This is the five-gallon size of Gro Pro’s Essential round fabric grow bag, in black, with a sewn-on handle pair. The published listing describes it as constructed from high quality non-woven fabric made from 220 gram weight material. It is a container on its own — no media, no saucer, no plant. Below are the published five-gallon figures, the source behind each, and what the brand does not publish.
What it is
The Essential line is Gro Pro’s entry-level soft-sided pot: one piece of non-woven fabric, a sewn seam, no rigid wall, no moulded rim and no drain holes to punch, because the whole wall drains. The container shape is listed as round and the listing colour is black. What distinguishes this SKU from the plain Essential pot is that it has handles: a filled fabric bag has nothing rigid to grip, so the straps turn a two-hand shuffle into a one-person lift.
Published specifications (5 gallon)
Each row is the 5 Gallon line of the published Gro Pro spec table, reproduced by a carrying retailer on this size’s own listing. Other sizes’ rows are not carried across.
| Nominal size | 5 gallon |
|---|---|
| Actual volume | 6.8 gallons |
| Actual volume (cubic feet) | 0.91 cubic feet |
| Dimensions (diameter x height, inches) | 14 x 10.2 |
| Material | high quality non-woven fabric |
| Fabric weight | 220 gram weight material |
| Handles | Has Handles: Yes |
| Container shape | Round |
| Colour | Black |
| Item weight | 0.3000 lb |
| Manufacturer SKU | HGC725322 |
| UPC | 849969022391 |
| Prop 65 / hazardous | Prop 65: false; Hazardous Material: false |
| Case pack (store catalogue) | 90/CS — a distributor pack code, not a maker specification |
Why choose the Essential fabric pot
- The wall is the drainage. The published description says the fabric provides great support while allowing air to travel into the root system, and is breathable for better access to oxygen, so there is no perched water table sitting above a punched hole.
- Harder to drown a plant in. The listing states the pots will not trap water, which can help prevent overwatering, and keep roots cool in the heat.
- Handles at the size you actually carry. Five gallons of wet media is roughly the heaviest a person moves casually and repeatedly, which is where a handle pair pays for itself.
- Sold by the case. The catalogue line is 90/CS, the economical way to pot up a whole room at once.
Recommended uses
- One plant per pot. At 0.91 cubic feet of media this is a single-plant container, not a bed or a communal trough.
- Grow spaces where pots get shuffled. Tent rotations, moving plants in and out of sun, or pulling a pot to the sink to water are exactly the routines the handles serve.
- Edibles and ornamentals in a potting mix. UC ANR’s Marin Master Gardeners note that plants that grow well in containers are well suited to grow bags, and that the size of the bag determines the number and types of plants it can accommodate.
Sizing and where it fits
Fit is a footprint question plus a position-in-the-range question. Both are published.
- Footprint: the published figures are 14 x 10.2 inches, diameter by height — measure that diameter against your tent floor, bench pitch and any tray before ordering a case. Gro Pro does not publish a matching saucer size, so none is claimed.
- Position in the range: the with-handles Essential pot is listed in 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 20 gallon sizes, making 5 gallon the second step — the common finishing size for a single annual, and the usual step up from a 3 gallon.
- Media: it is an open container with no reservoir, valve or fitting, so it takes any bagged soil, soilless or coco mix. Gro Pro publishes no approved-media list, so no particular mix is claimed as compatible.
- Shipping: the carrying retailer records shipment restrictions to AK and HI on this item; check our own shipping terms, which govern here.
Filling and running a fabric pot
Read this first: no reachable Gro Pro usage, watering, washing or load directions exist for this pot, so none is presented as the maker’s. The first item below is the published fill volume; the rest is cited university-extension guidance for grow bags as a class, not brand instruction.
- Fill volume (published): the 5 gallon pot holds an actual 6.8 gallons of media. Buy media against the cubic-feet figure, since that is the unit bagged mixes are labelled in.
- What to fill it with (UC ANR): the extension guidance is that grow bags should be filled with a potting soil mixture rather than garden soil, which can become compacted.
- Where to stand it (UC ANR): the same source notes that grow bags can be placed directly on ground or pavement, but there will be leakage, so a saucer underneath can prevent staining on decks or patios.
- Watering habit (UC ANR): the listed trade-off is that because the soil in a grow bag drains well it also dries out faster, so more frequent watering is required.
- Why the sides matter (UF/IFAS): UF/IFAS Landscape Plants states that fabric containers somewhat reduce the incidence of circling roots, because air dries the media on the outside edge of the root ball and prevents root growth there.
- Between seasons (UC ANR): the extension article says that at the end of the growing season the soil can be emptied into the garden or compost pile and the bag cleaned and stored, and that grow bags usually last several seasons before they deteriorate. That is general grow-bag practice, not a Gro Pro service-life claim.
How it compares with a rigid nursery pot
A role comparison, not a ranking.
| Factor | Essential fabric pot (this product) | A rigid plastic nursery pot |
|---|---|---|
| Wall | non-woven fabric, drains over its whole area | moulded plastic with punched holes in the base |
| Root edge | air dries the media at the outer edge, reducing circling roots | roots meet a solid wall and track around it |
| Watering | dries faster, needs watering more often | holds moisture longer between waterings |
| Empty storage | folds flat | nests, but still takes shelf volume |
| Carrying | sewn handles | a moulded rim you grip directly |
Frequently asked questions
Is a “5 gallon” pot really five gallons? No — the published table gives the actual volume as 6.8 gallons. “5 gallon” is the range’s size name; the real capacity runs above it, which is why the cubic-feet column exists.
What does “(90/CS)” in the title mean? It is the distributor case code carried in our catalogue — 90/CS. It describes how the item is packed for distribution and is not a Gro Pro specification of the pot itself.
How is it different from the no-handle Essential pot? The published product data for this SKU records Has Handles: Yes and the same 220 gram weight material as the rest of the Essential range. The handles are the difference we can source; we do not claim any other.
Kitting out a room? Add to cart, or talk to a grower about pot size and plant count.
Sources
- Hydrobuilder — Gro Pro Essential Round Fabric Pot with Handles, 5 Gallon – Black (HTTP 200 via fetch_maker, retrieved 2026-07-19). Carrying retailer; PRIMARY source here because no maker page is reachable. Reproduces the Gro Pro spec table (5 Gallon row: 6.8 gallons, 0.91 cubic feet, 14 x 10.2 inches diameter x height), the product data (SKU HGC725322, UPC 849969022391, Weight 0.3000 lb, Has Handles: Yes, Container Shape: Round, Prop 65 false, Hazardous Material false, restrictions AK, HI), the label description (non-woven, breathable, will not trap water, keeps roots cool, 220 gram material) and the size list 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20 Gallon: https://hydrobuilder.com/products/gro-pro-essential-round-fabric-pot-with-handles-5-gallon-black
- UF/IFAS Landscape Plants, University of Florida — “Air root pruning containers” (HTTP 200, retrieved 2026-07-19): fabric containers reduce circling roots because air dries the media at the outside edge of the root ball: https://hos.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/root-growth-containers5.shtml
- UC ANR, UC Marin Master Gardeners — “Growing Veggies in Bags”, Feb 2023 (HTTP 200, retrieved 2026-07-19). Generic grow-bag technique, NOT this product’s maker directions: potting mix not garden soil; a saucer on decks; drains well so dries faster and needs watering more often; empty, clean and store between seasons; bags last several seasons; bag size sets what fits: https://ucanr.edu/site/uc-marin-master-gardeners/article/february-2023-growing-veggies-bags
- Maker sources checked, NOT usable (M-07): hydrofarm.com 404s every /p/ pattern for HGC725322 and its sitemap.xml carries no Gro Pro fabric pot; hawthornegc.com and hawthornegc.ca 403 to both server-side and anonymous fetch. No maker snapshot exists and nothing here is manufacturer-spec.
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