Roots shouldn't be exposed to light. You'll also end up with algae growing inside the container.

myself, I sure along with others, wouldn't recommend clear planters.

hahaha... ^^^ I'd hesitate to buy anything from anybody who plants a succulent in a soaking wet pot of sand, glass or not ;)

Try orchid nurseries, the orchid guys have a lot of clear pots - supposedly some orchids' roots need light exposure. They have nice clear pots made from acrylic & softer plastics; haven't seen much glassware specifically for large pots.

If you really wanna go hitech check out Parrot's Flower Power gizmo... yeah Parrot the same mob that gave us AR Drone. It datalogs and transmit via Bluetooth to an app in your smartphone whenever you're nearby! Don't know if there's other similar copies out on the market by now.

Tamiya, one of the things I wanted to visualize with a glass pot was the height of the perched water table, using different formulations of soil.

Heh I use large cups from 7-11 Slurpee or McD's thick shakes, they're clear plastic not paper around here. Good to "test" different batches see how much they perch.

I use opaque plastic pots for a few smaller plants, which contain Gritty Mix... the coloring is dark enough to keep roots safe, but I can still see what's going on. I don't know who manufactures them... a friend sent me several quite some time ago. They're about 4" pots, with a saucer that twists on to hold it in place.

I'd try to go with something more opaque if you can locate it.

To experiment with/observe pwt in mixes, i use the clear plastic cups iced coffee comes in - a bit flimsy, but easy to puncture and I don't actually put plants in them.

If you want semi-opaque pots to grow in, look at orchid supply places, they seem fairly common in orchid culture.

I'm running my own experiments in clear plastic orchid pots for several months now.

Algae is only a problem in clear pots if your mix doesn't dry quickly and you do not have good lighting conditions.

The longer it takes to dry out, the more algae you get. Originally, I only planned to experiment a month or two and repot back as normal due to potential algae concerns, but now I will continue growing those plants as normal.

Tamiya mentioned the Flower Power, which I am using extensively. The data is quite valuable, if you are into that sort of thing.

My overall growing approach is quite scientific/quantifiable, which is very different from what most people are doing.

ewwmayo, when will you publish data?

Westes - I have already been publishing my data around the forums. Here is one thread with many photos/discussion/data: [Succulents Before and After 6 Months[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/succulents-before-and-after-6-months-dsvw-vd~3545786).

Here is my Fall/Winter watering data (% soil moisture). You can see the days where I watered, which is now down to about every 5 days. The last period was me trying to stretch it to a week, but was quite stressful for many of my plants.

Data is logged every 15 minutes. The missing gap is where I unfortunately had some issues with my automatic data sync system.

This Jade was potted in a clear orchid pot over four months ago:

I don't think clear pots are a good idea if the plant is exposed to high temperature / light outside, but indoors I think it's quite manageable.

If you're really curious about soil mixes and it's interactions with water/drying out/roots, then I think you should give it a try.

For me it was educational and I used plants that are not expensive/valuable.

ewwmayo, what is the formula for your version of a gritty mix that produced the growth shown in the photos on the post you linked?

Westes - It's 60-85% granite grit and the remainder Turface/fir bark (blended reptibark). The exact ratio is customized per plant/species.

Plants that do well with more moisture like the Jade are closer to 60% grit and species are quite picky like the Gibbaeum are around 85%.

Actually the PWT height, would be the minimum height of mix in a cup.( That produces no drainage when totally saturated with water.)

ewwmayo, do you publish your guidelines for mixes for each species you have tested with?

Amazing that anything thrives on 85% grit....

It's not that surprising to those of us that have worked with a lot of aggregate media. Gravel based hydroponics are decades (if not thousands depending upon whom you ask) old. It just about watering frequency and fertilization at that point.

Westes - Sorry, I haven't published a list anywhere. Currently I'm growing about 100 different species and it would be a pretty big effort (and not sure how valuable).

At first I made generalizations about soil per genus or family, but many species are quirky and don't fit in with the rest.

Keeping a grower's journal and progress photos are very helpful for me in determining whether the mix is actually matched well with a plant or not.

Each plant will change in response to it's mix: sometimes it's immediately positive and other times a subtle decline. Sometimes you want to believe a certain mix or ratio is better... but then it's not.

At the least, there are a couple plants of mine that I know I could do a bit better by adjusting the mix, just a matter of finding an appropriate time to do so.

Nil - 100% agreed!

Environment, including light, temperature and humidity (and probably more factors) makes a huge difference, so what works for one person for a particular species is not going to work the same way for another grower in a different environment.

Keep in mind the goal of tuning per species isn't just for the happiness of the plant, but for your convenience and sanity. The idea is to be able to water all or a majority of your plants at the same time - be it every 4, 5, or however many days. If you don't have many plants, and/or are OK individually assessing all your plants often and watering each as necessary, there's little benefit in much per-species tuning unless things are really out of whack.

I too have found keeping a journal very helpful. I often wish it was in a spreadsheet, but every time I try that I don't keep it up - scribbling in a book has worked for me though.

rooftop, so what is the way to know that a given plant in a given soil mixture should be watered every five days? This is all just visual assessment of plant health in a given mixture watered every five days?