Gardeners can see all the benefits of growing with a Smart Pot even if they grow in trays, thanks to the Smart Pot Tray Liner! This soft material allows more air to reach the growing medium and roots, improving drainage and keeping the root system from overheating on hot days. Plant roots also benefit from their natural tendency to grow into soft surfaces like the Smart Pot Tray Liner, becoming thick and healthy instead of circling the inside of the pot and becoming root-bound. This liner will fit any tray up to 4' x 4' x 12".
Smart Pot Container Gardening
by Marty Gottlieb
In recent years more and more of my gardening time has been spent doing patio or container gardening. During my more than forty years as a gardener I've had it all, large vegetable plots, perennial gardens, small fruits, rose collections, asparagus and potato beds and more. But that was then. Now understand that my passion for growing plants hasn’t faded; it’s just that I've been there and done that and there are lots of other activities with which I want to share my limited time.
These days patio gardening seems to suit my gardening appetite. I still care for the trees, shrubs and lawn but the majority of my flowers, vegetables and herbs are grown in patio containers. This way I'm closely surrounded by my "soul food" without having to walk very far or spend inordinate amounts of time coaching their beauty. My planted containers are spaced close to the house, on the patio, the deck, the driveway bordering the garage doors and near the front doorway providing beautiful flowers, foliage, veggies and herbs throughout the warmer months.
About five years ago I came across fabric containers known as Smart Pots. These containers have been used by professional tree growers for years because of their unique ability to promote superior root systems. It turns out many knowledgeable gardeners have been replacing their "hard sided" containers with "Smart Pots" because they like the commercial growers, found their plants responded better in fabric containers.
I read about the containers and liked the fact that roots are less stressed during the hot summer months because the Smart Pots stay much cooler than other containers. The fabric also attracted me because now I could plant the walls as well as the top of the container. I had been thinking of the strawberry jars and "gro-bags" available and what a fine substitute the "Smart Pots" would make. That first season I planted strawberries in one and a culinary herb garden in another. After filling the container with potting mix I used a utility knife to cut "X's" in various locations in the "Smart Pots" walls. For my new "strawberry jar" I planted several strawberry plants on top and several others roughly spaced into the walls all around the pot. Later in the season, I would cut additional "X's" and place the new runner plants in the walls. The plants did wonderfully well and had plenty of fruit. The "Smart Pot" strawberries even survived a northeast winter after I buried them in the late fall under about 1 ½ to 2 feet of leaves. Essentially I planted my "herb container" the same way. The prostrate or hanging herbs like rosemary were planted in the container’s sides and the upright ones like mint, dill and parsley in the top.
Every year my patio/container garden continues to expand and I've been won over by Smart Pot growing potatoes, tomatoes, assorted annuals, melons, and much more all in Smart Pots. Every spring I try to add something new to my container growing. Last year it was figs.
Marty Gottlieb lives in upstate New York, were he has been gardening and cooking for over 40 years. He earned a horticulture degree from Cornell University way back in the ‘60’s. Long ago, he was also a New York State Coop Ag Extension agent. Marty has been active in the Horticulture and Nursery business his entire career.
Read more: Container Growing and Patio Gardening using Smart Pots Fabric Containers
High Caliper Growing, maker of the Smart Pot, was incorporated as Root Control, Inc. in 1984 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. But the story actually began six years earlier when Ralph Reiger took an early retirement from a long career at Merrill Lynch & Co., the financial firm, and started The Tree Farm in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Guthrie is not the center of the nursery business, and Ralph immediately began having problem finding people who could dig trees ball and burlap. He priced tree spades, but that was expensive, and you still needed skilled personnel. With the help of people at Oklahoma State University, Ralph fashioned the first fabric containers, called them ROOT CONTROL BAGS, and put them out at The Tree Farm in Guthrie in 1980.
The initial harvest was in August of 1982. The first thing Ralph noticed was – the trees lived! August in Oklahoma is hot, and not the right time to harvest 2” caliper river birch, or any other variety of tree. Upon inspection, Ralph realized the fabric Root Control Bag had root pruned the plant’s root structure, giving him a vastly improved plant. It was the first instance of someone using fabric to improve the root structure of a plant.
The Root Control Bag immediately gained the attention of a number of progressive nurserymen. Since incorporating in 1984, the Bag system of growing has gained thousands of customers growing millions of plants, in all fifty states and a number of countries worldwide.
In any wholesale nursery, not every plant gets sold. Customers soon noticed that, with proper care, bag-grown plants could sit on top of the ground for long periods of time, even years. Some customers, notably the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission in Lincoln, Nebraska and Sun City Tree Farm in Ruskin, Florida, began growing plants entirely on top of the ground. Inspections of the root structures of these plants revealed highly developed, fibrous, non-circling root masses perfect for transplanting success. Other customers began to put aquatic plants in the bags, resulting again in quicker growth and a fuller, healthier plant.
Eventually the realization occurred that a properly formed fabric container could be a great asset to anyone trying to grow the best possible plant. It was the smart solution. We called one of our best customers, Sun City Tree Farm in Ruskin, Florida, and asked them what we should call the product. “I think you should call it the Smart Pot, replied J.C. Tort, Sun City’s owner, “because I feel smart when I use it. It is economical, easy to use and does a great job of pruning the roots.” So the name Smart Pot was born.
Gardening was the next step, as more plants were tested. In every case, aeration made a difference. Suddenly we were growing plants that were very difficult to grow in traditional plastic containers. Potatoes, strawberries, herbs, annuals, all grow better when the container they are in allows the plant to aerate and root prune.
Kurt Reiger, Ralph’s son, is now the president of High Caliper Growing. Our office is in Oklahoma City, OK.
We enjoy feedback. Let us know how your garden responds to aeration. Send us pictures! Contact us, or email us at info@smartpots.com. We look forward to gardening with you!
Read more: About Smart Pots - Container Growing, Container Gardening, Hydroponic Gardening