I try to aerate my pots on occasion by taking a thin metal stick and loosing the soil gently in different ways. Sometimes I just loosein the top layer, other times I send the stick down the pot, around the edge and poke holes through at random. All done with great care. Is this a worthy practice? Any other ways to keep oxygen to the roots.

I purchased a little tool online for really cheap, and you stick it into the soil, twist it 1/4 circle, and pull it out. It leaves nice aeration holes because it brings part of the dirt with it. Makes it easy to see if the container or in ground soil is too damp, too dry, or just right. It is called a soil sleuth. Google it.

Other than that there are fabric pots that air prune the roots, and appear to give great results. I'm looking at those too. Those are from smartpots.com. The testimonials have convinced me that these are the way to go.

As cheap as I am, I'm thinking about making my own smart pots with some landscape "weed cover type" fabric, a chicken wire form for support, and a staple gun! The concept there is the drainage through fabric is great, and when the roots hit the fabric wall, they don't circle. The air stops their growth, and they branch out and create more root mass where you want the roots to be, and thus make a larger nicer plant.

There are a few pots that are similar in concept to the smartpot, and here are some links: http://www.rootmaker.com/products_containers.php#jump http://www.fanntum.com/pricing.htm

We do what we can to get the most from our plants! Good luck with yours!

DesertDance,I totally agree about Root Maker air root pruning containers. Root Trapper is their soft fabric version. They also make plastic air root pruning germinating starters, 1 and 5 gallon air root pruning containers, and 100 ft. long rolls made with air root pruning technology. With the rolls, containers up to 250 gallons are easily made. Great containers. - Millet (1,252-)