked into the specs of two manufacturers and I didn't see anything about UV resistance, which makes sense given that these membranes are designed to be installed underground. I'm not a plastic expert, but as far as I know, UV resistance doesn't come for free, it requires relatively expensive additives. Plastic without such additives breaks down after 6-9 months in the California sun. Unless I'm missing something, that kills this idea for me  :'(.
i keep them outdoor and in full sun .The plastic its verry thin but on the most exposed parts looks like new,didnt discolored or lost flexibility.Only a single pot has a dimple that cracked and i toght its because of UV radiation but its not because its almost in the shade.If kept in a greenhouse then the UV its filtered or best would be to keep them in the shade .They are made for constructions and are a tough material.
Interesting. For how long have you had this stuff outside in the sun?

SeaWalnut

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #39 on: May 13, 2019, 07:52:22 PM »
Almost 2 years.Ive read that somme are UV resistant,otthers are not( one manufacturer said not to expose it in full sun for more than 6 weeks).If you keep them in the shade as it should be ,because weeds like to grow from each hole of the pots ,its should be ok and last a long time. My pots got strong sun and the most exposed part look like new( its flexible) and right next to them i have my deep well wich had a plastic rope that has attached the submersible pump and i replaced manny ropes over the years because they got damage from UV.This year i installed a galvanised steel rope with plastic coating and i welded a metalic suport so that the full length of the rope stays inside the well in the shade.

tve

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #40 on: May 13, 2019, 09:57:59 PM »
Well, so far the ones I've looked at state "do not expose to sunlight for more than X months" where X is pretty small. :-(
Did you get the Dörken Delta MS by any chance?

SeaWalnut

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #41 on: May 13, 2019, 11:40:31 PM »
Isostud its the brand i use.The cost its 25 dollars per 20 X 1m.

tve

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #42 on: May 14, 2019, 12:20:40 AM »
Interesting: "Powerdrain Isostud must be backfilled within 15 days of installation to protect the membrane from prolonged exposure to UV rays."
At that price it's worth experimenting, though!

SeaWalnut

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #43 on: May 14, 2019, 07:28:11 AM »
Interesting: "Powerdrain Isostud must be backfilled within 15 days of installation to protect the membrane from prolonged exposure to UV rays."
At that price it's worth experimenting, though!
Today i looked at them to take a picture for forrum ,and after i pulled the most exposed part ,it cracked a little on top only.Its not UV resistant but its a cheap material and its resistant over time if kept in the shadow.My pots are better than the airpots for sale, for a narrow and tall volume because you can see in the pictures they dont have holes in the upper part so that the water doesnt leak out of the pot too fast.But it was a bad idea after a closer look at the trees ,most of them are dead ,probably because i didnt watered them for half a year and pecans like wet soil.Bad news to find out that my seedlings of wild and northern pecans died.I scratched the bark on every tree and 14 are still green but they didnt leafed out as they should by now.Maybe inside a greenhouse these air pots work but not outside and not with pecans.

tve

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #44 on: May 14, 2019, 12:20:19 PM »
Boooo  :'(, thanks for posting the update! I just ordered two Air Pots, and 7 Ultra Oxy Pots. I'm trying to get 10 pots from Litgrow, which would be the cheapest source. I'll run my own (no scientific) experiment to see whether I like this type of pot. I don't quite understand the huge price difference when compared to normal pots...

Seanny

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #45 on: May 14, 2019, 04:28:12 PM »
Air-pot don't have holes in the top 2". Thick UV resistant plastic.
The best I have.

spaugh

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #46 on: May 14, 2019, 06:55:39 PM »
Seems like it would be difficult to get plants out of an air pot with all the bumps and verticle walls.  You take a tree in a regular pot and turn it over and tap the pot and it slips right off.  I like to turn my plants over and slip the pot off sometimes to look at the root system and see if its time to up pot or plant out. 
Brad Spaugh

SeaWalnut

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #47 on: May 14, 2019, 07:36:23 PM »
Only 2 inch without holes on the upper part its too little for such long and narrow pots like mein are.Also my pots are also verry resistant,one single pot weights 15-16 kilos.
For planting to the ground i will open the pot by cutting it. The idea its to have a strong and long tap root for pecans that will go deep when transplanted to the soil ,where its always wet.Air prunning roots for pecans its an idea older than the modern airpots with hooles to the sides and such pecan pots only used to have no base where the tap root got air prunned(no holes to the sides).
Ive used sewage pipes as airpots,they are shown in the pics in the end of the pecan collection.
For me it was a bad idea because i couldnt water in the winter,they got dry and most of them died.I hope i can salvage a few that if they do survive,should be really drought tolerant and even cold hardy as they got minus 15C(0 F) and frozen solid.

tve

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #48 on: May 15, 2019, 01:14:58 AM »
Seems like it would be difficult to get plants out of an air pot with all the bumps and verticle walls.  You take a tree in a regular pot and turn it over and tap the pot and it slips right off.  I like to turn my plants over and slip the pot off sometimes to look at the root system and see if its time to up pot or plant out. 
Don't you just remove the "button" that holds the air pot together and then unwrap the sidewall?

SeaWalnut

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Re: Air pruning pots--opinions?
« Reply #49 on: May 15, 2019, 04:40:06 AM »
The tap root of a pecan seedling from an air pot.It did the job but it also killed most if not all of my pecans.