HELP? afew simple ?'s

what up yall i got a few questions and id really appreciate the help.. im a 3th time grower and my first 3 grows have all been success' with each one being better than the time before... anyways ive done all of my growing hydroponically and have no experience or knowledge at all about soil growing.

but i thought id switch it up a littlebit and experiment and go soil for once.

so ive got a few questions here..

1.i know your spoced to transplant into bigger pots as the plant and root system gets bigger.. why not just start out with a big pot to begin with?

2.are there different soils used for veg and bloom? or does the soil remain the same?

3.lets say i use a 10 gallon bucket of soil- how many gallons of water would i use per watering?

4.how do you collect the excess run off water after a watering,because doesnt it leak out of the bottom of the pot?

5.would a 5 or 10 gallon bucket work? and if so should i drill holes at the bottom of it??

thank you very much for your time appreciate any feedback

1. As far as i understand, a big pot would cause the root system to take far longer to 'clump' in growth and form a solid system. imagine it being so loose and spread through the soil that if you tugged at the main stem the entire plant pulled out with ease.

2.soil will remain the same unless you start getting advanced with transplant techniques.

3. i personally dont think that you will need a 10gal bucket. are you going to be growing indoors or out? how big do you want them to get? my girls get anywhere from 18" to 40" by the end of flower, and they do fine in 1 gallon of soil. i see many people do HUGE plants in 5 gal buckets, so i imagine that would be your peak. not sure what it would be in a 5gal, but in my 1gal's, about 1gal of water does the job (complete saturation with minimal runoff). a flush (last 2 weeks of grow) will take 3x the containers size in water.

4.runoff can and will need to be dealt with. how you do this is up to you. drains, pans, towels, whatever you can, but keep it under control to avoid mold.

5. again, depending on your conditions, i HIGHLY doubt you will need to go bigger than 5gal. i grew 3 girls my first time around all in 5gal buckets, got em to about 3ft, and by chop there was still way too many nutes in the soil. i think people say that you want to go 1gal per foot of plant height. 3 foot plant/3gal container. again though, my BlackJacks are 2-3 footers and are doing great in 1 gal containers.

hope some of this helped.

4 - How do you collect excess runoff?

Use a large container that will be easy to transport when full of water - I have a few 5 gallon buckets. Put something inside the bucket to set your plant on (I use a small flower pot turned upside down). Place your plant into the bucket and water away. When it is done dripping to your liking put it back in the roomon it's little dish or whatever you put them on to collect the little dripping it will do

juicy j mack said:

4.how do you collect the excess run off water after a watering,because doesn't it leak out of the bottom of the pot?

5.would a 5 or 10 gallon bucket work? and if so should i drill holes at the bottom of it??

Click to expand...

the great thing i find when growing in soil, is the fact that the plant is portable. this makes watering a breeze. i can just put all the plants in a bathtub and the excess water is not a problem, once they are thoroughly saturated and done dripping, i place them back in the tent in their plastic saucers (1$ at walmart). a 5 gallon bucket is more than enough. i use a 3 gallon and my plants are about 3 ft. they say every gallon of soil = 1 ft of growth. yes you would need holes in the bottom for proper drainage.

Soil sucks. I started in hydro and went to soil and cryed my eyes out. What good are portable plants if you have to physically hand water?!?! I have since switched to coco with a drain to waste drip system and it could not get easier!! I dont need to move the plants, they are where they belong, under the lights. If you only have one or two for the head then go soil and organic for taste and health, but if you want yeild, go hydro or coco.

hm i just make sure it doesnt over flow the plastic trays the sit in and i dont have to worry bout run off. 1 gallon of water for a gallon pot seems a lot to me. i dont use nowhere near 5 gallons to water my 5 gallon buckets..maybe im not fully saturating my soil.

Civil.Dis0bedience said:

hm i just make sure it doesnt over flow the plastic trays the sit in and i dont have to worry bout run off. 1 gallon of water for a gallon pot seems a lot to me. i dont use nowhere near 5 gallons to water my 5 gallon buckets..maybe im not fully saturating my soil.

Click to expand...

no and that was me rounding relatively high, but sometimes i have to deal with compacted soil so its harder to saturate (water will run down the edges quickly). i would assume you can get away with much less if your soil is loose and you dont have the same issue i do. if i watered slower im sure i wouldn't have the issues i do, but i just accept the minor flush it gets each time. i tried it tonight at a much slower pace and was able to fully saturate at a around a half a gallon i think.

I always use the biggest pot I can find and sow directly into it, come harvest time I can pick up the pot by the tree.
Compacted soil is a bitch, I had some luck as after a week I could only get 1 foot down for my vegetable patch.
It started raining this morning and I gave it a shot, and the ground was workable, yipee.
Quickly worked a shitload of horsemanure and compost into it in the rain and all.
Still have some straw I want to work into the second foot down, and then I have to mix up the soil to put back in the bed.
Should be good for a while after. But its no longer a pond.