Grow Bags vs. Pots: What You Need to Know

Share this post:

Potted plants are common for a reason: they are cost effective. When you want to create the kind of garden space or indoor garden aesthetic that you have been hoping to achieve, potted plants are a quick and inexpensive way of achieving this.

Since they are such an inexpensive, quick, and easy way of implementing plants into any area of your home and garden, you might be wondering why grow bags are even something you should consider.

But there are definitely positives to using these grow bags instead of potted plants.

Temperature Control

Being able to control the temperature of your growth can be an essential for plants of all varieties. It may be obvious to state, but during the summer, the heat and direct sunlight can make things quite hot.

The same fact is true for potted plants. That constant sunlight and hot air can get trapped in potted plants since they are not very breathable. This can essentially cook your plants in the pot if the temperature gets hot enough or there is too much time between watering.

With grow bags, you can regulate the temperature somewhat due to their quality of breathability. Most excess heat is able to escape from the sides of the grow bag, keeping it cooler for longer and ensuring that your plants don’t bake from constant exposure to the sun.

Plant Root Health

When placing plants in a pot, the roots of those plants can grow in circles. This means that they can get entangled within themselves, which can create issues with water stagnation and oxygenation. That can be especially true when it comes to larger pots that may have proper drainage issues.

Ultimately, when the roots reach the edge of the pot, they begin to grow in a circle while still looking for water and nutrients. Eventually, they can become entangled and create structural damage to the plants. When those roots become constricted, it leads to less water and a lack of nutrient intake.

It also creates compression issues with the stem of your plant that can lead to tissue damage in the roots. This further restricts nutrient intake and can cause extensive damage to the roots as well, cutting the life of your plant that much shorter.

With grow bags, the edges of the fabric pot allow the roots to sense the drier soil, which is exposed to the air. This is a sign to the roots that they have hit their growth limit, creating something of an “air pruning” which helps keep the roots from expanding too far and restricting themselves.

By preventing overgrowth, this eliminates what is known as girdling roots – where damage is done to the structure of the plant. Ultimately, it comes down to grow bags creating limitations as to how much the roots can grow, preventing overgrowth and limiting the chances of structural damage.

Watering Differences

One major difference between grow bags and potted plants is that the former requires more frequent watering. This is because they are porous. What may surprise you, however, is that it is harder to overwater your plants using grow bags.

This is the case because excess moisture is allowed to wick out of the container. A traditional potted plant may lead to less water, but because it is not as aerated, there is a greater chance of overwatering that takes place.

It should go without saying that if you overwater a potted plant, you could essentially drown the plant. Not only does that kill the plant, but it could lead to the development of fungus or mold, which could lead to air quality issues if you are keeping the potted plants in your home.

So, while you may have to water those plants with grow bags a bit more frequently, you can have peace of mind in knowing that you likely won’t overwater it. That saves you from not only killing the plant, but damaging the quality of the air in your home.

Storage Differences

As just about any homeowner can attest to, storing empty pots can be something of a pain.

Even when the plant has died and the pot has been cleaned, most of us won’t throw out the pot. We think about being able to use it again in the near future whether we are truly sincere in that promise or not.

So, what happens when you need to store those potted plants? They can get stored in garages or basements, but they can also become a serious eye sore.

They also need to be stored or stacked in a way that they don’t get cracked, crushed, or broken, meaning that they may not be tucked away quite like you had hoped.

With grow bags, however, you can simply fold them up and store them with minimal space taken up each season. This means being able to use them in earnest each season without having to worry about them taking up space or potentially being destroyed.

Better Versatility

Potted plants can take up quite a bit of space and they aren’t terribly versatile.

With grow bags, the light weight and built-in handles means that they are easy to move from location to location. For this reason, they are quite popular among those who drive RVs since they can be brought inside or outside with great ease.

Best of all, they can either be stored easily, taking up minimal space, and can actually be planted right into the ground since they are biodegradable.

Grow bags simply provide more options and versatility than their potted counterparts, giving amateur gardeners a greater flexibility when determining how to implement plants around the house or garden.

Though pots are far more common and certainly a bit more cost-effective to use, grow bags offer so many more advantages that it makes sense to spend the few extra bucks. This means healthier plants, less overwatering, and more versatility than pots ever could.

Share this post: