I would like to ask if anyone has ever used hemp fabric pots. I would like to sew by myself fabric pots for growing blueberries.
I am especially concerned about its life span. Has anyone had a long term experience with hemp fabric. Do you think it would last 5 years?
I think your sewing would be the weak point, maybe you could parachute stitch with fishing line or something strong? Burlap as fabric pots seems to last two years and i usually have gotten rid of any fabric pots after 5 years but they were exposed to heavy sunlight.
I think RichardRoundTree said it. Quality hemp cloth for clothing…lasts until people out-grow it!
But, for pots, 5 years seems possible, but I have no experience with it. But, you’d need to sew with nylon or some tough thread.
I once purchased a bunch of Rootmaker synthetic bags early in the company’s history that had mistakenly used cotton thread to sew them together in the manufacturing process. I started trying to dig up trees after 3 years and the thread was long gone, the roots had long since made their getaway. I don’t know what would make hemp more enduring when subjected to the moisture and organisms that exist in the soil, even potting soil.
One of the big problems of my nursery business ecologically is all the plastic I must use. Even my bare root trees have plastic sheeting under them.
Ouch i bet those were some very rectangular roots alan. I second what blueberry said but that is for use above ground. We always took our B&B trees and laid them in woodchips with a V pondliner base with sprinklers but that was for what would be sold that year guaranteed. How long do you normally grow your trees before sale? We mainly did ornamentals but we put them in nursery pots and after a year and a half we had what looked to be 4 year old #15 gallon grade nursery trees in 7 gallons talls. But they were overwintered in unheated hoops and we have excellent sun all winter long.
As far as plastic goes it is pretty useful and as long as we reuse it it isnt so much of a problem as the one time use plastics they put on our food and waste imo. I do think one of the more useful things to do with plastic is building and road materials.
I’m thinking that the wet potting soil would rot the hemp pretty quickly from the inside. But I have no experience with pots not in contact with soil.
My pots are actually set into the ground and I encourage roots to grow out of them. When it’s obvious the tree is growing with strong vigor from outside the pot roots I dig them up in the fall and wrap the roots close to the pots. We cut the pots away when there is serious root outside of it and plant the trees as half potted trees and half bare roots. It works extremely well.