Tropical Fruit > Tropical Fruit Discussion
optimal pot riddle
Epiphyte:
here's a riddle of sorts...
1. all the water bottle pots i make for my seedlings are semi-hydro...
it's a recent pic of a germinating seed from a store bought durian. the plastic bottle has drainage holes an inch or two from the bottom.
2. virtually none of the plants i've bought come in semi-hydro pots.
3 i've never made or bought semi-hydro pots for any of my larger plants...
on the left is a myrica californica that i recently approach grafted a starter myrica cerifera onto. on the right is the same thing, but they are in the same pot, unlike the other two, which are in different pots.
none of the pots are semi-hydro.
can you solve the riddle?
i just posted lots of relevant pics and info on my blog. sorry, i had initially planned on transferring all of it over here, but then i kept adding to it. seems like nearly everyone uses the postimg website to share pics here?
if there are any pics in my blog entry you'd like to discuss feel free to hotlink them in this thread.
Vegan Potato Man:
Not sure what the riddle is supposed to be, but in the cannabis world they call passive hydro like you described hempy pots or buckets.
Anyway I'd be concerned about growing tree seedlings in them since the bottom reservoir can become anaerobic pretty quick, especially if watering is infrequent.
I do grow my cannabis plants in them though with leca and rice hulls tho
Epiphyte:
--- Quote from: Vegan Potato Man on February 06, 2023, 10:02:13 PM ---Not sure what the riddle is supposed to be, but in the cannabis world they call passive hydro like you described hempy pots or buckets.
--- End quote ---
the riddle is whether it's possible for semi-hydro to be superior for smaller plants but inferior for larger plants.
thanks for telling me about hempy pots, but they seem a bit different than my pots...
the medium goes all the way down below the drainage holes to the bottom of the pot. perhaps the closest that i've gotten to hempy pots was putting leca balls on the bottom of the pot up to the drainage holes and then putting the regular medium the rest of the way.
a friend of mine sometimes puts plastic pots in ceramic pots, which occasionally do not have drainage holes. when she lifts a plastic pot out of a ceramic pot with no drainage, sometimes there will be quite a few long roots dangling from the plastic pot. the roots had been happily growing in the water reservoir between the two pots.
--- Quote from: Vegan Potato Man on February 06, 2023, 10:02:13 PM ---Anyway I'd be concerned about growing tree seedlings in them since the bottom reservoir can become anaerobic pretty quick, especially if watering is infrequent.
--- End quote ---
this didn't quite make sense before i googled for hempy pots, but now i know what you mean. this isn't an issue with my semi-hydro pots since the medium goes all the way down to the bottom of the pot. even though the reservoir is filled with medium it can hold enough water to make a difference when watering is infrequent, at least in theory.
--- Quote from: Vegan Potato Man on February 06, 2023, 10:02:13 PM ---I do grow my cannabis plants in them though with leca and rice hulls tho
--- End quote ---
i've never tried using rice hulls. i think that i 1st heard of them while watching a houseplant guy in indonesia. where do you get them from?
Seanny:
Search for ‘stall rice hull bedding’
Rice hull has 18% amorphous silica by weight.
I use it as a long term silica source for potted plants.
I now switch to diatomaceous earth as a source of silica.
It’s cheaper and more compact.
Vegan Potato Man:
--- Quote from: Seanny on February 07, 2023, 05:24:23 PM ---Search for ‘stall rice hull bedding’
Rice hull has 18% amorphous silica by weight.
I use it as a long term silica source for potted plants.
I now switch to diatomaceous earth as a source of silica.
It’s cheaper and more compact.
--- End quote ---
Thanks, didnt realize that DE was good for silica! I'm thinking it might wash out pretty easily in my LECA though. Silica is why I started using the rice hulls. I was using potassium silicate but it doesn't keep here with the humidity. Mine ended up turning into a brick, and now its a rubbery brick after I tried drying it out.
--- Quote from: Epiphyte on February 07, 2023, 03:54:50 PM ---
--- Quote from: Vegan Potato Man on February 06, 2023, 10:02:13 PM ---Not sure what the riddle is supposed to be, but in the cannabis world they call passive hydro like you described hempy pots or buckets.
--- End quote ---
the riddle is whether it's possible for semi-hydro to be superior for smaller plants but inferior for larger plants.
thanks for telling me about hempy pots, but they seem a bit different than my pots...
the medium goes all the way down below the drainage holes to the bottom of the pot. perhaps the closest that i've gotten to hempy pots was putting leca balls on the bottom of the pot up to the drainage holes and then putting the regular medium the rest of the way.
a friend of mine sometimes puts plastic pots in ceramic pots, which occasionally do not have drainage holes. when she lifts a plastic pot out of a ceramic pot with no drainage, sometimes there will be quite a few long roots dangling from the plastic pot. the roots had been happily growing in the water reservoir between the two pots.
--- Quote from: Vegan Potato Man on February 06, 2023, 10:02:13 PM ---Anyway I'd be concerned about growing tree seedlings in them since the bottom reservoir can become anaerobic pretty quick, especially if watering is infrequent.
--- End quote ---
this didn't quite make sense before i googled for hempy pots, but now i know what you mean. this isn't an issue with my semi-hydro pots since the medium goes all the way down to the bottom of the pot. even though the reservoir is filled with medium it can hold enough water to make a difference when watering is infrequent, at least in theory.
--- Quote from: Vegan Potato Man on February 06, 2023, 10:02:13 PM ---I do grow my cannabis plants in them though with leca and rice hulls tho
--- End quote ---
i've never tried using rice hulls. i think that i 1st heard of them while watching a houseplant guy in indonesia. where do you get them from?
--- End quote ---
I ordered the rice hulls off amazon, for a couple bucks a pound. They're good for insulation too.
Also, hempy mostly just refers to the closed bottom vessel with drainage about 1-2 inches up to create a reservoir. The purpose of the LECA is to promote drainage and attempt to prevent anaerobic breakdown of your growing media. Personally I would be much more concerned having an organic based media sitting in the reservoir. I switched to ~80% LECA and 20% rice hulls because of this. It was pretty difficult to get a decent distribution with the rice hulls due to the difference in particle size though.
Also the way your friend grows with a lower reservoir and the roots growing down into it sounds a lot like Kratky, another form of passive hydro. The roots in the reservoir will wick up to the plant. Even with kratky it is important to change your nutrient solution/ reservoir periodically. As the plant takes up water it can raise the EC of the remaining solution. Personally I would say that passive hydro, at least hempy and kratky, are better suited for shorter duration plants and not (most) trees.
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