5-7 gallon pots should be okay for smaller autos or carefully timed photos. It's not ideal, but you can certainly make it work for a round or two without reamending. Large pot size just gives us wiggle room and nutrient buffering so there isn't as pertinent of a need to watch like a hawk for deficiencies. If you wanted to stick with smaller pots I suggest you read up on teas so you can make quick nute corrections if they come up Eta a 3×3 bed would be great for your tent, but I'd understand if you want to stick with pots though
So really once I have everything setup I should probably try and get the biggest possible pots that will work for me if I intend to continue to reuse the soil each time my height is somewhat limited in my grow tent as well as on top of my 3 layout I am using the Gorilla shorty, which even with the extension I'm only sitting at 5'8 but it's the best I could do lol
No worries about height if you're pretty fluent in any type of growth training. Given your limitations I may recant my suggestion for autos and possibly suggest photos then, as you can flip at just the right time to keep them small and manageable if you time it right. I agree height is the biggest aggravation some times. Nothing sucks more than when your girl overgrown her tent. Ugh
Good morning. The main reason organic gardeners mix their own soils from scratch is because of CONTROL. While a certain amount of “nutritional” organic soil amendments (kelp/bone/neem blah blah blah) is necessary to keep soil microbes happy and active - your sack of soil may state that the bag contains X, Y & Z - but how much X, Y & Z does the sack contain? Too much? A pinch? Just enough to say its in there? Who knows? Our organic soils contain these soil amendments but RELY on the addition of quality compost and/or vermicompost - active, living items. What kind of quality compost/vermicompost do you think a massive soil factory is using? How much are they even putting in the mix? CONTROL. By buying bagged soil you may grow yourself some fine plants but you will NOT ever get the same experience as you would sourcing the highest quality viable compost and using plenty in your mix - the best quality kelp and using sufficient amounts, etc etc - Dig? j
Bigger pots more room for root growth = larger plants and less chance of nutrient depletion before plant matures think 6/10 gallon, 4/15 or 2/ 20's vs 9/5's gal your plants will have more room and air circulation as they grow too. if you go with larger pots you can start some 5's and then transplant your best into 15's or 20's
Regarding your fish emulsion - For what its worth there is three types of organic fertilizer made from fish - the granular dry amendment known as fish meal (great product) and the 2 liquids; Emulsion and Hydrolysate. Fish meal is great - sprinkle it into your soils when you’re constructing them and it’ll last quite awhile. “Slow release”. Emulsion is the lesser of the 2 liquids. An emulsion uses heat to break down the great big stinkin’ vats of fish but the problem is that the heat destroys some of the good stuff thats very beneficial to plant growth. Oils are removed and sold into different markets and often the fish meal is as well. Alot of what you want in a fish fertilizer is removed or destroyed by heat in the emulsion process - amino acids, enzymes, vitamins and growth hormones etc. A hydrolysate uses a cold process - enzymes are used to break down the fish leaving the oils and amino acids intact and left in your fertilizer. A hydrolysate is a much better fertilizer option than a fish emulsion. Quick and better explanation here: Anim Agriculture Technology: TYPES OF FISH FERTILIZER J
The cost and time for me is a non-factor, I want to produce the best possible product I can roll with for quite some time. And I like the idea as said of building my own blend and knowing exactly what is in it. I know it obviously makes complete sense but hearing you guys explain it in depth makes it that much more clear lol.. Stop me if I'm beating a dead horse but I'm just trying to wrap my head around the basics, I have 2 questions regarding the setup I have in mind. 1) So I will likely be copying the formula in this thread maybe modifying it slightly based on more recent posts and other suggestions. As stated, in smaller pots its harder to maintain nutrient life. The process of amending the soil after each grow seems straight forward enough. However, If I was to grow in a 5 or 7 gallon pot, Am I relying strictly on visual cues to determine how my plant Is doing? I recently purchased a pretty decent PH and PPM meter, however, it seems like PPM in no till organic grow is kind of irreverent because it doesn't give you a direct indicator as it would if you were feeding them nutes and consistently maintaining those levels through veg and then into flower? my local water is very neutral and when I measured it out of the tap it was only registering 15ppm, So I would think this water would be fine to brew my teas with etc? 2) I do not have a separate drying area (unless the wife will stand for the buds hanging over the spare bed where she does her makeup lol) So I had planned to dry in my same grow tent.. I will be trying to time the dry time as such that pretty much right away once I'm done drying I can start my next grow cycle.. is there any issue with a delay in growing something within the pots, or can I amend the soil, let it "cook" during the drying, then get it right back going once the tent is free? I think my concerns are probably somewhat unfounded as if I build and feed my soil correctly it should be pretty resilient no? Once again, many thanks for your input
As for container size, I found it interesting this year, since I seem to be able to grow only damn males, that after I chopped them, I took a good look at the root systems. This may be good to do on other plants too since it gives a really good understanding of what’s going on under there.
Weed has a really wide range of tolerances. Don't overthink it and use the tools readily available and get stuff started. Your water sounds like a great base, you don't have to worry about salt build up for sure. That water is very low in mineral content so you will have to add more nutrients than say 400ppm well water. The best soil is bonsai soil, consistent soil particle size. Silt is screened out, rocks are screened out. It's laborious to make but that is the ideal. Then just lots of organic matter. Bagged potting soil is a good short cut, they all need organic amendments eventually lots of choices and things to consider there personally I hate concentrates because it's easy to burn plants. Up to you how much time/money to spend on soil. Sunlight is the best a million lumens of broad spectrum. I've seen really neglected plants growing in a ditch put out great weed. I didn't water or fertilize my last plants at all, I 100% neglected them. They were a bit smaller but I can't tell a difference in the keef. More often I see really loved plants die. Overwatering causes root rot and die off. Overfeeding causes shock, leaf burn, and growth just stops. Putting high intensity lights right against the leaves burning them. Too much humidity making a good environment for pests like mites and aphids and mold. Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
On container size anything 5g - 50g works. I put mine right in the ground and they get huge. The bigger the planter the bigger the plant all else equal. 5g pots you get denser buds, it can make the best weed, but you get a lot less. I do big and small pots and in-ground because variety is the spice of life. Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
They are gonna kick me outta here if I keep bringing it up but a good outdoor option if you have room is bottomless containers. It’s like a mini raised bed and I use them a lot.
I usually aerate and put a layer of compost or such under them but it gives plants a good solid start.
Agreed. I've made my own quasi-fabric pot bottomless raised beds at my old house with wire stock fencing, rebar as stakes and patio fabric. Works great
I’m always hunting ways to reuse these plastic coffee cans that I have constantly piling up and in July/August I’ll usually try to get some plants going late so they will be smaller when they flower. These cans are about a gallon and bright red so I camo them but I made some bottomless and got some decent plants from them. Mostly male of course.
Any thoughts on this compost analysis? I found this from a 2019 farmers collective, I can buy from any of these places really they are all within a short drive oh and with some digging I've brought up some wider analysis which has the Malibu Compost mentioned on the first page as well for comparison:
It never ends. You really need to have someone that speaks English write your sales pitch for you dude cuz you make zero sense. j