The downside to this method, for me, is the amount of water lost by evaporation. He has the right idea using a SIP (sub-irrigation planter) system, but by using a closed system such as EarthBox the water savings is incredible. Note the "shower cap" over the planter in the photo.

Here is one of my EB that over Wintered with tomatoes. They put out a lot of fruit, and will be de-commissioned soon. Right now they are ravaged by spider mites and still producing:

Thanks Drew. I have been following Larry since I stumbled across him while looking for a cheap float mechanism for a pond auto watering system. It has been a while since I looked at his videos. This one really makes me chuckle.

I suspect allowing all of that air into the soil though increased surface area doesn't hurt either in explaining rapid growth. While that would also increase evaporative losses and salt accumulation from tap water using his system makes at least the former bearable.

I recently went to root bags, as they are cheap, and this air pruning is just an added benefit. I'm too lazy to put in a drip system. My dog would probably just disable it anyway. So I need to water a lot!! Anyway I like the fact he get's by with cheap stuff. Those wallmart bags are 99 cents.