This year I was curious which would end up better. So I ended up with mostly 3 gallon pots and bags. After watching them grow; it appears the pots have taller and healthy trees.
I find the PVC bags a bit annoying with leaning over and making the soil uneven or making leaning trees. And sometimes the folded over edges collapse under watering.
Have you tried air pots or perforated PVC grow bags like these? Some nurseries here are selling trees in those and the price is higher than for potted trees.
No. I have not tried those bags. They look better.
I have 2 meyer lemons that are about 2 years old. One in a 5g pot, and one in a 10g growbag. The one in the 5g pot is around twice as big. But I have two jujubes in 25g growbags that are doing amazing and are very green. Another one next to it is in a 15g plastic pot but has yellowing leaves. I prefer plastic pots as they are easier to move around and up pot.
That is an interesting bag, does the material not breath? Is that the reason to have holes all around?
I think the material in the linked photo is something like heavy duty leaf bags. So no evaporation other than through the holes.
Then there is the trademarked Air-pot which is like a perforated pot without the flat surface baking in the sun.
Interesting, thank you. I have the airpots and seems like a similar concept.
The bags I’ve used before look like they’re made from a billion microplastic fibers, and they start breaking down after a few years similar to other plastic fibers in the outdoors like nylon rope. Then they rip when you try to pick them up. I’ll stick with pots thanks, it’s not like they’re expensive.
I think the large grow bags (20 - 30 gal) work well. There’s not much alternatives in plastic that size. Although I have drilled holes in the large plastic feed buckets with rope handles (30 gal?) and they work quite well.
IMO the key with the grow bags is to use a much heavier soil mix than you would use with a solid plastic grow container. Mix in some soil with a high clay content for the grow bags. Otherwise the soil dries out far too fast in the summer and you will need to be constantly watering them.
I like the grow bags, but you do need to change things from how you would normally grow in plastic containers. When I first transplant new bare root trees into grow bags I make sure to keep them in a location that is sheltered from the afternoon sun during the hot summer months. I’m just about ready to move my May transplants in large grow bags into full sun locations now that the weather has cooled and we’re getting some rain.
I do think the type of soil you use has a huge impact on how well fruit trees do in grow bags, but I like them. Although, I will admit the large bags are awkward to move once full.
Im going to experiment with these tubs… they are the best quality ones i have found for the price… the plastic is very thick. 23Gallon tubs from Menards can be found on sale for around $10 each.
I use a similar type muck bucket for a few trees. Unfortunately, these buckets are pretty expensive in Canada, to be drilling holes at the bottom.
This makes it far easier to move this Black Nigra (Canada Plum) into the house in January. That way I can induce blooming sooner to pollinate my hybrid plums.
Below is an example of a grow bag. I grafted a late Italian scion onto a Euro root stock this spring and it is around six foot tall now.
i saw these there as well, did you pick them up and how did they hold up for you? ive heard that have uv degradation problems after a couple season.
So far they have been bulletproof… the walmart ones are junk but these are a different grade of plastic i guess.
I am going to try 5 gal buckets also. Im on year 4 of growing tomatoes in them and they do all that i need.
Pic from a recent fb grower that i saw of fruit trees. So i guess its doable.
thats epic! i have tons of 5 and 4.5g buckets. 7g buckets might provide a bit more depth too. if you have any pics of your pots and containers you should post them over here in this thread i started to sort of catalogue everyones container experimentations: Pots and bags and containers, oh my! - #18 by kinghat
5 gallon buckets do work great!!!
I used them in mass when I used to sell apple and pear trees. Heavy duty and easy to transport. I think the key is to find a free supply. I had a string of Subway shops that I would stop by each week and pick up all their buckets. They use a lot of pickles and they come in green buckets, kind of a nice touch for sales.
I have some of my fathers pickle buckets… he got them from behind burger joints. Green in color. They are over 15 years old still going strong.
I bought some white ones from WM last year. They have already become brittle. The red ones from harbor freight are also junk and become brittle.
I have black ones that oils came in from my trucking business… some are 20 yrs old. Still going strong.
From my gatherings the cheap box store ones are a different grade of plastic that isnt worth the bother… whereas food grade and chemical grade ones are worth keeping.
So again… the garbage/refuse ones are better than the ones for purchase… at least the box store ones.
I tried grow bags and almost immediately stopped. I don’t like that they don’t hold shape at all and they dry out too quickly or have uneven watering areas. I tried growing raspberries in them and they did not like it at all.
Just shelled out for more stuewe and sons tall pots along with more heat mats for rooting everything. Along with about 75+ 5 gallon deep pots and 50+ 1 gallon pots. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to grow bags. Except sweet potatoes but they only gave me leaves and 1 giant potato, nothing that I’ve tried has liked them as well.
The medium used in pots/bags etc is fairly important… i think Drew has proved that DE (the DE floor dry from NAPA) helps in many situations…
Im messing around with DE in my strawberry containers and really think there is something to it…
Im also convinced that pine fines and pine bark really helps some things also. (Some of my potted trees and blueberries that i have bought were grown in what looked like near 100 percent pine bark with fert… and the roots were very happy as well as the caliper and health of the trees).
I picked up some Sunshine Mix #4 at Menards for $25/bale without much research… looks like it was a bad choice other than i will need to add fert.
ProMix with Myco and heavy on pine bark/fines along with river sand, DE and my own compost/worm castings is my go to mix on my cuttings and propagation things after they root. Also same mix i use to grow tomatoes.
Im playing with a big pile of wood ash that my neighbor gave to me from his wood burning stove… i tip rooted some brambles in it and they seem to love it… i also accidently grew some pumpkins and somehow some mexican sunflower seeds germinated in that pile… the plants were as healthy as ive seen anything. I would have never guessed just wood ash and rocky terrible soil would be so fertile… but it is here. (both things were refuse and unwanted)…
Sorry for TMI… its been a long cold winter and im excited to get to growing this spring.
I find the medium to be the most important factor. My potting mix is basically minerals and peat moss which copies this a bagged soil called Top Pot from my local nursery. The idea is that organic material in the rootzone causes the soil to go anaerobic and rot out the plants. I grow all my potted plants in it and have some avocados going into their 4th year and finally eating their fruits lol.
Not sure if this is a typo but Sunshine Mix #4 is just perlite and peat moss with some micronutrients so should be perfectly fine. I have been growing with it in my mix for a year now. I scored 10 bales for $2.80 or something at home depot as they were clearing them out for some reason.
I find sand to be a great growing medium as well but it is just super heavy. Same issue with DG, great for smaller pots, but too heavy once you get bigger.
I can relate to this even though I am in shorts today 
the only part about the top pot message that ive yet to see in practice is the “turns to sludge” part. the majority of container growers dont use top pot and for sure are using the mixes which are mostly organics. they dont seem to be having the issue of the mix turning to sludge and going anaerobic, even over the long term. i think its a bit of marketing mixed in with mostly truth to sell a product. i myself try to use a mix of equal parts peat and sand/perlite/etc. need to figure out a coarser sand alternative than play sand. its too fine to take the place of perlite. ive been using pea gravel in its place. after doing hydroponics, i like being able to blind water, water without consequences.
The sludge I have not seen personally either. I definitely have not been gardening very long either 
. What I have seen is the organic stuff decompose in the containers long term. I received an 8 year old plant which had only 1/3rd of its soil left in the pot. When I took it out, it was basically just perlite.
Some plants also don’t mind the organic material. I transplanted a guava from the ground into a wine barrel and filled maybe 1/3 with some cuttings from a bush. I accidently left the hose in the pot overnight and I could smell the branches rotting but the guava didn’t care. I agree that there are many ways to get it done, though!
Please let us know if you find a good alternative /
What does blind water mean? Water as much as you want?
