This is a bit of information I gathered recently. I spoke about a viewer called Sanal in one of my previous videos. He sent me a video on a new kind of pot called ‘Air pot’. A few Malayalam YouTube videos have appeared on it. In Kerala, a farm called Churuli is selling the product. The peculiarity of air pots is that it is full of small holes, even at the bottom. An ordinary pot may have only one or two holes in all, and they will close to the base, in order to permit the outflow of water. But an air pot has holes all over, permitting free passage of air in the soil as well. The roots of the plants growing in them will spread sideways too. In foreign countries, this pot is used to grow big trees in. The cost of one pot comes to Rs 750 in Amazon. We placed a bulk order with Ali Baba. The Churuli Farm website does not give details of its address. So we could not contact the agency. At Ali Baba the cost of one air pot is Rs 870. I don’t know whether an additional duty had to be paid as well. In such circumstances, the best way out is to imitate its design, using whatever material is locally available.
What we did was to procure huge buckets, that were originally printing ink containers, and drill small holes on it. The holes should be small. Otherwise, the soil will flow out when we water the plants or when it rains. These improvised pots may not be as good as air pots but ordinary people who do not have extra money to spare can think of this alternative. Big buckets worth Rs 225 or nearly Rs 300 are available in the market. They can be used to grow big trees in, after drilling holes. Remember to take precautions while drilling holes. Place the bucket on a piece of newspaper or a mat or a sack cloth so that the plastic pieces do not fall into the soil. That way, you can save time and effort required to pick the pieces and dust. Later, you can fill the pot with soil, and plant the saplings. If you place all the pots close together on the terrace, following the Miyawaki model, that will aid the growth of the saplings. I have spoken on this subject earlier. But at that time, we had not drilled holes in the pots. We merely picked up the drums we had, planted saplings, and placed the improvised pots on a rocky surface. In a year’s time, the plants grew appreciably. If you use air pots, the growth may be even better.
A problem that is likely to arise here is that with continuous exposure to the sun, the plastic may deteriorate. In order to prevent it, you may think of using coir cloth or jute sack cloth or even a discarded lungi to cover the pots loosely. This will prevent sunlight from falling directly on them, and help the pots live longer. Those of you who wish to put up a forest on your terrace may consider this option. Those who stay in rented houses too may try it out as an experiment. All it entails is a bit of labour cost when you shift from one house to another. But we can take our forest with us wherever we go. Therefore please try out the experiment.