Wasted $45 on those fabric grow bags and regret it hard

Last spring I bought a set of three fabric grow bags for my balcony, thinking they'd be perfect for tomatoes. Cost me $45 total from a popular online shop. Big mistake. The sides dried out in like 2 hours on a sunny day, and the soil leaked out the bottom every time I watered. After 3 weeks my tomato plants were all stunted and sad looking. I ended up tossing them in the trash and going back to cheap plastic pots from the dollar store. Anyone else have crap luck with those fabric bags, or did I just buy the wrong brand?

3 comments

3 Comments

jordanr895d ago

Did you at least try poking some extra drainage holes in the bottom before you gave up? Because those bags usually come with just a few tiny slits that get clogged quick with wet soil. I'm just wondering if that would have fixed the leaking issue for you, or if the whole bag was a lost cause from the start.

beth_patel45d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, have you tried that? Because yeah I swear those bags come with like four pinholes and they're useless. I learned that the hard way with my first batch of tomatoes - they were drowning in there. I ended up taking a soldering iron and just melting like a dozen holes all over the bottom and even some up the sides a bit. That actually helped a ton with both drainage and soil staying in, honestly. But here's the thing - the bigger issue I ran into is that the fabric itself just doesn't hold up after a season or two. The seams start to give and you get these weird leaks that aren't even at the holes you made. So sometimes poking more holes is just a bandaid fix if the bag itself is already falling apart. I'd say try it if the bag still feels sturdy, but if it's already looking rough just cut your losses and get a new one with better drainage from the start.

thea_carter3d ago

Heard from a gardening podcast that fabric pots actually need to sit on something like a tray or saucer, not directly on concrete or the ground, because the airflow sucks moisture right out. Also read somewhere that cheap brands use too thin of material that just can't hold shape or keep soil in. Might explain why your tomatoes stunted, the bags probably let all the water evaporate before the roots could drink.