Texasdigger35
- 60
- 18
Growing in South Texas I deal with very high temps, high humidity and legality issues. Enough to make any sane person not attempt. The last few years I've had the ability to do some guerilla type grows in the yard blending in with large bamboo along a fence line. First year wasn't very prepared and just dug a 4ft hole 2 ft deep and transplanted 4 bagseed plants. Halfway through flower one plant spontainiously started stressing and died with 2 days...was these bastards eating at the main root.
Fail, Couldn't get rid of them fast and the poisons and heat were stressing plants so not a great yield.
Last year I did 5 gal plastic containers and straight fox farm oc and plants grew good and normal just not super size. The main problem I was having was plants weren't super large and watering EVERY day. Would water in the morning but by the end of day they would be bone dry again. The peat moss eventually became quite hydrophobic despite using surfactant. Generally just a pia and too much work through whole summer for the 3 ozs per plant.
This year I went in with the goal of weekly watering. Increasing container size and modifying soil was my solution. Went with a mix 25 gallon plastic vs 25 gallon cloth pots to see if any real difference between the two. Rethinking my soil was also key. I started seeds on May 1st in a jiffy starter. 11 out of 12 germinated and were in growing within 48 hrs. Germination was the fastest id ever had with zero downtime. Plants just took off and into a temporary 5 gallon cloth pot within 5 days. 2 weeks later they were a looking awesome and huge for age.
The soil mix i used for these pots included ffoc, bat guano, blood meal, bone meal, perlite and lots of worm castings. One thing I'm changing for next time is the 5 gal temp pots. I will not use cloth pots if I'm intending to transplants. The cloth pots were very tricky to get the plants out.
Then once I saw roots coming out fabric they went into big pots. The soil mix for the 25 gal was approx: 1/3 each fox farm oc, kellog potting or porch, and coco coir with the coco being on the heavier side and kellogs slightly on the lighter side. plus approx 1-2 gallons perlite and more worm castings and water until everything's partially saturated. It was a 4 hr ordeal to mix for 10 containers. Hard, but not too bad.
Good news is I didn't even have to water at all for a few weeks... freaking awesome! Had sporadic rains which helped and plants continued to grow vigorously. Finally I watered once with 3 gallons each. Maintained that once a week schedule until mid July! Awesome! So much less work and the plants grow much bigger n faster. The coco seems to be making all the difference in the world. Takes and holds water so much better.
The past couple weeks have been no rain and bigger plants so I've watered maybe every 4 days or so with 3 gallons of nutrients. If anyone's ever on the fence about using bigger pots just do it. Next time im thinking to start even earlier and use even bigger pots as 25 gal are kinda rootbound now.
Last year I did 5 gal plastic containers and straight fox farm oc and plants grew good and normal just not super size. The main problem I was having was plants weren't super large and watering EVERY day. Would water in the morning but by the end of day they would be bone dry again. The peat moss eventually became quite hydrophobic despite using surfactant. Generally just a pia and too much work through whole summer for the 3 ozs per plant.
This year I went in with the goal of weekly watering. Increasing container size and modifying soil was my solution. Went with a mix 25 gallon plastic vs 25 gallon cloth pots to see if any real difference between the two. Rethinking my soil was also key. I started seeds on May 1st in a jiffy starter. 11 out of 12 germinated and were in growing within 48 hrs. Germination was the fastest id ever had with zero downtime. Plants just took off and into a temporary 5 gallon cloth pot within 5 days. 2 weeks later they were a looking awesome and huge for age.
The soil mix i used for these pots included ffoc, bat guano, blood meal, bone meal, perlite and lots of worm castings. One thing I'm changing for next time is the 5 gal temp pots. I will not use cloth pots if I'm intending to transplants. The cloth pots were very tricky to get the plants out.
Then once I saw roots coming out fabric they went into big pots. The soil mix for the 25 gal was approx: 1/3 each fox farm oc, kellog potting or porch, and coco coir with the coco being on the heavier side and kellogs slightly on the lighter side. plus approx 1-2 gallons perlite and more worm castings and water until everything's partially saturated. It was a 4 hr ordeal to mix for 10 containers. Hard, but not too bad.
Good news is I didn't even have to water at all for a few weeks... freaking awesome! Had sporadic rains which helped and plants continued to grow vigorously. Finally I watered once with 3 gallons each. Maintained that once a week schedule until mid July! Awesome! So much less work and the plants grow much bigger n faster. The coco seems to be making all the difference in the world. Takes and holds water so much better.
The past couple weeks have been no rain and bigger plants so I've watered maybe every 4 days or so with 3 gallons of nutrients. If anyone's ever on the fence about using bigger pots just do it. Next time im thinking to start even earlier and use even bigger pots as 25 gal are kinda rootbound now.