About 20 years ago, Superoots introduced the revolutionary Airpot in the flowerpot market. At that time, absorption was slow and was mainly confined to plant nurseries and other commercial sectors. Over time, however, the wonders of "pruning root" POTS eventually became known, and since then their popularity has steadily increased.
The miracle of pruning roots
Roots are sometimes called the motor of plants. They are the unseen heroes of fruit and fruit production. If a plant can't get water and nutrients, it can't produce anything. The roots provide everything the plant needs (except carbon dioxide). Without an adequate root population, the plant will never reach its full potential in terms of quality or yield.
In a standard pot, the root will touch the side wall. It then stops growing for a short time, turns around the "obstruction" with a slight turn, and circles around it tightly against the inner wall of the pot.
This is an incredibly inefficient use of space and the medium inside the pot. Only the outer centimetres were thickly covered with roots. Most media are more or less rootless. What a waste of space!
It's all the roots!
In air pruned POTS, the root growth pattern is very different. The roots grow from the base of the plant as before, but when they touch the side of the pot, they encounter drier air. In this dry environment, the root system cannot continue to grow, so no further root elongation can occur, leading to root transplanting.
In order to continue growing, plants need to find a new strategy to increase the size of their roots. Blocked root tips produce a chemical messenger called ethylene (one of the six main plant hormones). The presence of ethylene signals other roots (and other parts of the plant) to stop growing, which has two main effects:
The rhizome responds to an increase in ethylene by making full use of the rhizome that has already grown. It does this by increasing the growth of lateral buds and root hairs.
The rest of the plant responds to the increase in ethylene by sending out new root buds from the base in different directions.
The idea of pruning roots is appealing. A pot that stops the continuous growth of root buds means that the plant will produce more and more major root buds, swelling existing root buds and encouraging root hair production, meaning that the entire culture medium inside the pot is filled with roots.
Double the roots in the same size pot!
Can you imagine reducing the size of the pot by half and still producing the same quality? The savings in growth media and space are enormous. Root pruning POTS provide all of this and more. A great opportunity!
Air trimmer Fabric Basin - highly economical for root trimmers
Fabric cans work slightly differently, but have the same effect. When the tip of the root is close to the wall of the fabric pot, water levels drop dramatically.
The versatility of fabric POTS
A good fabric pot can be used many times over with a little attention. Transporting cloth POTS is simple -- they're very light, flat-foldable and require very little space. They are also very easy to store when not in use for the same reason!
Post time: May-05-2022
