Root Trainers/ Air Pots: Make your own at low cost...

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Richard Perkins is a globally recognised leader in the field of Regenerative Agriculture and is the owner of Europe’s foremost example, Ridgedale Farm, Sweden. He is the author of the widely acclaimed manual Regenerative Agriculture, regarded as one of the most comprehensive books in the literature, as well as Ridgedale Farm Builds.
His approach to no-dig market gardening and pastured poultry, as well as his integration of Holistic Management, Keyline Design and Farm-Scale Permaculture in profitable small-scale farming has influenced a whole new generation of farmers across the globe. Garnering more than 15 million views on his blog, and teaching thousands globally through his live training at the farm and online, Richard continues to inspire farmers all over the globe with his pragmatic no-nonsense approach to profitable system design.

[@kusland6786]

If you water using capillary mat or homemade wecking bed (plastic liner, perlite or pouzzolane water filled + woven fabric used as gardening mulch on top) you can put your air pots on top of it so you don’t need your metal wire fence at the bottom. Air pruning at the bottom will be done in the dry cycle & sunlight easily. It’s easy to control large amount of plants with such system specially for indoor & greenhouse. It just increase RH a little. You don’t have to water often, drying is slow and natural... you can move your pots on it without problem. You just need a well aerated pot mix (50+% of perlite is a good start) and well hand compress it when potting. Love your work, Regards, Kus from France.

[@timothybuchan3353]

From working with airpots in a tree nursery the top ridge doesn't have holes to prevent water running off out them. Just a suggestion :)

[@my_permaculture]

Wow. Thanks. Very nice detail to know. How do you handle the air pots on tree sale? Does the client return the pot or pay for it?

[@Mistted]

@@my_permaculture I think you can do either way since it's so easy to take off and clean off.

[@thinlizzy535]

I could swear you are living in Northern Alberta, Canada, on Highway 40 (South)! Wow your entire landscape looks like what I see when I’m out for a drive. But your accent, then reference to Euro, definitely stopped me in my tracts! Great idea for air pruning pots! Good luck. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t a vole about the size of a mouse?

[@theuglykwan]

That would save some drilling

[@songofyeshua9348]

Great tip! I am looking to grow fruit trees in pots as I might be moving in about 5 years. What is the best way to container grow them? I am not looking to have them grow more than about 7 feet. Can this be a permanent way of growing them?

[@alieustiansamateh6401]

I love you for this! 😂 Was about to spend somewhat 300-500 euros on airpots, but now I am making my own, thanks mate! 😁🙏🏽

[@my_permaculture]

Yeah! I feel the summer season Ridgedale mojo power arising again in this video. Feels good. Superb idea with the DIY air pots. I guess this gave me just the right input for very high quality woody plant probagation nursery, where the air pot problem was always the bottle neck, as the expensive pot could not stay with clients. Under 1€ is a different mark, where giving the pot to a potential client would be no problem. Thank you so much for sharing this practical idea.

[@callmeishmael3031]

The material is called polypropylene sheet drain, but it's only sold in large rolls, so if you're wanting to make just a couple pots, this isn't the solution unless you can find some scraps somewhere.

[@geriannroth449]

Where can I purchase those sheets?

[@JamesStevensTEXALTA]

Thank you so much for all of your videos! This channel is so informative and underrated.

[@veemcg3682]

Fun to watch. Amazing difference in cost of the growing pots. Very good idea to make them. Those grapes look great too.

[@corneliussinclair112]

I love this project! Great idea that I will borrow for one of my own one day! Keep it up.

[@serenemountain6769]

I can imagine this , with strawberries and other potting ideas! Awesome indeed!

[@DuyNguyen-lo2mm]

Polypropylene Sheet Drain great idea and the best part it is high temp plastic make it perfect for sitting out in the sun. Thank you for sharing this money saving tip.

[@uppsalahazzemarkstedt2759]

Tip: Put a row of sharpened pipes or nails in hard wood. Make distances like bottle caps and a pressure spring on the outer ones. Make some pressure on it and you have a centered row like a hole punch.

[@tawanajeffries3610]

I use grow bags as well especially important this year as we had a years worth of rain in less than the first six months. Do the voles bite through cloth? Some people use chicken wire lined with burlap or landscape fabric to keep the dirt in. Would take less work I think 🤔. Really enjoy your problem solving ingenuity. Thanks

[@evemaewill4]

I would love to hear more on this vineyard concept. Will you prune the vines to keep the grapes from producing up too high to pick? Is there a risk of the vine strangling the tree? Would you need to protect the crop from birds etc? How could you do this? Fascinated by this concept! (Please, anyone chime in here if you can answer!)

[@blahblahlaboratory9381]

You have all kinds of videos. I’m surprised I find explanations for more than a half of my requests, thank you so much, mate. 🖖🏻

[@russsherwood5978]

how have them pots turn out? did they work? thank you for the video

[@bigsmiler5101]

For the project I MUST do Today I'm going to use 4" perforated drain pipe. I'll order this material and see what happens BY USING A BELT SANDER TO KNOCK OFF THE SURFACE TO CREATE THE HOLES. I'll try to remember to report on how that works. IF you try it I think running the sander at a lower speed is needed to prevent the plastic from melting onto the sandpaper. HOWEVER, a belt sander would be okay for doing one sheet at a time. Drilling can do a hundred sheets at a time. (Get extra-long bit if doing mass production.) -- HOW I did this: THE PERFORATION SLITS ARE IN THE WRONG PLACE TO BENEFIT AIR PRUNING. so I put a 2x4 lumber inside the perforated pipe to keep it straight. {You can use non-perferated drainpipe since the slits are in a useless location.} Then with a circular saw I cut a very shallow slit down the length--six places around the perimeter. Then I cut the pipe into 6-inch lengths. I set all these on metal "stucco lath" (an expanded metal) which is supported by other simple materials (wood).

[@theapplesfoodforestfarmacy1233]

Beautiful idea 💡. Thank you 🙏 for sharing.

[@ArcsandSparks315]

Hey Richard any time I see a big wild grapevine in the forest it has strangled the tree and killed it. Are you going to prune the grapes for production? Or how will you keep the grapes from killing the aspens

[@gioknows]

I found this video one hour *AFTER* I ordered my Root Trainers on line LOL but this is brilliant. Cheers from Ottawa, Canada.

[@winnieho8880]

Where did you order from ?

[@gioknows]

@@winnieho8880 It might have been from Amazon. I stopped buying stuff from that site, though.

[@liamb.ndimuu]

Awesome! Such a good idea! We are struggling to get root trainers in Kenya and importing them is not an option for our context, will attempt to replicate with flimsy seedling trays with holes drilled already, won't be as cheap but our cheapest and most ecologically sound option...

[@jackmorgan1677]

How about pots made out of compressed coconut?

[@cherylcarlson3315]

very interesting, have apricot sprouts want to keep and was wondering how... you answered the question faster than I could google. In my yard the Japanese beetles were horrid last year and have been out morning and evening getting the copulating boogers into a soapy bottle to save the grapes and raspberries when I notice the wild grapevine that literally is trying to cover the house hasn't one single skeletal leaf. Not fair.

[@Isaacmantx]

My problem with the Airpot was our 110°F+ Texas summer temps and maintaining moisture. I would need a timed watering system to keep plants alive in them.

[@MrMcGillicuddy]

Richard is that material sturdy enough to put some rope handles on the pots for ease of moving them around if I made bigger ones? I was literally about to buy weed guard fabric and sew my own growbags but I've heard some good things about that style of airpot design. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks

[@alexsiniov]

you need same caps to be turned inside between drilled ones, it prevents water to be dumped off the sides during watering

[@GermanBadGuy]

Any update over time regarding refinements in the root trainers? Zip ties, rabbit fence etc. anything you improved over time?

[@martinlehtonen]

could you do something to increase the peredators that eat voles?

[@sparetimeincanada1725]

Really beautiful land!

[@jenniferturgeon2998]

Curious if you could use these air pots permanently to keep a tree on top of very wet soil?

[@doubleblessings-royalcrowr1669]

Do you intend to plant your grapes inside the black pots into your vinyard? In order to keep burrowimg rodents from eating them? Is that the purpose? How do you grow grapes from cuttings i have tried everything i can just to get some wild grapes to grow in yard that grow wild down in the road ditch. Thanks in advance

[@TowerHand]

Excellent, now if I happen to find some of that dimpled plastic in the dumpster it'd really be a "beyond the buckle" project!

[@K_Nasty]

Ive always thought about corigated drain pipe. ... Just cut it to 12in pieces . and I dont use bottoms .i dig a hole and pot the pot / liner over it. The roots can go into the ground but wont drownd and everything I feed stays in the root zone.

[@cappyizhappy]

Fantastic video. Please give me some feedback on how well these worked. I greatly appreciate your expertise.

[@BenniLkitchengarden]

Great tip. Thanks

[@fucazzo8097]

Landscape mesh and a plastic bag sealer. Can’t remember the name but, it’s a vacuum bag sealer. Anyway it works really well to melt the seams together. Turn inside out to hide the seams.

[@jeffmosier3145]

Sorry I'm late , traffic was heavy. Held me up for three yrs Ha. For the bottoms instead of chicken wire , use food grade 5 gallon bucket lids with drilled holes . Their round and ridgid.

[@niranjanmallick7967]

Please tell me the name of the plastic sheet from which you are making air/root training pot in your video

[@allthethings2100]

you know those 'green' super market bags? they work just as well as air pots. every part of the bag is breathable material which has the same effect of reducing/stopping plants becoming root bound plus they have handles for easy moving & they're pretty durable & reusable & they're cheap

[@Michael-ki5oz]

now this is a great idea, and you could probably get them very cheap if you buy them in bulk directly from a supplier about how long will the bags last when used this way?

[@nikosvithoulkas180]

@@Michael-ki5oz i suppose they wouldnt last long if they are biodegradable. But its a great idea

[@jeffmosier3145]

I was about to use the fabric grocery bags till I got reminded of the air pots. I've seen the bags used a few times but the roots can't escape out the sides for the roots to die and create new. Yes the bags are breathable. Plus when the bags get picked up it would disrupt the soil which effects roots and the plant. I'm curious how are the just a good? I know they work good. If I don't do the Air pots , I'm doing the Walmart bags and thought to double them instead of just one. What's your thoughts on 2 bags

[@TheSilmarillian]

Lots of great ideas thanks from Australia

[@patrimonioculturalha]

Best video. Thank for idea

[@netvoedelo7444]

I want to make a similar pot, can you tell me something about this experiment? Is it worth it? I can't find any more videos about these pots on your channel.

[@rweb-dh9pf]

Is there any update to this video? I’d like to see how the roots did.

[@nuclearstarr]

hello, can you please give a link where I can purchase the black plastic material you used for the walls of the air pots in this video? I am in the US and I am not finding a similar material here . . . thank you

[@jaimetellez9131]

Excellent video but what is the name of the product with which you make the pots? Thank you.

[@agnespabst3021]

Das ist eine geniale Idee. Danke. 🇩🇪

[@Willroyish]

Unfortunately here in Asia are only the one sided dimpled membranes available. I didn't try it for this reason. Will the roots not start coiling in the pot as soon they hit the flat surface of the membrane? The real air pot will "guide" them to the hole which seems for me to be the significant difference. I didn't try it for this reason. Please let us know how they worked out after 2 years.

[@pnwRC.]

Great video

[@seek2find]

pop holes by placing multiple nails (4-5 rows?) hammered through a 2x4 and hammer on the flat sheets of black plastic instead of drilling?

[@brucea550]

I was thinking a piece of plywood the same size as the plastic, with roofing nails or similar. An hour to layout the plywood grid and install the nails, but way faster than drilling in the end if you had very many to do.

[@gorillaempire9972]

for bottom part you can use plastic pads that used for press food in jars,barells[plastic] if you know on what i mean that wire its not good because rust after some time.

[@gorillaempire9972]

or best to use same material for hydro isolation just make it triple

[@nachthawknighthhawk6588]

What was the man hour labor costs for making the air pruning pots?

[@articmars1]

How much did you save once you included labor cost to make them?

[@pottyplotter2462]

Brilliant👍

[@EduardoPerez-ri1ct]

Hello, excellent video and very useful to improve the development of potted plants. I would like to know what is the generic name of the material you use (or the commercial name). I have looked it up at Home Depot here in Florida, USA and I have not been able to find it. I'd like to track down something equivalent here. Greetings and thanks in advance.

[@AUS10indeed]

I've found a similar product called miradrain for waterproofing basements

[@rephaelreyes8552]

@@AUS10indeed Tnx. I found the common name to be dimple drainage board

[@TM-we6eg]

What material is that? Thank you for the video.

[@Raz0rking]

I wanted to buy a few pots for my chillies next year...looks like i am *making* them.

[@andybush368]

Nice one 😇

[@dustinrieta1052]

What is the material name that you used? I can't find it anywhere

[@bigsmiler5101]

Search for Polypropylene Sheet Drain. eBay has it.

[@lavenderlilacproductions]

DMX One Step. Home Depot has it

[@devonolsen1331]

Also seen it called dimple drainage on google search

[@mahdabekaessam738]

@@bigsmiler5101 can i found it at alibaba....??? Can u give me link on alibaba plezzzzz...?????

[@Harborseal]

@@bigsmiler5101 Not in the US. What they do have is very expensive.

[@jimmyrig8971]

Love this and love saving money.! Great job guys. My only concern is the Fact White Zip Ties are NOT UV stable. Which mens they will disintergate! Any other color would work better. Many people do not know this. Keep up the good work. Add me to watch my future farm. Coming soon.

[@icryostorm3727]

but their lifespan for this [project will only need to be for 1 year when they will be cut off/undone AND theyre being kept within a poly tunnel, so outof direct sunlight.

[@jimmyrig8971]

@@icryostorm3727 Good point. Your most likely right. They should hold up.

[@jimargenio6449]

agreed,,all zip ties are bad

[@VijayaBjoshi]

@@icryostorm3727 If the zip ties undone and reused then fine but cutting of every year is environmental disaster with plastic not degrading. It would be much better metal wire used and reused - just a suggestion

[@pingpaj]

What size were the holes that you drilled?

[@rafiki270]

Isn’t the white zip tie not uv resistant thus not suitable for outdoors?

[@qwertyyuiop299]

Anyone know where you can buy these plastic sheets in Canada?

[@sonja_hooper]

Larry Hall has a ....Grow Bag ... Awesome and Cheap... Resuable Year after Year... Mine are 6+ years old and in Great condition $1 each

[@o00oZu1o00o]

airpots are more efficient than growbags and you don't have to destroy them or part of the root system when you remove the plant after 2+ years.

[@Fjarninger]

it depends. For a small amount of pots at home it might be a good option, but you need to get them out realy easy. In this way you need a lot of zippers, but might be okay. Maybe the he can buy the original drill thing to stick the sides together. From my experience the bags work realy well, but you have to water them more often, but you get a lot of fine roots. That's great. But getting the plant out of the bag was not that easy. It is possible by turning them inside out. And I am not sure about the durability of the bags. Sometimes they are made out of PP-fabric and from my experience pp fabric disband after time, but the few I have are still in shape after a few years, but I have payed more then 1 Euro for that bags and If I need a lot of them I realy would try the home made air pots (what I am doing at the moment) He could have also ordered them from Alibaba. But I am not that kind of sure how long this will take and if it''s work.

[@Tunnelrat6666]

I have used both air pots are way better. In fact I will never use the bags again for trees.

[@kenyonbissett3512]

You need to assign a cat 🐈 to vole/mole/mouse control. Set your cat up with a cat tower. My cat was fed/watered and lived inside, but she worked for treats. She also controlled rabbits 🐇 and squirrels 🐿. Kept them from leaving ankle spraining/breaking holes and eating my veggies/fruit garden. We had a deal, she ate the vole parts she want and left a small amount for me to see. I would give her treats, praise her and ask her to finish her kill. I would come back later. If her kill was gone it was one more treat, if not, no treat. When I left and my ex’s girlfriend moved in she asked how I stopped everything from eating the garden, I explained cat control. LisaBissett

[@carlashley5706]

Morning,it sure would b nice if the grabbed plastics out of the beach's & Oceans, Gone Green.... ....?

[@tannenbaum3444]

Can you advise what black material/product you used to make the root trainers?

[@HazyOfficial]

It's called "dimpled drainage matting", e.g. crawlspace-diy.com/product/crawl-space-drainage-matting/

[@jtcavers]

Trying to source the material you use to make the air pruning pots. Whay is it called? Where can I find? Thanks for your time and LOVE the channel!

[@scottoldham7459]

Dimple drainage board

[@MalaysianTropikfusion]

@@scottoldham7459 Thanks, Scott.

[@ambersykora352]

What variety of strawberry were those?

[@o00oZu1o00o]

Richard, what is the name of the plastic sheets you are using? You say it at 4:30 but I can't get it... Thanks!

[@bountywoodsfarm8594]

They are poly drainage sheets used for house foundations.

[@o00oZu1o00o]

Thank you, it helps a lot

[@vacantlandguys1787]

These pots dry out really fast and require much more water than your standard container. Be sure to figure that into your costs. They do make really nice roots though.

[@Melicoy]

thanks

[@ansonbiller]

Approximately how old are the alders in this video?

[@TM-we6eg]

What is the item your making the air pot out of,

[@paigebanks7552]

How unbelievably fortunate you are to have the labor you do. I appreciate the testing, data, evidence based, cost and calculations of this site. It's on super fast forward because of your help. But, jealousy aside......it provides those of us less labor fortunate, the information that has been proven.

[@guysweremlg7133]

What is the plastic used to make the pots?

[@geriannroth449]

What's the name of those sheets & where can I purchase them?

[@johannsmith5697]

If you have an early freeze, with those grapes in the future, you can make the "frozen wine" that they make in canada - i forget the name, but it's pretty cool. Also, wine makers prefer VERY high sugar grapes - and that's great to get the 14-15% alcohol, but then they add the acid back... so if your grapes are not quite as high in sugar, you can still ferment it and make nice wine, and just hope the extra acid doesn't kill the yeast(but you can also adjust that acidity using some sort of base)

[@jimmyrig8971]

Icewine is Amazing!

[@adamredden2007]

Anyone have a link to the material for the pot bodies?

[@sam13tab13]

You have tall grass everywhere, what is the purpose of it? Otherwise, beautiful!

[@jmiguel64]

I'm in Brazil, what do you call this material?

[@jakemead9982]

What is the name of the material and where can I buy it? I mightve missed you say it, this is a great idea to save money!

[@GrandmaSezSo]

Polypropylene Sheet Drain

[@bigsmiler5101]

@@GrandmaSezSo : THANK YOU Very Much!

[@tanyaratti]

Just a query- in calculating cost, did you factor in man hours? There are a few workers on the job by the looks which means they’re not working elsewhere.... Time is money 💰 so I guess the question is: was it worth it?

[@bigsmiler5101]

I like the way your mind works. Wish I could find employees who can grasp this concept. However, he mentions time-to-do around the 7:10 minute point. Depends on price per hour of people. This Could be a task kids could do... if only I could find kids who can stay focused for more then ten minutes.

[@Louis.slmn93]

Its something you can do in winter , when there is a really bad weather etc ... so i wouldn't say it's a waste of time

[@danfun008]

is there an update since 3 years ago? has it worked for you?

[@tedfogg5659]

What is the name of the plastic? Where do you get it? Thanks in advance.

[@bigsmiler5101]

Polypropylene Sheet Drain

[@dwighthires3163]

I am trying to find the plastic you used for these pots. I have done websearch and cannot find anything like this. What is this called?

[@maxgrinevitch6648]

Try to search for "foundation waterproofing membrane"

[@donworley7448]

Hey Richard, Don Worley here from the western USA. If you happen to notice my comment and have the time to answer a quick question... Can you be certain an alder tree is fixing nitrogen well without inspecting root nodules? If not, is there an inocculant you can use to provide a potential nitrogen fixing tree, such as alder, with the right nitrogen fixing bacteria?

[@natureboy6410]

Use moringa trees instead. You won't regret it. ;-)

[@donworley7448]

@@natureboy6410 thanks for the rec. I've heard moringas are great, but I had one that didn't put up well with cold. I believe they're best for warm coastal climates.

[@soleenha]

What is the plastic called that you are using for this, I‘m having a hard time finding something similar?

[@homesteadrevivals]

Look for polypropylene sheet drain.

[@ApiaryManager]

Have you considered treasury tags instead of cable ties to secure the sides? They might save you a bit of time during assembly and they're easily dissassembled for storage.

[@geriannroth449]

What are treasury tags and where can I purchase them?

[@ApiaryManager]

@@geriannroth449 You can buy them in stationery shops. They're like a small piece of twine with either metal or plastic at each end. You put it through the punched hole in paper and twist the ends together.

[@sw8candy83]

what is the name of your material?

[@mrThoreKarlsson]

How did it work ?

[@555alsi]

how did the experiment go?

[@michaelransom5841]

i've considered doing this before, but was unsure how the chicken wire would hold up... any updates?

[@MrMcGillicuddy]

That is galvanized mesh not chicken wire. Galvanized mesh will hold up fine. I'd say at least 10 years or more I'd assume

[@MrMcGillicuddy]

I guess he called it chicken wire but it's not that flimsy cheap stuff that goes bad and tears/warps easily

[@Alan_CFA]

Just tried searching for this material. It goes by the names “dimple mat” or “dimple board”

[@DuyNguyen-lo2mm]

odd I was looking at these Polypropylene Sheet Drain two months ago they were going for $80 per roll of 4'x50' now Lowes selling for $268 per roll what is going on with inflation.

[@davidserigny4357]

How did they work?

[@davidbaughman6242]

Rather than drilling each hole, how about laying the sheets down bump-up and grinding the tops off of the bump with a belt sander? Just a thought.

[@bighill6633]

A similar product comes up on Lowe’s website as polypropylene drainage sheets.

[@peterellis5626]

Just came back looking for exactly this information ;)

[@jenniferturgeon2998]

still very expensive...

[@GrandmaSezSo]

Showing $250 US dollars or a 50 ft x 4 ft roll at Lowes. I wonder how many pots that would make.

[@SamuraiMaxwell]

@@GrandmaSezSo I'd figure 2x2...that would make 50 pots. At $250 a sheet it's $5 a pot.

[@Tunnelrat6666]

Be warned I used a similar product cordrain only lasted six months as it had no UV protection the shit fell apart.

[@Ys_La]

Meow.. Love it 😍

[@ManofLetters]

meow indeed!

[@Volintena]

Is it food safe plastic?

[@Hari-ur9ve]

Nice video.... very innovative. Can you please provide link of where we get those plastic sheets or what do we google them for with name ??

[@jsbagmanufacturecompany7856]

Nice

[@ylmzcrdn3168]

How much milimeter drain membrane