Mike Hawk
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- 143
I recently did a test with a a single 4x6 tray-bed in a room that's normally all 8 gallon smartpots with 6 per tray. The bed took almost a week longer to finish and the pots yielded more (same pre-veg and veg times). It seemed like something wasn't dialed in, although the bed plants were just as healthy but a little less vigorous.
Could've been the watering schedules, but for this workspace I decided I prefer the pots. I know you can do it in 2gal pots with constant fertigation, but I think bigger pots leave much more room for error and the bigger root space adds yield.
Do you have a separate area to veg the beds before flowering them out? If you do beds are the way to go, if not your turn around time will be quicker with 2 gallon pots.
Yes, but what about all the labor involved with the pots (especially the fabric kind!) ? Harvest requires cleaning out the smart pots with root matter stuck to each one and all the handling and mess! From what what I've read from the ones in the know on here- for harvest with beds just grip and rip, replace hole with some enzymes and new plant, set timer to 18hours for a couple weeks to let the new plant roots establish the bed then flip!
6 3x6 beds with 60 plants is much easier to maintain and harvest than 60 plants in pots or even 40 imo. I'd rather be set back a couple weeks per year than deal with the mess of all them pots. I hate cleaning up and for me it's a no brainer.
I agree beds can have advantages depending on your work style, but they also carry risk and different methods than pots, especially for someone brand new to this scale. Plus the size plants he's growing with quick veg times could benefit from the more restricted root space. I just shared my little project as an example to consider, and ideally I'd prefer to do more beds myself, but current circumstances don't allow the vigilance needed to make it happen.Yes, but what about all the labor involved with the pots (especially the fabric kind!) ? Harvest requires cleaning out the smart pots with root matter stuck to each one and all the handling and mess! From what what I've read from the ones in the know on here- for harvest with beds just grip and rip, replace hole with some enzymes and new plant, set timer to 18hours for a couple weeks to let the new plant roots establish the bed then flip!
6 3x6 beds with 60 plants is much easier to maintain and harvest than 60 plants in pots or even 40 imo. I'd rather be set back a couple weeks per year than deal with the mess of all them pots. I hate cleaning up and for me it's a no brainer.
Watering frequency can be a big factor for yield and finishing times. The most important difference in my opinion is the risk of disease/pathogen/pest transference from infected or underperforming plants. At least while you get a feel for all your other new variables, pots could be a familiar link to help scale what you already do well. But if you decide to do beds I'll definitely grab a seat and learn :party1:I don't have a separate veg area. With ether scenario, I was planning on just a two week veg like others I've seen here and then flip. I will be doing mostly og's and stretchy hybrids so things should fill up nicely.
Great point with the ease of cleanup/harvest in beds vs pots, as well as the recyclability of the coco. I just don't have any experience with beds yet and I blow sh*t up currently with daily multi feeds in 2 gallon pots. I've never seen any yield comparisons though. Also from what I've seen you don't water as often in beds..
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