I am a big fan of grow bags since they air prune. This prevents root binding and root circling. This prevents the need for as frequent up potting.
They are definitely more prone to drying and a bit hard to move. Compared to a standard hard plastic pot.
Many of the new grow bags come with a shower cap type vinyl cover for the soil surface, with a hole in the middle for the plant. Cardboard and straw are what I like to use to act as a moisture barrier. I have found dragging them with a small 4x6 tarp folded in half seems to work pretty well. If there is an obstacle, 2 people can get on the corners and manage it pretty well. They lift pretty well this way. Letting dry back a few days is also very helpful as @Buckeye suggested.
For up potting I just get the next size up, or skip one size. Then fill the new pot up 3/4 the way full. Next I set the old pot, tree and all, onto the soil atop the new pot. Then I take a box cutter and place a few slits into the bottom plane of the old pot, as I gently lean it back to expose the bottom plane. So itās the old pot slightly countersank into the new pot. Then I top the sides till the new pot is full. Like stacking a 2 tier wedding cake.
Then if you had to move a tree in for the winter just rock the top pot untill it pulls back. Slice off the extra roots, and tuck the whole old pot (cut bottom) into a new grow bag that is the same size as the old grow bag. Clean for spring.
Here is an annual plant I harvested and did this up pot method to. This was after I pulled it out of the second pot. Notice how small and fluffy the roots are. No binding or circling.
VERY INTERESTING!!! Makes no sense to me, and CERTAINLY isnāt my experience, but I trust the people whose posts you showed, and Iām far from an expert. So who knows. I can only say that here in my area with my climate, soils, etc., there is no comparison between potted and in groundā¦not even close. In ground get 3 times larger (I said double earlier but as I think about it, that was an understatement) and produce 3 times more. But these people as well as Dennis who offered another explanation, could be right in their situation. Thanks for the education!
@thecityman, it never would have occurred to me either. I trust the reported observations of others, and when I read repeatedly that yields were so strong I began to consider the additional benefits to keeping my many fig trees potted instead of growing in-ground.
I have a lot of my figs growing in those root pruning air pots. I just use the cheaper ones from HTG supply. If you could source sheets of that plastic material you could make a bunch at whatever size you wantā¦youād just need to drill a lot of holes out. I think HTG uses a hot nail-like probe that just melts a hole through one side. Iāve used the grow bags and they definitely become unsightly after a couple of years and Iāve even had the roots growing through the bottom. Those air pots can be reused many times and itās easy to upsize.
Hereās a chicago hardy, some butternut, and pawpaws from last year and what the fig root mass looked like before I upsized.
I agree, in the ground will give you bigger plants and higher yields. The roots can go down many feet vs just in the grow bag. I wish I could put my tomato plants in the actual ground. My yard is surrounded by huge trees so that is nearly impossible to give them enough sun unless I till up the middle of my back yard. Thatās probably a big no. Too much work for a garden. IMO.
Blueberry plants are not supposed to thrive in alkaline soil but when I first started gardening I planted blueberry in the ground. I dumped a bag of peat moss in a hole. I decided to dig up the blueberry at the end of the season. The blueberry had far surpassed the hole I dug despite my soil being alkaline. I keep my plants in pots because I want to bring them with me when I eventually move and I know in 1 gardening season if put in the ground the roots would make the trees and bushes unmovable.
Agway and Ohio Mulch are usually my go to for ready to use pine bark fines. There might be other places, but a lot of them have a ton of sapwood or the size of pieces is incorrect. If you search for ātaplaās 5-1-1 mixā youāll get a lot of information about it. I have a much abused blueberry that is 10 years old in this mix in a fabric pot sans lime and it still makes a good amount of fruit yearly. I keep meaning to repot it and thenā¦
I am down in the heat of 9B and I have had it happen, when my figs get to a certain size, they put out a lot of roots through the grow bags.
My favorite uses for them here has been very large ones for my tomatoes and a very wide (5 ft ish) and short one that I use as a strawberry patch.
I think it helps the tomatoes with the heat and keeps them to themselves well since they can carry things that trouble other things I grow.
With the strawberry patch I think the same with heat.
Those were also the better quality, thicker ones so have held up well. A lot of the little, thinner ones had the handles rip quick.
I actually moved the strawberry patch this year so it would get a little less summer scorching sun. Itās like 5ft wide so I had to think on it. What I did was I got large cylinders and rolled the patch along the top. When it passed over one completely I moved it to the front. The moving a patch seemed a unique thing about the fabric type I could mention.
Iām happy I grew them that way! I would definitely recommend 2 people for the rolling if you do want to move it. I was able to move it alone but it was probably not the best idea for a body to do and was slower from halting to move the cylinders.
