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In Growing Media for Ornamental Plants and Turf 4th Edition (p.455) Handreck and Black say of the AnovaPot:

“The ANOVA pot is an interesting pot whose basal design allows the perched water table that is usually present in pots to drain out after irrigation.  This is particularly useful for those plants that need excellent drainage.  Many fewer roots grow from the central basal hole than from the multiple holes of ‘normal’ pots, so making removal from the nursery standing ground much easier”.

People often look at the rasied lip of the central well on the ANOVApot® and are concerned water will pool, causing water logging issues. Much experimental work has been done which proves that it drains excellently utilising capillary flow. Having only one central drainage hole also has the advantage of increasing the efficiency with which the potting media is wet - drainage is quite a bit slower than in conventional pots allowing more time for the media to wet up.   This video demonstrates how an Anovport drains. Handreck and Black have verified what we at Anova Solutions already know.

The Smart Approved WaterMark Product of the Year Award for 2010 has been awarded to the ANOVApot®, which through its unique design reduces root escape and saves water.

The Chair of Smart WaterMark’s Independent Expert Panel, Mr Jeremy Cape said the ANOVApot® had scored highly on all criteria for selection for the award – innovation, marketability, sustainability and good design.

“The ANOVApot® is a very smart design that the Panel felt had been recognised in the commercial nursery industry. Its clever design saves water as well as preventing waste of fertiliser and run-off from pots, which is a very common problem.”

The inventor of the ANOVApot®, Dr Mal Hunter said, “Since its launch in 2005 some 6.6 million pots have been purchased by the Australian nursery industry, which has recognised its benefits of root and water control. Its integral role of major water savings in the recently developed Twinpot Water Management System is particularly exciting.”

The 19th Australian Orchid Council Conference and Show, held in September this year,  attracted over 6000 visitors to the Grand Ballroom, Crown Perth,  Western Australia. In 2010, several Orchid enthusiasts trialled the AnovaPots for their Cymbidiums with outstanding results, so it was no surprise of the positive response we received at the show as the word had spread amongst the numerous Orchid clubs .

For the show Garden City Plastics manufactured clear AnovaPots in 4 sizes 125mm, 140mm, 175mm and 200mm which attracted a lot of comment and interest from the Phalaenopsis growers, several commercial trials are underway with results not known for 12 months.

As a number of users of the 200mm ANOVApot® would have observed, the original version with the 8mm collar has been replaced with an 18mm collar to enhance watersavings, hence the name WaterSaver ANOVApot®.

This pot has now been followed by a 330mm WaterSaver ANOVApot®. The collar in the 330mm pot has been extended to a height of 40mm and the diameter of the central opening widened to 90mm. The original stacking distance of 22mm has been retained.

While we expect the performance of the 330mm WaterSaver as a standalone to be excellent, we have advanced trial results indicating that the pot has great potential in a pot-in-pot configuration, popular for shrub and tree production in the US. We have dubbed our version the Twinpot Water (and Nutrient) Management system (TWMS), where one 330mm WaterSaver ANOVApot® sits on capillary tape inside a second WaterSaver pot (hence ‘Twin’), with the capillary tape transmitting water from the lower pot to the upper pot. We currently trialling a water sensor in the bottom pot. The sensor will measure the electrical conductivity of the water, providing data on water chemical concentration as well as water status.

The mould of the WaterSaver ANOVApot® insert is finished and we are about to embark on trial marketing. The insert is designed to be glued over the holes in clay and ceramic pots to essentially convert them into pots with ANOVApot® drainage and root control characteristics. So anyone buying a clay and ceramic pot can convert them simply into a pot with much better water control.

Moulds for the pots and the Insert have been largely financed by a grant from the Queensland Sustainable Energy Innovation Fund as managed by the Environmental Protection Agency, Queensland, with support from Garden City Plastics Pty Ltd.