DIY DIY Airpot Tutorial

[G.Leave]

I searched around Cannada and the US for a source of reasonably costed airpots. The only place I could find in Canada had what I wanted, but I thought the price was pretty steep once shipping was factored in(around $15 each for 3 gallon) I thought wow for 5 pots that like half of another light! So I decided to make my own. I checked out online but quickly realized that many other guys ideas of DIY airpots are simply drilled holes in the side of the pot. That would work fine for helping the pots to dry out quicker, but it didn't do anything for the main purpose of the airpot, to funnel the roots into the "caves" with the holes to air prune them.

Materials Needed:
5 gallon Bucket
1/8th" drill bit
3/8" drill bit
Drill
Paint Stripper/Heat Gun
Scraper
Wood to reinforce rim if you need to cut down the bucket to save on vertical space

Tools and materials(missing paint scraper in pic)

Step 1: Preparing the Bucket
This step might be optional for you, as I needed to save as much vertical space as I could in my grow so I cut down the bucket to around 3 gallons. I used the tablesaw(carefully while only moderately stoned...lol) for this task. This part was a bit of effort. Once the top of the bucket was cut off, due to the cutting of the rim the top was floppy and didn't hold its form very well. So I cut a bunch of 5/8" maple sticks and predrilled the ends before screwing the outer frame together ensuring it was a nice fit around the top of the rim. Then I took a bunch of screws and screwed the top of the bucket to the new frame I made for the top. Now its nice and sturdy and gives me somewhere to add a whack of screws, which i'll use to anchor a series of fairly stiff wires to use for training.

Step 2: Bottom Drainage
Super fast and easy task. Take your drill with the 3/8" bit, and drill holes every 1" on the bottom of the bucket. Make sure you ream(go in and out while the drill is running) the holes to try to get all of the bits of plastic to clear out of the holes.

Prepared bucket with Drainage holes drilled and Custom oak/maple rails...yowsa!!

Step 3: Side Holes
Take your drill with the 1/8" bit and drill holes 1 1/2" spaced along the side of the bucket, again reaming the holes to try to clear out the bits of plastic. The reason for this is, you don't want the roots to get caught on the small bits of plastic, thus ruining the purpose of the holes.

Step 4: Clearing the side holes
Especially important on the inside of the bucket(likely where most of the bits of leftover plastic from the drill holes). Take your paint scraper and scrape the bits of plastic off. Sometime they will fold back into the drilled hole, so another reaming usually clears them out.

Step 5: Making the Concave
So every plastic bucket is probably going to be different not to mention the variance in the heat guns power. It takes these buckets 17-20 seconds to heat up a row(5 holes) and soften the plastic enough to be able to make a good sized indentation with the back end of the 3/8 drill bit. So all I do is run the heat gun slowly across a row(each pass taking about 3-4 seconds), keeping it about 1" away from the bucket. You will see the plastic start to warp as it softens. You should not smell burning plastic. Now time is crucial, quickly move to step 6.

Step 6: Hurry its coolin'!!
This is the only tricky part in the process. While bracing your bucket(careful the part you heated is pretty hot! ), use the back end of the 3/8" make a cavity centered on the first 1/8" hole you drilled. It takes quite a bit of force to make the plastic form into the cave shape we want. I can get a whole row(5 holes) of holes done before the plastic needs reheating.

The Old "Brace and Push"

Make sure you watch your holes on the outside of the bucket, and don't push too hard! (oops...lol)

A bit of effort, but not bad. Maybe 45 minutes a bucket, start to finish.

 

[A-Train]

Great post 912... looks like you got a nice prototype worked out now it's time to cut the price in half and take over the market lol.... thanks for the share man

 

[Corgy]

A little pain for your troubles from me too .......well deserved.

 

[G.Leave]

Thanks for the rep gents! Hopefully this will be useful for others having a hard time finding airpots.(or too damn cheap to buy 'em like me...lol)

 

[F.N.]

Simply Awsome

 

[The420smoker]

This morning I ordered 40x 5.5 gallon Ultra Oxy Pot for $300($7.50 each)

 

[stepside]

Nice, I'm cheap but not as much as I'm lazy. Good for you man pretty simple though. definitely deserving some of that

 

[Corgy]

Making the holes, have you considered using a soldering iron rather than a drill.....I find a soldering iron quite indispensable, making sealed holes in all plastic kinds of material is quick and easy, including smartpots for tie down holes for LST and such.......

 

[BII]

To me it looks like a regular bucket aerated with some holes, nothing looking or functioning like a real Air-Pot®. The purpose of airpots is to guide the roots to air exposure, with inward-curving surfaces (the most important part) focusing/directing roots to the adjacent outer protruding holes. But you're bucket surface area is like 90+% flat, doing nothing to direct roots to the holes. If simple outward-protruding holes worked like an Air-pot, we'd all know that and be using them rather than paying for expensive real Air-pots.

What you might do, to get the functionality of an Air-Pot, is have holes like you have alternating with an inward protrusion you probably form by heating up the plastic and pushing it inward while hot and pliable. Just take a look at a real airpot.

Otherwise, Air-pots work well, are very cost-effective (cheap in context of many other growing expenses) and would likely more than pay for themselves the first time used.

 

[F.N.]

This morning I ordered 40x 5.5 gallon Ultra Oxy Pot for $300($7.50 each)

That is a great price for sure But us Canadians cannot shop at HGT we pay on average for a airpot five gallon is close to 20.00 plus tax for ONE airpot so 912 as saved a shitload of money.