What container sizes does everyone use?

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Scrogger2190

Scrogger2190

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I'm getting ready to change things up in my grow and was curious what other people do in terms of stage of life vs container size. Like I usually step from a solo cup up to 3 gal up to 7 gal and usually finish in the 7 sometimes go to a 15. I'm also wondering if people do specific soil mixes for the different stages. I usually just use the same formula throughout and adjust with liquid nutes, but lately I've been getting tired of so many liquid nutes and was thinking about doing different organic powder formulas like let's say light "grow" mix for the solo cup when they're seedlings, then transplant into a heavier "grow" formula for the 3, then a fairly heavy "grow" formula for a 5 or 7, then when I'm ready to bloom do a "bloom" mix in a 7 or a 15 depending on what I want to finish in. I feel like this could really have advantages for me does anyone else do this?
 
JimmyCreedog

JimmyCreedog

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I went Solo cups to 1 gallon nursery pots to 3 gallon buckets. I plan to flower them in the 3's and not transplant again. We'll have to see how it goes.
 
AnimalHouse

AnimalHouse

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1 or 2 gallon airpots for starting and veg filled with Roots Greenfields. Nutes are Neptunes Harvest Liquid Fish & Seaweed. Supplement is Great White
For flowering I use 7 gallon solid wall containers filled with Roots Lush with a handful each of dry Uprising Foundation & Bloom per container. Supplement with Great White.
Water with RO water from start to finish
 
Scrogger2190

Scrogger2190

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1 or 2 gallon airpots for starting and veg filled with Roots Greenfields. Nutes are Neptunes Harvest Liquid Fish & Seaweed. Supplement is Great White
For flowering I use 7 gallon solid wall containers filled with Roots Lush with a handful each of dry Uprising Foundation & Bloom per container. Supplement with Great White.
Water with RO water from start to finish
Something similar to this is what I'm trying to go for. I want all the nutes mixed in and RO from start to finish. I'll still keep liquid nutes on hand just in case I need them but I'd like to just pre charge my soil and do RO start to finish
 
lvstealth

lvstealth

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lots of water only soils out there. some premixed. some concentrates. some good recipes to make your own. there are living soils and super soils. if you go with any of these, you want to keep things to feed the soil, not the nutes to feed the plant. if you need to, you feed the soil, the soil feeds the plant.

is this inside or outside? inside i dont know that you need that big, but you can always try one each of the sizes and see which is best for your needs.
 
AnimalHouse

AnimalHouse

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Something similar to this is what I'm trying to go for. I want all the nutes mixed in and RO from start to finish. I'll still keep liquid nutes on hand just in case I need them but I'd like to just pre charge my soil and do RO start to finish

I kinda see the container for flowering as a gas tank. I upcan into it at the start of flower and am usually putting a 5-6 week old plant into them. A mature vegging plant can handle a very rich soil and not burn unless additional liquid nutes are being added, especially those high in phosphor.
So I'm pretty much looking for that big full tank of gas to take the plant all the way to the end and by the time harvest comes around the soil is depleted. A large volume of soil also acts as a pH buffer so everything stays inside a healthy pH range.
There's massive growth explosion at the start, lots of stretch and overall biomass of the plant goes crazy all the way into around week 6. Then along with the life cycle of the plants and available food, things level off and begin to taper downward. Plants main lower leaves begining to yellow, buds swelling, and needing support, and before harvest the plants are on vapors as far as fuel goes. Almost like a natural 3 week flush coinciding with the end of the plants life.
I like to see ugly, worn out plants towards harvest. Beautiful sticky flowers of course but the less green on fan leaves the better. Only green leaves I like to see are the frosty sugar leaves inside flowers but everything else I like to see go yellow, purple, or red wine. That's when there's little to no food left, all the chlorophyll is almost gone, and the skunk and fruity aromas get very loud. When it gets to that then there won't be any issue of weed smelling like hay or cut grass when it dries and the smoke will be very smooth.
 
Scrogger2190

Scrogger2190

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lots of water only soils out there. some premixed. some concentrates. some good recipes to make your own. there are living soils and super soils. if you go with any of these, you want to keep things to feed the soil, not the nutes to feed the plant. if you need to, you feed the soil, the soil feeds the plant.

is this inside or outside? inside i dont know that you need that big, but you can always try one each of the sizes and see which is best for your needs.
Its inside. I usually do a 2 month veg behind my flower room with clones so they get fairly large by the time they go into the flower room. Then I may take a week or 2 to get the screen arranged then I flip. They usually end up filling out a 2x4 area per plant they get about 5 or 6' tall. I've been using roots organic original I've also tried the 707 but I'm at the point I'm ready to just make my own recipe for each stage and go that route.
 
lvstealth

lvstealth

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making your own is more complex (to do it right) than most think. you will add things and have no idea what one with another does without a lab. you can add a compost that has things that you dont want with other things.

the soil you want, i would think, is called living soil. the one i like is Natures Living Soil. it is a concentrate, mix as suggested first grow, and adjust from there. the soil, if treated right, can do a whole grow.

if you want the plant to "use it up", super soil is what you want. 1/3 of the super soil (making one with the recipes out there is ok, but the premade is much more exact) in the bottom of the pot, then fill the pot with a good potting soil. i like the FF Bushdoctor coco loco. it has coco coir instead of peat, and has enough perlite for me.

when your soil isnt doing the trick any more, use the natures living concentrate and put it on top, then water. if you go the living soil or super soil method, you wont feed the plants at all, just feed the soil so it can feed the plant right.

the live stuff in the soil puts off things the plant needs and the plant roots put off stuff the soil critters need. if done right and you dont add things along the way that knock the balance off kilter, the soil makes what it needs to make the plant happy and the soil will keep making new stuff for the plant.

so it is not a thing where you put just enough nitrogen and the plant uses it. you make the soil healthy and the soil makes the stuff the plant needs. sort of like the cycle of life. if you want to make it a bit better, you can try some cover crops, but you will need the right mix for your choices of soil and conditions and your strain choice.
 
Scrogger2190

Scrogger2190

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I like the idea of living soil but I've never had experience with it. What was going through my mind is outdoors I had a friend that did a raised bed and just ammended it with organic nutes like blood meal, bone meal, kelp meal, rock phosphate, mycos, and all the micros, and just watered and ammended with bat guano and such a little before bloom came around so it had a little time to release. I'd really like to get into making my own mixes with the raw materials. It just seems cheaper and easier to me. Super soil would probably be more up my alley I definitely want something the plant can use up so I can still have sort of a flush. I always end up doing a 2 week flush to get the fade that I like.
 
lvstealth

lvstealth

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yes, they have a fall stage of life! it is nice, i think.

there are recipes all over, most base it on the original super cool recipe with some personal addins. they say mixing it on a big tarp is the easiest. i never need that much so i just buy as i go.
 
Scrogger2190

Scrogger2190

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One thing I dont quite understand is if I ammend with blood bone meal etc I know the medium has to cook. I know theres a minimum cook time to activate it but is there a maximum cook time where it just goes bad? Was just thinking about getting 150 gal and making a 50 gal batch for each stage and just letting it cook until I need to use it
 
TSD

TSD

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One thing I dont quite understand is if I ammend with blood bone meal etc I know the medium has to cook. I know theres a minimum cook time to activate it but is there a maximum cook time where it just goes bad? Was just thinking about getting 150 gal and making a 50 gal batch for each stage and just letting it cook until I need to use it
I cook mine for like a month... I'd say two weeks is probably the minimum... as far as maximum, as long as you keep it moist I think it would last quite a long time... it has to be moist for the microbiome to survive and thrive.
 
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