Living Soil - Smart Pots vs. Beds

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Stoney Bear94

Active Member
Hi All, about to start my 3rd grow.

I have a 32x32” space.

1st grow was a 7 gallon pot of FFHF with bottled nutrients. Plant was burnt and green at harvest.

2nd grow - 2 7 gallon pots of FFHF with only organic amendments (Dr. Earth Bloom Booster) in flower. Started great but have some deficiencies (Calcium + Potassium).

3rd Grow - Have some options.

Option 1: 50 Gallon Smart Pot - would fit inside tent. Would grow either 1 large plant - or potentially 2 small plants in same container. Since grow space isn’t that large - hopeful that competition wouldn’t be an issue.

Option 2: 2 or 3 10 gallon smart pots to grow multiple plants/strains.

Option 3: put in a 30x30” raised bed and segment in to allow for 2 plants without competition.

I want to do fully organic - cover crops and teas. Also will recycle the soil and continue amending.

I would like to grow more than one plant at a time so I can enjoy a couple different strains. I feel like the 10 g bags are too small to properly create living soil conditions and maintain/amend, even though im growing relatively small plants.

curious to what other think the optimal setup is.

thanks dawgs
 
Wattzzup

Wattzzup

Well-Known Member
Stoney Bear94 said:
Hi All, about to start my 3rd grow.

I have a 32x32” space.

1st grow was a 7 gallon pot of FFHF with bottled nutrients. Plant was burnt and green at harvest.

2nd grow - 2 7 gallon pots of FFHF with only organic amendments (Dr. Earth Bloom Booster) in flower. Started great but have some deficiencies (Calcium + Potassium).

3rd Grow - Have some options.

Option 1: 50 Gallon Smart Pot - would fit inside tent. Would grow either 1 large plant - or potentially 2 small plants in same container. Since grow space isn’t that large - hopeful that competition wouldn’t be an issue.

Option 2: 2 or 3 10 gallon smart pots to grow multiple plants/strains.

Option 3: put in a 30x30” raised bed and segment in to allow for 2 plants without competition.

I want to do fully organic - cover crops and teas. Also will recycle the soil and continue amending.

I would like to grow more than one plant at a time so I can enjoy a couple different strains. I feel like the 10 g bags are too small to properly create living soil conditions and maintain/amend, even though im growing relatively small plants.

curious to what other think the optimal setup is.

thanks dawgs
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A 5 gallon pot would fill that tent.
 
Wattzzup

Wattzzup

Well-Known Member
Stoney Bear94 said:
I had the deficiencies with the larger pots - also if I’m going to recycle I can’t deplete the soil entirely to start up a new run.
Click to expand...
So you’re going to waste a ton of soil to save on nutrients? Seems like it doesn’t make sense to me. And you want nutrients for your next grow in there as well?

I’m completely confused on what you’re trying to accomplish other than less work for yourself.
 
S

Stoney Bear94

Active Member
Well I want to go the organic route. So as I harvest my 2nd run here, I want to start a 3rd right away. If I’m to plant another seed in that pot, I don’t think the nutrients will exist to carry it through another run, and I doubt it will be replenished in time as the new plant goes to flower. That’s how I came to the more dirt the better to build strong colonies and be able to replace all the nutrients I’m using up for the next run
 
@EastCoastGenetix

@EastCoastGenetix

Well-Known Member
Just go with the beds. It's less maintenance during the grow. When going organic the plant stops feeding on its own. I recently switched to beds a no matter how I grow I probably will always be in a bed. But beds does have a learning curve. Living soil has a learning curve. Like with cover crops. You have a use cover crops to balance out the soil. One of the big problems is compaction. So the more compact the soil is the more root crop needed to break it up. But some plants will aid in reducing the compaction at the top and others help deeper. But then you need worms to compost the back in. You can either smash the cover crop and let it regrow or you smash it and add a mulch over it. I personally just smash my cover and let it regrow. Not everything regrows so I do get a brown matting of mulch that forms because of the smash. I'm about to sow another cover crop right into the brown mulch layer that formed.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Honestly in a properly amended fertilized soil you can grow monsters in a 7g. In my experience it takes a few recycles to get your average soil mix to that coveted “supernatural“ status where it will sustain plants through to harvest. I do it slightly differently than no till but the idea is the same: put all is needed in the mix before there are plants growing in it and then you simply water them.
 
S

Stoney Bear94

Active Member
Thanks for the input all.

picked up a 2x2 felt bed, holds like 27 gallons. Adding my used soil (FFHF) from the previous run - adding some pumice, kelp, EWC, compost, oyster shell, and whatever else I decide to pickup in there.

planting a mixed cover crop with some of the leaves from the last run on top.

ill put 2 plants in it most likely and blow that tent tf out, it comes with a divider to give 14g/14g, or maybe I’ll just cut it out and let the roots run free.

Any thoughts on said plan before I get after it?

:bigjoint:
 
S

Stoney Bear94

Active Member
Also - no harm in throwing some worms in there right? I plan on growing in this setup for a couple of years as I live in a pretty small place in Chi lol actually got this tucked away in my bedroom ;)
 
SlownLow86

SlownLow86

Well-Known Member
Stoney Bear94 said:
Also - no harm in throwing some worms in there right? I plan on growing in this setup for a couple of years as I live in a pretty small place in Chi lol actually got this tucked away in my bedroom ;)
Click to expand...
Do some reading on the soil food web. Understanding this, is the single most critical component to understanding no-till gardening. Worms are an integral part of it.
 
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