Smart Pot

Why are Smart Pots better for Container Growing?
Choosing the best pot for your plants is one of the most important components for successful container gardening. For more then twenty-five years the “Smart Pot” has consistently out performed all other growing containers in both commercial nurseries and university testing. The patented Smart Pot is a soft-sided, aeration container, uniquely designed to improve the root structure of your plants enabling them to grow to their full potential.

The comparison below points out the advantages the patented Smart Pot has over various gardening containers.

Better than plastic containers - Hard-sided plastic containers are relatively inexpensive but they are not a very good home for a plant’s root structure. Plastic allows no aeration, conducts and holds heat, and provides inadequate or poor drainage. Even on mildly sunny days, container soil temperatures can easily top 120 degrees, damaging or killing the roots and stressing the plant. The #1 killer of potted or container grown plants is over watering and plastic containers with a few bottom drainage holes actually help the soil stay too wet. A Smart Pot is constructed of a porous fabric that allows heat to dissipate and excess water to evaporate. In fact, over-watering is never a problem because excess water drains and evaporates from all of the Smart Pot’s surfaces; its walls as well as its bottom.

Because the Smart Pot is a fabric container, giving the root ball total aeration and excellent drainage, you can even use a heavier, less expensive planting mix. The type of mix used in a Smart Pot is less critical then in hard-sided pots. Also, another Smart Pot benefit is root pruning, a technique used by many commercial nurseries to produce masses of highly branched roots to improve plant quality. When a root grows to the side of the Smart Pot, it stops growing in length and develops many, many fine branches. By contrast, the roots in a plastic pot continue to grow in length when they reach the side and circle around the side of the pot. This is undesirable as there are fewer roots and these can grow around each other causing girdling or strangulation. A branched, fibrous root structure (“root pruned”) has a far greater root mass than a comparable plant where the roots are circling on the inside of a plastic pot. And a greater root mass will grow a better plant.


Better than ceramic and clay pots - Ceramic and clay pots are better for plant growing than plastic pots. They provide somewhat better insulation keeping soil temperatures lower then plastic pots. But ceramic and clay still provide inadequate drainage and do not encourage the best root systems. Both ceramic and clay pots are heavy and can easily break. The Smart Pot is lightweight, inexpensive, doesn’t break if dropped or frozen and can be folded so it stores easily. The Smart Pot also “root prunes”. Ceramic and clay do not.

Better than raised beds - Raised beds are a great way to garden because they provide good drainage and cooler soil temperatures. Roots grow naturally and have virtually all the room they need. But raised beds can be expensive, require labor to install and are stationary. Smart Pot’s are available in a variety of sizes and also provide an ideal growing environment. The larger size Smart Pots can grow all the plants found in raised beds, i.e. potatoes, watermelons, roses, trees, etc. Roots grow naturally, like they do in a raised bed. But the Smart Pot is a total growing unit, construction materials don’t have to be purchased, no installation or building is necessary, and are much less expensive. Smart Pots can also be moved to different locations unlike stationary, raised beds. The Smart Pot is made of inert fabric and is completely safe for edible plants, while raised beds are sometimes made of treated lumber that may contain toxic chemicals.


Better than decorative containers - Decorative containers are just that – decorative. They are manufactured to look good and are not designed for optimum plant growth. The Smart Pot is designed to promote the best plant growth. It aerates, encourages masses of roots and prevents heat damage. Many customers grow in Smart Pots, then place their plant into a decorative container.