Are 5 gallon pots adequate?

[HydroNito305]

I'm thinking about running 4 plants per light, so 16 lights x 4 plants for a grand total of 64 plants. Now, I'm trying to finish this run in 90 days, (30 days veg / 60 days flower). Would 5 gallon smart pots be adequate? If so, then i would only need to buy 20 bags of happy frog soil, which is costing me around $250 total at $12ish per 2 cu. ft. bag. My aim is 2 pounds per light / 8 oz per plant / 32 pounds per run, but I wouldn't mind less as long as it's at least 1 pound per light / 4 oz per plant / 16 pounds per run, anything less and this risky venture begins to become not worth it.

 

[shpongler]

I'd say they are good.
it depends a little on your grow style.

i grow in 2.5 gallon pots and do 2 weeks of 18/6 and then flip to 12/12 ( a little alteration on the 12/12 from seed)
By the time my girls are fully in flower and stopped stretching the pots are filled with roots but not root bound. for me this is ideal. i have limited grow space and would probably get better results with a little more volume of pots.
my grow takes around 3 1/2 months to finish like this (about the same time as yours)
So 5 gallon pots should be sufficient!

But ofcourse, if you have the money and courage to work with huge pots for all your girls, they will reward you for it more root space = happier plants overall.

 

[HydroNito305]

I'd say they are good.
it depends a little on your grow style.

i grow in 2.5 gallon pots and do 2 weeks of 18/6 and then flip to 12/12 ( a little alteration on the 12/12 from seed)
By the time my girls are fully in flower and stopped stretching the pots are filled with roots but not root bound. for me this is ideal. i have limited grow space and would probably get better results with a little more volume of pots.
my grow takes around 3 1/2 months to finish like this (about the same time as yours)
So 5 gallon pots should be sufficient!

But ofcourse, if you have the money and courage to work with huge pots for all your girls, they will reward you for it more root space = happier plants overall.

How many do you run per light? How many watts? Yield?

 

[shpongler]

i grow for self-use only.
I grow under 250w hps with 4 x 23w CFL's for supplemental lighting in the corners where my hps won't reach.
I grow 2-3 plants depending on sativa / indica dominance in a SCROG.
my last harvest was 107grams from 2 autoflowers. (wich was an experiment)
Now i'm growing photo's again more yield / better ganja
it's kinda a stealth grow tough, cause i live in a not so big appartment
My grow space is like ... 4ft wide 2ft deep and 3.3ft high only!

and summer temperatures are killing me :'( my auto's would've yielded alot more if they hadn't had to battle the heath for 2 weeks in the final stages of flowering )

 

[Dr. Who]

What you propose is quite do-able! - *EXCEPT*

If you have run plants in 5's before AND got 8 per.....your fine!
If your not a good doubling of the 1 zip per gallon of pot size rule....You might want to start at 7 gallon pots - You would have NO problem there...

* I am inclined to say your going to "need" 60 days of veg to reach that goal! Hope you have a good production strain too. You'll NEVER hit it with say GSC or Blue cheese - etc.

 

[daloudpack]

i finish in fives with a month of veg usually end up with nice thick stems and never had root bound or anything like that... right now im one day away from 6 weeks flower =7 weeks veg and still not having any problems...stretch got me fucked up tho i didnt train enough ...i think maybe 5 would be minimum for @ 60day veg

 

[daloudpack]

those pics were at like week 4 flower tho just the best pics of my main stems

 

[Budley Doright]

I only run bags outdoors and using 7 gallon right now. They are 6 week old clones and are already starting to get pretty full in the root department . I've always used bigger bags (10-15) and should have stuck with the 15's, indoors, short veg and I would still go with 10's but I make my own soils so way cheaper. I have used bought soils but yup gets real pricey lol.

 

[Muleskinner]

5 Gallon should be OK - I'm planning to do three 5-gallon pots under my 600w next time around. My bush-style plants tend to become huge, each 5-gallon pot will yield a canopy of 24"X24" or more.

I do 100% organic, for me the 1 ounce per gallon of soil is a good benchmark. A succesful, healthy grow will give me 1 ounce per gallon, high-yielding strains and a perfect run will enable me to get 50% more.

How much space do you have? If it's 4X4, I think 4 5-gallons would be perfect. If I had a 5X5 area I would use the 7-gal pots.

also stop buying Foxfarm stuff if you want to save money. Just buy promix and add your own compost/supplements etc, you'll cut the price in half. for example, add 20% local compost product to the promix, 3% worm castings, and 4 tablespoons/gallon of Espoma Biotone or Plantone and presto it's the same as Happy Frog or Ocean Forest or whatever

 

[HydroNito305]

So i just bought 40 bags of ocean forest and (16) 20 gallon pots, so I'm running 16 plants with 16 lights, 1 per 1000 watt light. I'm thinking about 2 month veg, hoping that gives me close to 2 pounds per light. Thoughts?

 

[daloudpack]

2 pounds per plant...jeesh what strain u running

 

[$bkbbudz$]

At 2 pounds per plant under 1000...that puts you at 2.23 pounds per if you go by the gm/watt theory. Please journal this grow!!!!! I would love to see what happens!

P.S. I hope my math is right I am medicated as fuck, it is Saturday night isn't it? LOL!!

 

[testiclees]

So i just bought 40 bags of ocean forest and (16) 20 gallon pots, so I'm running 16 plants with 16 lights, 1 per 1000 watt light. I'm thinking about 2 month veg, hoping that gives me close to 2 pounds per light. Thoughts?

definitely need good yielding genetics and superb environment. 2# clean from a single plant is an excellent gardening benchmark.

I'm interested to see what this looks like.

 

[$bkbbudz$]

You got pics of your set up?

 

[Dr. Who]

5 Gallon should be OK - I'm planning to do three 5-gallon pots under my 600w next time around. My bush-style plants tend to become huge, each 5-gallon pot will yield a canopy of 24"X24" or more.

I do 100% organic, for me the 1 ounce per gallon of soil is a good benchmark. A succesful, healthy grow will give me 1 ounce per gallon, high-yielding strains and a perfect run will enable me to get 50% more.

How much space do you have? If it's 4X4, I think 4 5-gallons would be perfect. If I had a 5X5 area I would use the 7-gal pots.

also stop buying Foxfarm stuff if you want to save money. Just buy promix and add your own compost/supplements etc, you'll cut the price in half. for example, add 20% local compost product to the promix, 3% worm castings, and 4 tablespoons/gallon of Espoma Biotone or Plantone and presto it's the same as Happy Frog or Ocean Forest or whatever

Nice that you work at building soils.
I would point out your EWC ratio is way low for building any quality soil...
local compost is good but, for the most part it's a Myco's source over any npk other then about 1-1-1 (depending ON the source).
Once you start adding Pre assembled organic (or otherwise) nutrients. Your going to have trouble with unbalanced nutrition in the long run (too high a P in end).
I've found you want to build with a higher N ratio and part of that would be slower release, plant matter based forms of N mixed in at the build.

 

[Gquebed]

I run 30 day veg in 5 gal pots and 4 pots per 1000w. I have never had a problem getting 6+ zips per pot, which is about 1.5 lbs per light.

And i am still learning, closing in on 2 per light, so your expectations are fine. Strain dependant, of course.

16 lights though...that is a shit ton of work for one guy... so my question would be...with 16 lights will you have enough time to spend on the plants to get even that 1.5ish per light?

I think this is where a lot of guys go wrong.

 

[HydroNito305]

I run 30 day veg in 5 gal pots and 4 pots per 1000w. I have never had a problem getting 6+ zips per pot, which is about 1.5 lbs per light.

And i am still learning, closing in on 2 per light, so your expectations are fine. Strain dependant, of course.

16 lights though...that is a shit ton of work for one guy... so my question would be...with 16 lights will you have enough time to spend on the plants to get even that 1.5ish per light?

I think this is where a lot of guys go wrong.

Well it's a two man show and it's going to be our new full time job and im completely devoted to it so, it should be a piece of cake, besides I'm keeping it simple with 1 plant per light. Im using 20 gallon smart pots with Bcuzz mixxx

 

[radrolley]

5s are fine. i used to use 5s but now prefer 7-10s with longer veg.

 

[HydroNito305]

Let's get this party started!!!

 

[Gquebed]

Well it's a two man show and it's going to be our new full time job and im completely devoted to it so, it should be a piece of cake, besides I'm keeping it simple with 1 plant per light. Im using 20 gallon smart pots with Bcuzz mixxx

Well...two of you full time should be able to handle it.

But ... piece of cake?

Just wait till its time to trim...hahahahahaha