Ditched the plastic pots for fabric grow bags on my balcony and never looked back

I used to think those cheap plastic nursery pots from Home Depot were fine for my balcony tomatoes. But after two seasons of roots circling around and plants getting root-bound by August, I got fed up. Switched to 5-gallon fabric grow bags last spring for my cherry tomatoes and peppers. The difference was night and day, the roots could air-prune so the plants stayed healthier way longer. Plus the fabric lets water drain way better than those plastic pots with just three holes in the bottom. I ended up getting twice the harvest from the same space, like 12 pounds of tomatoes off one plant. My only complaint is they dry out faster in the summer heat so I had to water every single day. Has anyone else tried both and seen a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylanh812d ago

The drying out part is real though-mulching the top of the bags helps slow that down a lot.

jordanr892d agoMost Upvoted

Mulching helps a bit but it's not really about slowing evaporation from the bag. The real issue is the bag surface dries out because the soil pulls moisture up from deeper in the pot through capillary action, then it evaporates off the fabric. A layer of mulch just sits on top and can create a barrier that traps humidity against the stem, which is how you get rot in the crown. If you want to keep bags from drying out, use a heavier soil mix or put a fabric pot inside a plastic nursery pot.