airpots

[Newton]

What about potting on? It seems that once in the pot it will be difficult to remove??

[dave_norm_smith]

Watch the video. Its as easy as pie!

[Hillwalker]

I'd seen these several months ago, but thought they were only for hydroponic use. Thanks for re-awakening my interest. If they work as claimed I can certainly see the benefit of them, particularly for initial root establishment and for final planting for longer-lived plants. As for tomatoes and other annuals, I'm not sure whether the cost of the pots would outweigh the benefit. Planting tomatoes, for example, in anything less than a 10 litre pot is making things difficult. Even with the Air-Pot system you'd still have to water more frequently*; if you grow tomatoes outside, smaller containers will blow over; you don't save space, as the tomato plant spread, not the pot will govern the minimum spacing. I tend to grow my tomatoes in 10 - 15 litre containers, which gives the plant plenty of root room and they are far cheaper.

*In fact, when using Air-pots there is a claimed 15% increase in watering and nutrient demands because of the increased root system. Which is a good thing, but will require a larger container if you're not able to water frequently.

I'll be ordering a few to give them a go for other uses though, as I do like the idea.