Plants'n'pets

So I "might" have gone a little bananas this spring and bought 5 new banana plants... a couple dwarf Cavendish, a sumatrana cross, and a basjoo. I also have another Cavendish I got last year that I had to cut all the way down due to abuse from our adolescent kitten... really hoping he comes back, from what I've read there's a good chance he will. He's in a huge terracotta planter, and my new Cavendish that's about 3 feet tall already will also be going into a big planter.

The others range from 7-12" tall, and since I'd heard good things about the fabric planters for growing root systems I got several 7 gallon bags to get them started and some 40 gallon ones for when they need upgrades.

Does anyone have any experience with these planters? I'm planning on getting them transplanted into them today and will post pics when I'm done =)

I'm so glad I found this forum! I love chatting with other plant nerds!!

Kate

Lancelot

I tried them out several years ago. I found out they are harder to move than other containers, even with the handles which eventually ripped off, because the fabric does break down after a couple years. I also found out in drenching rain storms, the fabric gets beat down to the soil level, and soil gets washed out. I've also had algae grow on the outside of the bag on the shade side, which also breaks down the bag.

So bottom line, they won't last forever, but they will look nice for awhile. I've also tried moving them with a hand cart which doesn't work too well.

Even plastic containers break down after awhile, the sun is brutal and causes the plastic to become brittle, the edges cracking and breaking off when trying to move the container.

bandaids

Hi! Lancelot is correct about the grow bags breaking down with time as well as algae growing on one side. But that hasn’t stopped me.

I use them and like them. I have 2 bay leaf trees each in 7 gallon bags, 2 cherimoyas in 10 gallon and 20 gallon bags, 3 (dwarf) veinte cohol bananas grouped in a 25 gallon bag, figs and kiwi also growing in them and bird of paradise (orange ones) in a 25 gallon bag. So far, my mulberry keikis love them (both in 7 gallons) as well as a couple rubber trees and tupidanthus (20 gallon bags) and two 7 gallon bags each containing Australian fern trees 2 years of age and a few arabica coffee plants one year new to me that seem to enjoy their bags. One other plant that I have in a 10 gallon grow bag is a cluster of 4 passion fruit vines. The passion fruit gave me flowers & fruit the first year in its bag!

All my plants thrive well in the bags so far and I have had some of them in the grow bags since 2011 without having to change any so far. I have tried growing citrus trees using grow bags but they don’t do well for some reason so all my citrus are in ground with exception to calamansi. The calamansi seem to do well in grow bags for me. Oh, and a dwarf kaffir lime tree and a pomegranate is doing well in a 5 gallon grow bag.

I’m not a professional — I am an amateur trying to grow things here and there. I am sure I have missed a few plants that I have growing but that should give you an idea of what is able to thrive in them. So if I can do it, I think you can as well. Just use the same soil as you would in a conventional pot for each type plant.

cincinnana

As a trend I am seeing more and more big box store reusable synthetic bags used as grow bags.
One garden I visited had a colorful collection from different stores.

Also many nurserys use grow bags instead of plastic containers.


fashion grow bag
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr

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Jpans4hands

I really like the "Rootpouch" brand bags (with handles). They have been really durable as they are made from recycled plastic so they will be as durable as any other plastic container. I've had no issues with handles breaking even on the large 40 gallon bags. They do really help the roots "air-prune" so they don't get root bound as they do in solid pots. They will require frequent watering as evaporation will be higher with permeable bags than with solid pots.

BlueHammock428

Hi Kate,

Here's a blue java I'm growing in a fabric planter. I don't have much outside experience given I'm up north, but it seems to work quite well. I water lightly often and everything seems good.