Hello,
After harvesting I find when I pull the stalk out from the soil filled fabric pot (5 gallon) its never rootbound. In fact the root ball seems like it could have fit into a 1 gallon size pot.
I’ve tried to make the soil as light and airy as possible using a multitude of additives, perlite lg & sm sizes, clay balls, volcanic rock, ect, but these attempts do not improve the overall root ball size. It’s as if the plant never fully matured?
I welcome any thoughts for discussion.
Welcome , That’s Interesting I usually jump up-and-down on mine to get the root ball loose to remove from Fabric pot it’s always full. Let’s see what Other members have Experienced . Good luck happy growing ! 
I usually get roots clinging to the fabric when i harvest from those pots. But i recently started to use plastic pots with an air stone and pump on the bottom. Only on for a few hours during watering days. I also layer an inch of perlite on the bottom. The roots from that pot were crazy. I was adding oxygen to the root area at least i think i was. Haha.
I water from top down + top dress w/ amendments during the entire grow. I also have to “break” the plant free from the fabric pot and find the top 3" have hardened, crusted but the middle to bottom are not so I thought there should be roots there. Maybe my watering practices need adjustment so the roots will reach lower
I also water from the top to about a 20% run off let the pots dry out Usually 2 to 3 days and go again. Most of the time 3 days. I add a quart of perlite with Fox farm ocean forest per 5 gallon pot.
That sounds like hard water to me. Are you checking ph on the water, or KH? Does your shower or coffee pot scale over with lime? Does the shower doors have a lot of dry deposits on it? Does soap not lather up foamy in the tap water. All of these are signs of hard and or high ph water. That would cause a hard crusty layer in the pots that would impede root growth.
I’ve used a PH pen after adding nutes and provide around 5.5-6.0 to the plants. Most times I’m using PH down to get in that 6.0 range. My leaf symptoms have shown that there is an imbalance with minerals, hence my constant top dressing.
I use town water and rotate multiple gallon jugs so the water has had a chance to set out for at least 24hr to dissipate any chlorine.
I’ve been considering adding a carbon filter at the fill location.
Thanks !
Amnesia haze autos. I thought the comparison of the two grown in Vivosun Vs smart Pots was interesting
I had this happen one time with a couple autoflowers that I didn’t transplant early enough. Seemed like you said, the root mass was not all the way to the edges. I attributed it to the plant adjusting to the small pot it was originally in and once transplanted it simply didn’t grow past its original size. Just my theory, but I think autos adjust to the environment and grow accordingly. From then on I plant the seed in its final pot right from the start.
I use five gallon fabric pots i always get a massive root ball from top to bottom it maybe the way ur watering or u may have to use kelp liquid that promotes good root growth and development
This is my experience as well. Maybe the OP is not watering quite enough? But i have to beat the remaining roots out since ive switched to fabric pots… plastic and clay was just turn upside down, wiggle n pull
This. Weed actually benefits from the flood drought train of thought. Give em too much water, starve them of it, repeat
Have you used any microbe / root enhancer products. FishSh!T, Tribus Original, Voodoo Juice, various Mycorrhizae, Recharge etc etc
Here is what the rootballs of the WW photos I currently have growing when I transplanted from 3gal-5gal recently. I mix perlite in with my FFHF soil, line the rootball hole with Mycos, and feed voodoo juice for first two weeks of veg and will again first two weeks of flower.
Fabric pots allow roots to breathe and kinda self prune themselfs. I use fabric often and they never get root bound, much better than plastic pots
You starting the seed in the final pot, or starting in a solo type size?
Have used Voodoo Juice for a while along with Piranha. Both are excellent. Currently giving fishsht a try. Next grow I figure it is time to try Tribus original.
You don’t have to worry about that root ball falling apart.
This is going from a 6" nursery pot to a one gallon fabric transplanter pot
