Pro Opinions - Smart Pots Vs In Ground

SpiderK · Feb 26, 2016

4 gallons of dirt in a small garbage bin - all plastic -

Bulldog11 · Feb 27, 2016

400 gallon smart pot, almost 15#'s.

@SpiderK No offence, but it does matter what you grow in. Growing a 7' plant that only yields 3-4 ounces leaves huge room for improvement.

SpiderK · Feb 27, 2016

@Bulldog11

Not regarding quality. I was talking about references regarding breathable pots, timing in direct sun. Indeed, if I expanded root zone space with large pots or in the ground you do get larger plants ....

Bulldog11 · Feb 27, 2016

we will have to agree on disagreeing on this one.

papapayne · Feb 27, 2016

so, I got the pots, (200s) and also got a 330 foot roll of 8' 11 gauge game fence for my cages.

@Bulldog11 in your experience, how do you prefer the smart pots? I was thinking either A) hardware cloth on the ground, then SP on top, or on B) top of a pallets. or is gravel better? What are your thoughts!

Bulldog11 · Feb 27, 2016

I would throw out the hardware cloth idea. I would assume that is for gophers, and the smart pot will keep gophers out. My hillside is swiss cheese with those bastards, but never do they attack my smart pots.

Pallet or gravel would work well. A good pallet can last years, and instinctively I would say go with that or nothing at all. Gravel works well, but can be more of a pain to source and place IME. Most of my smart pots are on the ground, but I did just place my new 1000 on four pallets for fun.

papapayne · Feb 27, 2016

Cool. I have pallets already to, so that would be really easy to do.

DO IT · Feb 29, 2016

BD11, what strain did you pull the 15 #'s with out doors? Thanks.

BTW it looks nice whatever it was.

Bulldog11 · Feb 29, 2016

That was NL #5 sativa pheno x Blue Moonshine from bodhi. 15' tall plant, with rock hard, long, solid nugs. @DO IT

papapayne · Feb 29, 2016

mmmm mmmm. That be a cut to have!

MrBlah · Mar 9, 2016

papapayne said:
Hey all - been having a very spirited debate with some old timers, and I was wondering what some of your guys think,

I have always been under the impression nothing beats going direct in ground when the soil is high quality.

last year I pulled 3-4# on the bigger plants and 1-2# on some runts - in 65 gallon smart pots. Didnt get to the new house till june, so was behind.

this season, I have my 8 plants already currently in 10 gallon smart pots, and 3 foot tall, topped out many times already, will blow up once sun hits em.

Just curious what yall think! I was planning on burying them, smart pot and all, right in the greenhouse, in my good soil.

Have you ever gotten your soil tested at a lab? I recommend you start there. That's going to tell you what your soil already has available. Then get your water tested at the same lab. Now, you should have some data you can use to create a fertilizer schedule.

MendoGiantZ · Mar 15, 2016

Lots of good info here. I definitely have had gophers or moles go through my 200 gallon bags. The first year I didn't put down gopher metal netting and had about half my garden get messed with by gophers. i have a lot of grass and weeds around my grow bags and it's a pain in the ass to constantly be mowing and weed wacking around the metal cages. This year I got a 15 foot wide piece of weed cloth that's 360 feet long. I cut it right in half before I unrolled it and now I have 7.5 ft wide rolls that is the perfect size to put 200 gallon bags on and then put down Gopher mesh.

papapayne · Mar 16, 2016

MrBlah said:
Have you ever gotten your soil tested at a lab? I recommend you start there. That's going to tell you what your soil already has available. Then get your water tested at the same lab. Now, you should have some data you can use to create a fertilizer schedule.

papapayne · Mar 16, 2016

MendoGiantZ said:
Lots of good info here. I definitely have had gophers or moles go through my 200 gallon bags. The first year I didn't put down gopher metal netting and had about half my garden get messed with by gophers. i have a lot of grass and weeds around my grow bags and it's a pain in the ass to constantly be mowing and weed wacking around the metal cages. This year I got a 15 foot wide piece of weed cloth that's 360 feet long. I cut it right in half before I unrolled it and now I have 7.5 ft wide rolls that is the perfect size to put 200 gallon bags on and then put down Gopher mesh.

Yea, I am planning on puttin mine on pallets

Seamaiden · Mar 17, 2016

I may have gotten you confused with someone else, but I thought you were in a desert area.

Underthesun · Mar 17, 2016

I'm no pro, but anyways. I grew with 30 gallon smart pots one year and was happy with the results. That was with bottled nutes. I also put one plant in the ground and fed the same regime as the smart pot plants, and also used the same amount and same type of soil in the hole I dug. They had the same yeild, and maybe the in ground plant has more of an earthy taste. The ones in smart pots of the same strain had purple buds, while the in ground one did not. Most likely due to root temperature, my best guess anyways.

I've now switched over to 100% organic using raised beds and really like the taste and quality, along with not having to water nearly as much. This year for the first time I'm trying to accomplish a living soil that I can use year after year. I was under the impression that this was pretty hard with smart pots or any containers, but never tried it so I can't say. So I have chose raised beds, open to the ground, assuming from what I have read that this helps with soil life.

Seamaiden · Mar 17, 2016

Are you doing cover crops yet? If not, I strongly recommend it. A great cover crop to mix with the clovers people love so much is fenugreek. They're completely edible from the minute they sprout, and they germinate very very quickly! I buy mine in bulk from bulkfoods.com

papapayne · Mar 17, 2016

Seamaiden said:
Are you doing cover crops yet? If not, I strongly recommend it. A great cover crop to mix with the clovers people love so much is fenugreek. They're completely edible from the minute they sprout, and they germinate very very quickly! I buy mine in bulk from bulkfoods.com

Ill have to add that to my list of cover crops. I went with clover over the winter myself. Need to add more then one type of plant next winter.

MrBlah · Mar 18, 2016

papapayne said:
View attachment 582390

This is my slightly different background speaking, but those numbers are considered excessive from an agriculture standpoint(for now). So much so, that I wouldn't end up using much fertilizer to start off if I was growing a lot of different crops. Also, did your lab not test for nitrogen? Seems odd.

I see things through a different lens than most people in cannabis, so there's also that. I gather data constantly with soil, water, and tissue samples and make decisions based off that rather than looking at the plants and wondering what is going on.

papapayne · Mar 18, 2016

MrBlah said:
This is my slightly different background speaking, but those numbers are considered excessive from an agriculture standpoint(for now). So much so, that I wouldn't end up using much fertilizer to start off if I was growing a lot of different crops. Also, did your lab not test for nitrogen? Seems odd.

I see things through a different lens than most people in cannabis, so there's also that. I gather data constantly with soil, water, and tissue samples and make decisions based off that rather than looking at the plants and wondering what is going on.

NH3-n ppm .6
no3-n ppm 8.4

Pro Opinions - Smart Pots Vs In Ground

Pro Opinions - Smart Pots Vs In Ground

For max yield / plant size, which do you think is better?

200 gallon smart pots

in ground - highly amended high quality soil, large ass wholes, cover crops been used etc

SpiderK

Bulldog11

SpiderK

Bulldog11

papapayne

Bulldog11

papapayne

DO IT

Bulldog11

papapayne

MrBlah

MendoGiantZ

papapayne

papapayne

Seamaiden

Living dead girl

Underthesun

Seamaiden

Living dead girl

papapayne

MrBlah

papapayne

Pro Opinions - Smart Pots Vs In Ground

Pro Opinions - Smart Pots Vs In Ground

For max yield / plant size, which do you think is better?

200 gallon smart pots

in ground - highly amended high quality soil, large ass wholes, cover crops been used etc

SpiderK

Bulldog11

SpiderK

Bulldog11

papapayne

Bulldog11

papapayne

DO IT

Bulldog11

papapayne

MrBlah

MendoGiantZ

papapayne

papapayne

Seamaiden

Living dead girl

Underthesun

Seamaiden

Living dead girl

papapayne

MrBlah

papapayne

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