Beds Are For F***ing! Small Pots = Big Buds!

[mike hunt]

1 gallon nursery pot for $0.55, sounds good to me.

 

[mittenmedgrow]

Well I did something I have been thinking about doing for about the last five years. I set up my first coco bed. I know it goes against everything I've learned about coco in the last 6 years but I had to try it. As I was setting up this bed yesterday I kept thinking this is so stupid, dumping bag after bag of coco into the 4x8 smart pot tray liner, 16 bags total. I figured out my usual coco to pnds ratio and its close to three per bag. I anticipate 6pnds in this tray with 16 bags. Then today as i was dumping gallon after gallon of feed water into the bed I was thinking damn this is stupid, I could water my whole other 8 light gavita room for about a week with this much water. When you water a large plant daily or multiple times a day in a small pot there is very little evaporation, that plant is drinking it up rapidly. I have a feeling that most of this water that I am dumping in this bed will be collected by the dehuey. So far beds seem to be the most inefficient way of growing with coco that I have tried in all my years of playing with the stuff. I have a feeling this is going to be worse than the smart pot fiasco of 2011 that I endured, but I have to find out for myself. I had planned on running two beds in one of my rooms and leaving the other half of the room to my traditional style of monster plants in small pots but after setting up one of the 4 trays as a bed Im good with just one bed for now. I can tell you this bed is going to have to do something miraculous for me to switch the rest of my rooms over to beds.

 

[grayarea]

outdoors is a 5x5 round or square raised or in the ground considered a bed or a pot ?

whats the avg yield per gallon of coco ? does it change per brand or if you add perlite? seems like the ones who add perlite do better but that most people are not capable of running those type of gardens.

makes since not to use beds of coco indoors if they need to yield ten lbs per 2kw to justify the amount of coco used to fill them.

 

[mittenmedgrow]

For me the difference between calling something a bed or a pot would be a pot grows a single plant where as a bed will be multiple plants in rows. I have only tried one brand of coco and line of fertilizer in the 6 years or so I have been using coco, I have played with that line of fertilizers extensively, trying different combinations. I have tried perlite in different ratios and have found no perlite in canna coco works extremely well. Its hard to say what average yield is for coco but I can consistently get more than 24 oz in a #5 plastic nursery pot which is probably not much more than 3 gallons of coco. The #5 pots are quite a bit smaller than a 5 gallon bucket. Im sure there are many good reasons for using beds. The reason I always wanted to try them is it looked like less work and I know guys do real well with them. I reuse my coco and breaking down all the root plugs I'm left with is a pain in the ass. Also it looks to be much easier to set up a pump watering system than with individual pots. Some of the guys that I have a ton of respect for are using beds and they seem to be doing real well and I want to try something new to me. I never expected better yields or plants out of beds but it looks like a better overall system to me. Im trying to work less and more efficiently these days.

 

[stonestacker]

It's all about finding what works best for you. If you don't try new shit how will you evolve?
I'm all about working more efficiently.

 

[grayarea]

For me the difference between calling something a bed or a pot would be a pot grows a single plant where as a bed will be multiple plants in rows.

putting two into one pot kinda ruins that logic.

8 0z per gallon sounds high. 24 from a 5 gal just sounds good or normal. someone should make some charts already.

It's all about finding what works best for you. If you don't try new shit how will you evolve?
I'm all about working more efficiently.

im still waiting on a new metric system and for people in usa to use the old one. old effective stuff can still evolve things, new stuff often just takes time away from evolving.

 

[mittenmedgrow]

putting two into one pot kinda ruins that logic.


No that would just be using a pot as a bed . 200 gallon smart pot with one plant = pot. 200 gallon smart pot with 12 plants=bed, but you can call it whatever you want.



8 0z per gallon sounds high. 24 from a 5 gal just sounds good or normal. someone should make some charts already.



Too many variables to make an accurate chart. Genetics, training techniques, type of lights and how many , growers skill. Mileage may vary greatly between growers. Example, a good friend of mine only pulls 8 to 10 Oz out of a 10 gallon growing the same cut as I do with the same basic setup and nutrient line. The main difference is my enviroment, it is my number one concern and I keep it dialed in where he is running an 8 light oven not a proper grow room. Also the training plays a huge role. He grows what I call palm trees, bare for the bottom three feet then a bushy top. I grow what I call blueberry bushes. My plants are regularly 2-3 times as big around as they are tall with the bottom branches coming way out not cut off at the trunk.

 

[grayarea]

my point was you wont be able to get the majority to ever say a pot with 2 plants is a bed. if its square then it has better chances of being called a bed then something round with 2 plants regardless of plant count.

not really any new variables that im aware of. each strain has a maximum with the minimum being zero. lol environment always comes first you can use cheap nutes and not pay attention much if the environment is good if its bad you have to try harder for less.

i called rabbits deer for a few months :smoking: did not change there diet or environment.

bushes vs sog would be a better title for a thread.

 

[MSH]

Being that a good root mass is important for this to work I was wondering if using a root hormone throughout flowering instead of stopping it after veg would be good idea?

 

[J Bleezy]

These are 5 gallon smart pots. I just bought a bunch of 7 gallons to replace them, now I'm wondering if that was a mistake. I'll probably at least give them a chance though.

 

[jackwhite]

This coco is not the cheapest, but it is the best ready to go used by some of the finest growers working today.

http://www.charcoir.com/products/
LTS

can this be used in a RDWC hydro system or will it clog up the pipes and pump? thnks

 

[Savage Henry]

Here's an article I found with a detailed description of tomato propagation in coir. This guy is talking about cubes and slabs, but describes irrigation techniques and ec control wonderfully. It is apparent that English is not his first language

 

[grayarea]

is it safe to drink redbull if u smoke weed ?

 

[jackwhite]

is it safe to drink redbull if u smoke weed ?

its safe to do whatever you think your body can handle. I smoke weed, sip on lean, sniff coke, and then end it with a shot of herion. Ive been going strong for years :cool:

 

[Smokey503ski]

I'm liking this thread. Brought me back to his I started using coco in the first place.
Small pots multifed daily.
I grew some huge plants in about 1.5 gallon bags. A few had 2 plants in them and blew up.

 

[jackwhite]

I cant wait to start my next grow. Debating bw white widow or kushberry and Ghost train haze is calling my name as well. prob wont start my next grow till april:speechless::puke2:

 

[cemchris]

can this be used in a RDWC hydro system or will it clog up the pipes and pump? thnks

The only thing about this coco, which I'm using currently, is it still has a lot of chunks in it from the brick that have to be broken up. As long as you are ok with that works great.

 

[Danky Mcnugs]

I'm currently running some plants from seed. Just transplanted to 1 gallons after 2 weeks in some half filled solo cups. They are 16 days in this pic. My first run with coco I had trouble with magnesium deficiency and slow growth in the first couple weeks. I think that was partly due to the nutrients I was using, so I switched to GH Cocotek nutes for this run and it has been 100% better. Still had some mag problems in the first week, but quickly got the fed dialed in. Love growing in small pots of coco!! Setting up the drip as soon as they need daily waterings, then ramp them up to multiple feeds per day when they get flipped!

 

[Funkadelic]

From my observation of different sizes and watering routines this round, small pots on short cycle timer water/feeding > everything else. I'm convinced. Same strains side by side.... smaller pots won hands down, and the more breathable material also won.

 

[Savage Henry]

Revisited this thread today and got to googling about coir irrigation scheduling. This article here is pretty informative:

It's put out by a coco manufacturer but contains some thought-provoking charts and techniques.