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Does anyone know the exact fabrics the higher quality fabric planters are made from? and know where to get some besides china and at a practical cost?
I've been going through some sort of google hell trying to figure out what the exact stuff is. The DIY guides and google searches will lead you into oblivion unless you think to add the word "synthetic" to your searches, which is a lot less obvious than it might seem. The DIYers fall short of supplying the actual fabrics and are satisfied with makeshift alternatives to the marketed stuff, like landscaping fabric. I'm not sure if it's a well kept trade secret or if I'm overlooking the answer, but any help figuring it out would be appreciated =)
The best lead I have is searching "Synthetic polypropylene felt" but then there are a bunch of different kinds of polypropylene felts, and then you need to know how it's sewn. It might not even be synthetic felt.
I think if you want the best stuff you need to actually go to china, check out a bunch of samples to pick, spend like $200 on 100 miles of fabric, and then spend a small fortune shipping it back.
There's a tek here on this somewhere. Im pretty lucky, the hydro shop in my town sells them dirt cheap compared to Amazon or anywhere else Ive seen online.
The landscaping stuff is an ok makeshift alternative and has a lot of the same benefits, but I think even the best geotextile fabric will be generic planter quality at best, and even then, what's the exact fabric they use to make generic geotextile planters? I actually don't think the higher quality fabric planter are even made of geotextile. I have a hunch that needle punched polypropylene felt might be some good stuff, but I'd have to verify with someone who knows or see and cut the fabric.
I know it's a long shot, but I'm looking for some insider secret recipe fabrics.
OK so Geotextiles are synthetic fiber materiials that happen to be mainly permeable/breathable and all fabric planters ARE geotextile. So I was wrong, and you were right to say that, dead. However, there's a fairly wide range of different woven/non-woven geotextiles which are potentially very different, and not distinguished by names like "synthetic felt" or "geotextile polyester" as much as by exact specifications like permiability, tensile strength, breathability, UV resistance, weight, etc... Like 2 companies can have "needle punched non-woven synthetic felt" but until you know the specifications, it's impossible to say they will be the same fabric beyond maybe looking similar. If you want to order Planter fabric, you need to know the exact specifications you want, or at least find a company that's made custom geotextile designed to be used as planter fabric. A few of the big name fabric planters use their own patented material, which you can't copy unless you know the exact specifications.
Landscaping fabric is likely used because it's one of the most if not the only commercially available geotextile, but not all landscaping stuff is good for planters. If you do go the landscaping fabric route make sure you are at least getting geotextile that's fabric like and not mesh or thin plastic. it should look like the stuff in deadkndy's link or slightly more felt like. Even that stuff in the photos is potentially very different from the fabric planter fabric. Ideally you want to know exactly what specifications you are looking for. The primary fabric planter specifics seem to be "PET/PETE", "non-woven" and probably "needle punched" so look for that on your landscape materiel if you want to buy your own..
I found an online store that sells the 3 different grade root pouch brand planters cheap as hell. The top quality is like 15$ for 15 5gallon or 25 2 gallon for $20, and they have even cheaper pint/quart size root pouch's for $12 or $14 for 50 and the best part is I've yet to see shipping go above 8$. You can find this place if you look around.
There's also a geotextile-fabric.com but it's not the kind of place you can just order a couple feet of fabric. Just good as a reference for anyone trying to make their own custom planter fabric
edit add: root pouch 1 pint... I'd prefer the 1 or 2 quart size, but I like the idea of smaller bags. I wanted to add Velcro to easily transplant if I made my own.
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