How to Choose the Best Container Type and Size

What are your goals?

The first thing to ask yourself when choosing a container size and type is what goals are you trying to achieve. We offer many flexible options for different facility types, infrastructure, and desired end goals, which will determine how to make the best decision for your crop. Are you trying to maximize yields? Or are you trying to minimize labor and fully automate? Or maybe you are trying to minimize your water usage? Knowing your desired goal will help you to decide what options will work best for your setup.

Plastic or Mesh?

We offer our open top 3.5L (approx. 1 gallon) and 6.5L (approx. 2 gallons) containers in either a plastic or non-woven mesh grow bag. We often get asked what the difference is, and the reality is that both have different benefits.

First, the mesh will dry down slightly faster than the plastic, making it a better choice if you have a precision irrigation setup and are looking for quick dry downs. The mesh bags are breathable and will encourage some natural root pruning, which will create a symmetrical and stronger inner rootball. This means plants can veg faster and take up more water and nutrients.

On the other hand, the plastic bags will have a more parabolic dry down curve, but will generally have more uniform moisture content as it dries down. This will encourage root wrapping around the container, giving you those stunning long white roots that many people see on social media. This is ideal for when you need to transplant to a larger container, or you have an environment where direct light and moving air come into contact with the root zone or container. Although the plastic grow bags dry down slower, they are still filled with our premium coco coir blend and offer all the benefits of texture and aeration of HortGrow coco.

What volume container?

Container size depends on plant spacing and irrigation capacity.

For indoor gardens with controlled irrigation, we generally recommend 3.5L grow bags for final plant center spacings up to 25” apart, and 6.5L for longer veg times or wider plant spacing.

Greenhouse growers prefer to use 6.5L, or larger, grow bags regardless of spacing, due to the higher light intensity and often higher VPD. Greenhouse gardens with only the ability to irrigate once or twice per day should consider larger containers, such as our 10L grow bags.

Our 10L and 18L grow bags are popularly used for mother plants in nursery gardens.

Field Capacity, WHC, Crop Steering

For 3.5L Plastic or Mesh open top grow bags:

Field Capacity 2.0L

WHC 58-62%

Recommended Shot Size 2-4%

40-90mL

For 6.5L Plastic or Mesh open top grow bags:

Field Capacity 3.2L

WHC 48-52%

Recommended Shot Size 2-4%

60-140mL