Pot size for budget! 55 gallon drum cut in half

[Hugo]

Ok,
So,
Indoor grow,
I'm thinking bout purchasing 55 gallon plastic drums, cut them in half, which will give me a 25+gallon pot filled with 70/30 perlite to coco

So a DIY pot would cost me $5.00.

The pot would be filled about 3/4 so about 18 gallons of mix.

These plastic drums are about 22" wide.

I want plenty of space to grow out my roots.

I know some will say that that may be too big for growing the following way:

1000w horizontal lighting, 2 month veg from clone,

Diligent LST and supercropping, and scrog. Attempting to grow out bushy plants with multitude of heads.

I need experienced opinions.

I know people use smart pots/fabric pots with great success....

But,

Is this size pot with 22" diameter a good call?

Any recommendations for a cheap wider pot?

I need those rooted to travel and stretch for a nice low, bushy squat plant.


Thanks in advance!

 

[motherlode]

I say try a couple 15 gallon smartpots

you get amazingly bushy plants in a fabric pot

 

[Hugo]

Problem is that I need 300 pots.... The 55 gallon cut in half will cost me $5 a piece.

Any recommendation for a 10-15 gallon fabric pot? What type/brand is best bang for ur buck?

 

[MTM]

HTG have some that are taller and not as wide and are the cheapest on the market,I use root pots for soil but the fabric in those are not for flood and drain.The ones that C.A.P. sales are about like the htg ones but are a little bit pricier and made better.For the cash my buddy just bought his 7 gallons ones from HTG and hes been useing smart pots and he likes the HTGs better.Smart pots will build them to your specs for a little more cash but hell their 2 times as high as most fabric pots now

 

[motherlode]

HTG have some that are taller and not as wide and are the cheapest on the market,I use root pots for soil but the fabric in those are not for flood and drain.The ones that C.A.P. sales are about like the htg ones but are a little bit pricier and made better.For the cash my buddy just bought his 7 gallons ones from HTG and hes been useing smart pots and he likes the HTGs better.Smart pots will build them to your specs for a little more cash but hell their 2 times as high as most fabric pots now

why couldnt you use the root pots for e/f?

 

[jczam]

I really like the roots organics root pots. Their just wide enough, just tall enough and my local store has them even cheaper than the HTG brand. Plus HTG only goes up to 7 gal online and root pots come in 10, 15, 20 gal sizes (shit they even have 600 gal!). Anyways.....root pots are my go to felt pot, check em out.

-jczam

 

[nMEEKS]

Problem is that I need 300 pots.... The 55 gallon cut in half will cost me $5 a piece.

Any recommendation for a 10-15 gallon fabric pot? What type/brand is best bang for ur buck?

I agree with jczam, root pots are the cheapest my hydro store carries and they work better than the smart pots in my opinion. My roots are getting air pruned but unlike the smart pots, they are getting air flow through the fabric and getting pruned in the media. When I used smart pots the roots would grow through the black fabric and get air pruned outside the pot. This meant I was breaking all my roots during a transplant and that my roots were more exposed to pathogens in the air. They won't be much more than $5 for a 15-20 gal in that kind of bulk, and when you are talking about cutting 300x 55 gal drums in half you probably save money if you value out how much you think your labor is worth. And on that note, I would be sub'd to a diary if you are starting one just based on you saying you are gonna be rocking 300x 15-25gal anything, thats gonna be a massive op! Good luck and I can't wait to hopefully see some pics.

-Meeks

 

[Hugo]

So,
What size root pots for 2 month veg/2month flower to optimize the effectiveness of the media/pots/the pruning effects?

7gallon? 10gallon? 15 gallon?

I don't want just a big pot when now attempting to grow in fabric pots, I want to see perfect air pruning without the risk of running even close to root bound

Please advise I'm open to all opinion,

Thanks in advance!

 

[jczam]

Personally I stand by the 1ft of growth corresponds to 1gal (unless you're running a scrog). Now I know there are other ways to go about it (some people say the bigger the root mass the bigger the shoot mass - so get em in a big bucket) but I've seen plants less than 3 ft tall in a 2 1/5 gal autopot that resembled one giant colla.
The beauty of the fabric pots is because they air prune you really shouldn't be at risk of becoming root bound. Because the air prunes the leader roots which in turn produce feeder roots you could get a pot full of feeder roots which do nothing but take up nutrients from the soil and not many leader roots which are the ones that get root bound and don't absorb nutrients as well anyways.

-jczam

 

[Hugo]

Ok, so for 2 month veg and 2 month flower, trying to create bushes with 1k over each plant horizontally.....on drip to waste....
Which size fabric pot for max yield?

Opinions please!

Thanks in advance!

 

[ttystikk]

You're in soil, so why drain to waste?

1K of light over each plant, you're gonna want a plant that yields at least 1/2 lb, so I'm thinkin' you're lookin' at minimum 15 gal pot.

That's a big ass power bill, nevermind crazy amounts of soil...

 

[Z-ro]

what i wanna know is, where can you find 55 gallon drums for 5 bucks? i shop at the cheapest distributor in nor cal and smart pots or the like are all priced the same at 6 bucks for a 10 gallon. imo if you cant figure out what container to use you shouldnt be running a 300 lighter, 15 gallons per plant with one plant per light isnt gonna get you very far id go with atleast twice that minimum(if youre in soil that is) this is the coco forum tho...

 

[nMEEKS]

You're in soil, so why drain to waste?

1K of light over each plant, you're gonna want a plant that yields at least 1/2 lb, so I'm thinkin' you're lookin' at minimum 15 gal pot.

That's a big ass power bill, nevermind crazy amounts of soil...

what i wanna know is, where can you find 55 gallon drums for 5 bucks? i shop at the cheapest distributor in nor cal and smart pots or the like are all priced the same at 6 bucks for a 10 gallon. imo if you cant figure out what container to use you shouldnt be running a 300 lighter, 15 gallons per plant with one plant per light isnt gonna get you very far id go with atleast twice that minimum(if youre in soil that is) this is the coco forum tho...

I dunno where you 2 see that he is in soil, I only see the part where he says he will be using 70/30 pearlite to coco. I do agree with z-ro in that if you aren't experienced enough to gauge pot size, you probably don't want to be starting with such a MASSIVE operation. Don't let me stop you though, if 300 plants, and 1 plant per light is what you wanna do, do it and post pics! I would love to see that kind of operation succeed, I am just worried that your power bill is gonna be through the roof, and if you don't get the results you want right away, you will be broke before you get a solid harvest.

On that note, I will offer you the advice I feel comfortable giving. I recommend root pots, I have used plastic pots, plastic bags, smart pots, and root pots and I am liking the root pots the most right now for reasons I have already listed. When it comes to size I have never tried to run 1 plant per light, so I cannot speak to that at all. I can say however, that I have run 6 plants under a 600w HPS and they were not veged for nearly 2 months and their root mass was definitely taking up the bottom 1/4 of the pot completely. I can also say that I am currently using 7 gal root pots and running 4 plants under a 1000w dual-arc and do not think my plants are experiencing any kind of root space crowding. Your veg time may be a little more than 2 months if you want your plants to run 1 per light, but maybe not if you have a really stretchy strain and you run a scrog to help spread the canopy to the full 4x4 light footprint. Anyways, I would take a look at some outdoor grows maybe, see what size plants they are getting, what size pot they are using, and pick on that matches the size plant you are looking to have under your lights. Other than that, all I can say is your probably looking at somewhere between 15-25 gal like I said in my first post. Good luck, and feel free to post pictures of the room you plan on using or anything, I still would love to see something of this size in action.

-Meeks

 

[Hugo]

what i wanna know is, where can you find 55 gallon drums for 5 bucks? i shop at the cheapest distributor in nor cal and smart pots or the like are all priced the same at 6 bucks for a 10 gallon. imo if you cant figure out what container to use you shouldnt be running a 300 lighter, 15 gallons per plant with one plant per light isnt gonna get you very far id go with atleast twice that minimum(if youre in soil that is) this is the coco forum tho...

Look on kijjiji, u can find 55g drums for 10 bucks, which when cut in half cuts it down to 5bucks a pot...

Also,.....

My other larger grows of the past were 120lights and a 60 light before that.

I am an experienced grower.

My methods in the past were promix 3gallon pots, 10 under a light.

I'm looking to do smaller plant numbers.... Larger pots, longer veg

My inexperience is with type and size of pot for larger plants

Once this is sized properly, the rest is pretty strait forward with some help of a little tweaking here and there from some experienced guys on the forum board.

 

[Hugo]

Also,

It's not a 300 lighter.

At its max potential it is 90 ballast on a flip(180 lights flowering) and 30 lights veg room

 

[Hugo]

In the beginning it's 60light flip(120lights) and 30 light veg

 

[nMEEKS]

Look on kijjiji, u can find 55g drums for 10 bucks, which when cut in half cuts it down to 5bucks a pot...

Also,.....

My other larger grows of the past were 120lights and a 60 light before that.

I am an experienced grower.

My methods in the past were promix 3gallon pots, 10 under a light.

I'm looking to do smaller plant numbers.... Larger pots, longer veg

My inexperience is with type and size of pot for larger plants

Once this is sized properly, the rest is pretty strait forward with some help of a little tweaking here and there from some experienced guys on the forum board.

Also,

It's not a 300 lighter.

At its max potential it is 90 ballast on a flip(180 lights flowering) and 30 lights veg room

In the beginning it's 60light flip(120lights) and 30 light veg

300 lights, 120 lights, I don't care how many you run, I demand a Grow Diary!!! haha, Pretty please with a cherry on top! good to hear you aren't taking such a big leap as a novice. I wish you the best of luck in getting all that setup, and hope that you are able to find a pot size that works for you the way you want it to. I wanna see some pics so I can stop calling you Hugo and start calling you Hugo Boss! btw if Hugo is referencing my favorite character from LOST then more props to you sir.

-Meeks

*EDIT* LOL at myself for posting this before realizing Hugo was apparently banned. . . I don't know why but too bad for me and my craving for grow op pictures ;(

 

[Diggler]

Any pics of this setup? What pot did you decide on?