I know I need roughly 1 gallon of soil volume for each foot of vertical growth, but I was wondering if the dimensions of my soil container matter. what I mean is there is an obvious difference between 3 gallons of soil dumped into a pot with a 6" diameter and 3 gallons of soil in a container with a 16" diameter. Is the depth of soil important, or just enough soil volume to spread out into? I plan on my first micro grow, I only have a VERY small space, and I am afraid of taking up half of my vertical grow space with 10" pots. I have a rather large footprint, and was leaning towards some long but shallow tupperware containers....but they don't seem very deep, most of their volume is spread out along the floor. I plan to use some lowryder crosses and cfl's for this attempt, any first hand experience would be helpful. My backup plan at the moment is to use heavy duty plastic bags with some holes for drainage.
Go ahead with your larger, shallower planting idea. I would like a 2nd on this, but I read about that, and they say in a shallow root bed, it can keep the plant shorter, but also make it grow OUT, so yes, you should be ok with a shallow plant box, it will help both aspects, keep your plant short, and makes it bushy so you can still have a decent yield.
MJ roots tend to grow down, more than out, but will conform to the container they are planted in. They may not grow as fast or as well in a container that is too shallow. Also, the container needs to be deep enough to keep the roots and soil contained within. If it gets too top heavy, the plant wont be supported. One way to deal with height restrictions is to top and/or train the plant. A good option that helps maximize yield is the SCROG (screen of green) method. You might also consider a SOG (sea of green, many short plants grown close together). You'll find plenty of information on these methods at GC starting in Advanced Growing Techniques in the subforum "Plant Training". Best of Luck!
I plan to use a screen to support/train 2 plants inside of a wide nightstand. my concern is maximizing the grow space. I would rather fill the space with green, than with soil. I suppose I am wondering how shallow is too shallow? I am planning on maybe 5 inch soil depth spread out in a larger than average foot print. this will be my tird grow. first micro grow, first with new strain (easyrider?), and first with cfl's.
This is true, but plants also will grow around, or which ever way to avoid what they cant grow through, I have never done this, but have heard about it, on more than just mj as well. I would probably try to make it a couple inches deeper, at least. on a second note, if the night stand does not have legs, and it has a bottom, you can always take the bottom out, and even add a decorative skirt of some sort to hide it if it does have legs, and then have a pot that sets lower than the old floor of the night stand.
I plan to leave the bottom of the night stand intact for now. If I removed it it would just require more time and money to light proof, and contain the stink...and quite honestly I think I would rather just buy a bigger cab if it came to that. Anyone ever use bags of soil? seems like a thick plastic bag would be the easiest way to shape the "pot" into my ideal size and shape.