The Tropical Fruit Forum
Citrus => Citrus General Discussion => Topic started by: Enigmius on February 08, 2023, 09:11:36 AM
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I want to try an airpot(the plastic ones with the cone shaped holes on the sides.
I looked through the files and read some of the complaints about these, mainly how quickly they dry out.
So my question is, should citrus then be planted in these pots with regular soil as opposed to the normal 5-1-1 mix, to hold on to moisture longer?
I also saw a youtube video where a man puts a wicking fabric through the bottom of these pots and looped it like a horse shoe on the inside. He says that in the summer he places the airpots on a tray filled with just enough water so that the bottom of the air pot is not actually touching the water, but the wick is still able to draw up moisture on those really hot days. Do you think that would help?
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The drying is going to vary seasonally, winter / summer and also as the plant grows and extracts more water.
No mix is 100% perfect for all these stages, but many are wrong for all.
If Soil is more water holding it may work well for a small plant in mild weather, but fail when more water is needed in hot weather and also hold too much water in winter in cool dull weather.
The 5 1 1 type mixes can be better managed for water holding vs drainage.
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I think the issue is more that irrigation water flows out of the side rather than draining deep into the container, rather than simply overall drying rate. If you have a giant bucket where you can fully immerse the air-pot plants once in a while that should solve it.
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I think the issue is more that irrigation water flows out of the side rather than draining deep into the container, rather than simply overall drying rate. If you have a giant bucket where you can fully immerse the air-pot plants once in a while that should solve it.
I was thinking of this too actually, especially for the use of fertilizer.
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The drying is going to vary seasonally, winter / summer and also as the plant grows and extracts more water.
No mix is 100% perfect for all these stages, but many are wrong for all.
If Soil is more water holding it may work well for a small plant in mild weather, but fail when more water is needed in hot weather and also hold too much water in winter in cool dull weather.
The 5 1 1 type mixes can be better managed for water holding vs drainage.
That is probably true. I made the rookie mistake a while back of only using the MG Cactus/citrus/palm soil mix in a regular pot. It did great in the summer, but it killed my Ichang lemon in the winter. Plus the pot was too deep, which added to the problem. It felt dry an inch down, but a few more inches down it was still wet. I think it compacted down too tightly and held onto water more than I expected. I have since moved on to 5-1-1 in regular pots, but I still think that would be too much drainage in an air-pot.