Experience with grow bags?

[Mnasi]

Has anyone had an experience with grow bags vs the standard plastic pots? I am trying to use grow bags for the larger palms because I intend all my palms to eventually end up in the ground, but I find my plants don't seem to do as well in grow bags compared to plastic pots. Might be a simple issue of moisture, perhaps, but I am not sure. If anyone has any experience or thoughts, please share - it would be great to hear from you. Thank you.

[D. Morrowii]

I’ve used them in the 5 to 25 gallon size for bananas and some palms. They are pretty durable but they dry out quickly. If whatever you put in them loves water you might want to mix the soil to hold moisture and plan on watering more often. 
on the plus side you can store empty ones almost anywhere and they are fairly inexpensive. 

[Mnasi]

Thanks, @D. Morrowii. Yes, just like you, I use the 10 to 25 gallon sizes for growing plants upto planting size. Last year was my first try with fabric gow bags. I have used them for Heliconias and gingers and these seem to be doing well in the grow bags, but for palms (Arenga, Caryota, Bentinckia) and trees (Ficus mainly), there is a clear difference between plants in large pots and in the grow bags. But as you mentioned, grow bags are relatively inexpensive, easy to store and transport, and versatile, and I was hoping they would work to replace plastic pots and plastic bags. I will take your advice and modify the soil to hold more water as I already adjusted the watering regime.

Thanks so much, @D. Morrowii.

[sonoranfans]

Because grow bags dry cycle so much more quickly than pots, they have dry cycle variability issues.  I see them as a disadvantage when you depend on unfiltered tap water and not rain.  Unflitered tap water can have hardness (salts) that it leaves behind when the soil dries.  Couple that with the 2-3x more frequent watering and you get much faster salt buildup from tap water which can cause hydrophobicity in the soil that in turn will cause nutrient deficiencies.  You can remove the salts every few months using a heavy (2x) humic acid rinse  so that nutrient deficiencies do not result from hardness residuals in potting soil.  If I were to use these bags, I would probably limit their evaporation (slow the dry cycle) during the cool and dry times of the year with plastic wrap on the sides and not the bottom, and I would also use a good moisture retaining high drainage soil mix.  For sure pots have their issues as well with water channeling and soil packing density variation.  RIght now we have had 7 inches of rain for the year so bags would be a no for me.  IF you get a lot of consistent rain,  they might be very good.

[Mnasi]

Thanks, @sonoranfans. That is a new variable that I didn't even consider but now that you mention it, I can see the salt build up on the bags as they turn white. Removing salts is something completely new to me - I have never done it or even thought of doing. I will need to read up on that. The plastic wrap seems like a quick easy fix, though unsightly, I would imagine. I will try that.

Thanks again, @sonoranfans.