Hi all, I am planning an outdoor grow this year and i would like to keep it as simple as possible due to volume. I am at 49.5[FONT="][/FONT]N and my strains are Early Pearl, Durban and a locally bred early flowering strain (Cream). I would like to use Promix BX/HP or Sunshine #4 just by itself and provide all nutrients from a watering reservoir that i could PH and add General Hydroponics or Optimum Hydroponix nutrients (open to others). I will be using either 10, 15 or 20 gallon pots and watering once a week. If you have any concerns about this setup i would like to hear them. As well, if you would like me to clarify anything feel free to ask. Thanks in advance.
Watering once a week in pots may not work. In my indoor I have 7 gallon buckets that droop like crazy after 3 days. In the hottest days of summer I can't imagine you would make it more then a few days without watering in buckets. I do in ground so I don't have to worry about that, but maybe someone who has experience with buckets outdoors can tell you more about there watering schds. Also, I have not used the sunshine mix but a person at the shop does. He waters 2 times a day inside with it. It is a very airy soil that doesn't retain soil IIRC. If you want to water less, I'd look into happy frog, water crystals and mulch.
This is one of my biggest concerns as well. I was thinking though that the combination of larger pots that were painted a light camouflage color and possibly a mesh screen over the soil surface to allow rain water and prevent some direct sunlight might help this. I will probably do some indoor tests over the next 2 months with different pot sizes.
I ran 20 gal & 30 gal smart pots in roots organics and had to feed minimum every 3 days in mid summer. That was under a agricultural tarp that raised humidity too. Once a week is too far out in my opinion. Maybe add some coco to it for water retention if your tryin to go that long
I e mixed coco with pro mix hp and was able to water weekly,but they were still pretty dry and droopy,I used 7 gallon grow bags,IDE recommend bigger bags and sink them into the ground
At 20 gals I was nearly rootbound. If you want to do well with watering less than use 20+, that's why you see the big guys running 100+ gallons, and they aren't even watering once a week...
If I could grow in my yard everything would be in 200 gallon smart pots,last year I has 36 in 7 gallon bags,and 1 in a 65 gallon smart pot,I got almost a year worth of smoke off that one plant,and just unloaded the rest
Thanks everyone. I will most likely be sticking with 20 gallon pots as i have unlimited numbers of them available to me free of charge Also my grow season up here is only 4 months. If i were to add coco, how much would you recommend by volume? And will there be any added issues that tend to accompany coco such as cal/mag deficiencies?
You can also add water crystals to your soil mix,or mix in 20 to 30% coco,or grow in coco bricks add 30% peat
Make sure your weed just disappered , no one unloads anything ever and none of us deal or give weed away - trust me don't mention it it's again the rules to mention it for a reason
I like the idea of the water crystals, i just think that it will be the easiest for my situation as well as being very beneficial. A little follow-up question....assuming my say... 20 gallon pot full of sunshine #4 c/w water crystals is bone dry. How much water would it take to to rehydrate. This will help me finalize the size requirement of my reservoir.
In 20 gal pots I watered with 2-3 gallons h20. It's hard to say as they might consume more. I've never ran sunshine personally so I don't know how it absorbs especially with those crystals...that's gonna be a tough one. Your gonna have to figure out how much the crystals absorb and add that to your amount that the medium will use. Don't know if that helps ya but that's how I would approach the situation