How to Grow in a Bag of Soil

How to Grow in a Bag of Soil

It's easy to be intimidated when you're trying to figure out how you want to grow.

There's no shortage of methods for growing at home, from basic potting soil to sophisticated hydroponic systems. When it comes to outdoor cultivation your options can become more limited.

While hydroponic features can still be used outdoor, it will always be harder to maintain environment because you can't control nature like you can an indoor grow facility.

But that doesn't mean outdoor cultivation can't still be simplified! In fact, as long as you have some bags of soil, you're ready to get started.

Growing in a Bag of Soil

There's more than one way to skin a cat (apparently) and there's more than one way grow in a bag of soil believe it or not! Well, really, there's two.

You can cut your bag open like normal from the top where you would dump it into a pot, or you can lay it down flat and cut out the side of the bag. The former gives each plant plenty of space within its individual bag to expand its roots, while the latter can allow you to put more than one plant in each bag to maximize your space.

The simplest way to think about growing in a bag of soil is that you're simply substituting a traditional plastic or fabric pot with the bag itself. When you consider costs, it's the cheap option for sure.

But does that make it less effective?

Pros and Cons of Growing in a Bag of Soil

We'll start with the obvious pro that we just mentioned; cost. Where you would normally be buying a bag of soil roughly for each pot you would be filling, as well as buying all the pots needed, you're cutting that cost in half, literally, by just using the bags the soil comes in.

Another pro is the ability to save time. It isn't a quick process filling up individual pots with just the right amount of soil for every stage of your plant's growth. Starting in a small pot, transplanting to a slightly bigger pot and then a final transplant into the final pot, all takes time and effort.

With a bag of soil, you can go straight from your small pot into the bag, saving time and money. Plus when done correctly, the bag itself can be used to transport your plants more easily, using the folded sides of the bag as makeshift handles.

But growing in a bag of soil isn't without its cons either.

For starters you aren't growing in a pot. Yes, that is the point of growing in a bag, but there are some blatant differences between the two. The biggest being that a bag doesn't have the rigid structure of a pot.

A lot of bags of soil aren't designed to be used as a pot, plain and simple. This means that over time as your plant grows and becomes heavier, the bag might struggle to support the plant which can lead to toppling.

When you water your plants, there's also a chance that the water all flows to one side of the bag because of weight distribution, which can cause more problems. Lastly there is drainage, and the plain fact that bags don't have any! Forgetting about this is going to cause some issues later on, but it's an easy fix.

Just poke holes in the bottom of the bag!

Conclusion

Growing in a bag isn't for every grower. If you can afford it, re-usable fabric pots with handles are the best bang for your buck when it comes to housing your plants.

But for the grower on a budget, or just a grower who doesn't want to double up their plastic use, growing in a bag of soil can work just as effectively if managed properly.

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