Would you add earthworms to 10gal fabric pots?

Hello RIU.

Do you think 10gal pots is big enough to hold some earthworms?

My soil is:
Base (peat, perlite, EWC)
Nutrients: alfalfa meal, fish meal, guano/yeast based commercial pelletized fertilizer
Minerals: Calcium carbonate and gypsum
It also has stone meal and grounded barley

I've found some worms in the EWC i bought, but i also have my own, which has a lots of worms.

Would you add some of them to the 10gal pots or it would a better practice to do with bigger pots?

!0 gallons is still a little small to be running organic but yes I would add the worms. But not a lot, they will self regulate their population and it'll be better to have the population go up than killing a bunch off.

Thanks for the answer Rufus.

May i ask you how many and what size pots would you put inside a 3x3 grow tent to run organics?

Organics is very much viable in any pot size, so long as you stay on top of your top dresses.

The main issue with pots <10g is that the soil will decompose at a faster rate than >10g pots. You'll be dumping and re-amending a 10g pot faster than you would a 25g+ pot because eventually you'll be left with nothing but compost and perlite.

The cons of using smaller pots in organics are very minor.

1) As mentioned above, a 10g pot will become pure compost much quicker than a larger pot requiring you to make new soil.
2) Certain microbes only grow 12 inches below the surface of the soil, not really the biggest issue. Especially for someone just starting with organics.



As for your question with adding worms, Rufus is on point. Only add a handful of worms as the population will grow in fairly short order. Something else worth considering, if you're finding worms in your EWC then its likely loaded with cocoons too. So long as the conditions are proper, the worms will stay in the pots.

Seeing as you have your own EWC, I'm going to guess that you're already aware of proper conditions for worms.

Bit of an undermentioned benefit of adding worms to your pots is the fact that your worms will tell you if you're overwatering well before the plant does.

JHake said:

Thanks for the answer Rufus.

May i ask you how many and what size pots would you put inside a 3x3 grow tent to run organics?

Click to expand...

How many plants are you trying to grow? I ran 4 5g pots in my 4x4 tent, personally. 7g pots were too much, things got too crowded.

Just me personally, but in a 3x3 tent I'd do one of the following:

- 9 1g pots in a SOG setup (indica/indica hybrids)
- 1, maybe 2 10g pots in a SCROG setup (sativa/sativa hybrids)

How long you're willing to veg (time and/or money constraints), as well as the types of plants (indica or sativa) will ultimately dictate pot size.

It'd be much easier to provide you with a more definitive answer if we knew the strain you were growing, and how many plants you have.

HTH

Really thankful for the answer kratos015.

I'll tell you what i have right and now, and what my growing idea is so maybe you can give me some advice.

I start seeds in 28oz cups under CFLs.
Once transplanted to the final pot and put under the 400W inside the tent, i would like to veg for no more than 4 weeks before switching to 12/12.
I would also like to take care of no more than 4 plants.

Right now i have:
3 Belladona from Paradise Seeds in the cups; and another one from a breeder from my country, it's a indica dominant hybrid whit good branching on it's structure.
Available pots: 3x10gal fabric pots and 1x5gal fabric pot.

Last grow i did 6x4gal pots, and harvested around 7.5 ounces.
Plants were only topped, just a little training afterward with some ties in the pot itself.
I have no problem in putting a scrog net for future grows.

So...main idea is to have at least the same yield, with no more than 4 plants, with no more than 4 weeks of veg, in a scrog setup.

It's hard for me to imagine how to yield 7-8oz (i am not saying it's a great yield, but i want at least to stay on that numbers) with only 1 plant in 10gal pot, but mostly it's because of my lack of experience. Fortunately i'm getting better with each grow.

I don't have a lot of seeds available in my country, but if you can tell me about some strains, i will check what i have available here similar to those strains.

JHake said:

Really thankful for the answer kratos015.

I'll tell you what i have right and now, and what my growing idea is so maybe you can give me some advice.

I start seeds in 28oz cups under CFLs.
Once transplanted to the final pot and put under the 400W inside the tent, i would like to veg for no more than 4 weeks before switching to 12/12.
I would also like to take care of no more than 4 plants.

Right now i have:
3 Belladona from Paradise Seeds in the cups; and another one from a breeder from my country, it's a indica dominant hybrid whit good branching on it's structure.
Available pots: 3x10gal fabric pots and 1x5gal fabric pot.

Last grow i did 6x4gal pots, and harvested around 7.5 ounces.
Plants were only topped, just a little training afterward with some ties in the pot itself.
I have no problem in putting a scrog net for future grows.

So...main idea is to have at least the same yield, with no more than 4 plants, with no more than 4 weeks of veg, in a scrog setup.

It's hard for me to imagine how to yield 7-8oz (i am not saying it's a great yield, but i want at least to stay on that numbers) with only 1 plant in 10gal pot, but mostly it's because of my lack of experience. Fortunately i'm getting better with each grow.

I don't have a lot of seeds available in my country, but if you can tell me about some strains, i will check what i have available here similar to those strains.

Click to expand...

Tent is ~7ft tall, yes?

I recommend a stronger light. 7.5oz = 210g, which is roughly .53 GPW, so you're already a little above average. Many lights/ballasts are dimmable now. I've had success grabbing 1000w fixtures, and alternating between 750-1000w in a 4x4 tent.

Do you have legal limits that require you only grow a certain amount of plants?

If you only want to veg for 4 weeks, I would highly recommend going the SOG method and having 9 2-3 gallon pots in the 3x3 tent.

Good rule of thumb, one plant per square foot. 3x3= 9 sqft = 9 plants. Go with 9 plants in 1-3g pots in a SOG, if possible. From what I'm seeing though, Belladona is a sativa dom strain. So you should be able to take 2 Belladona plants in 10g pots and set up a nice SCROG with them.

Rather than tell you about some strains, I'd rather you mention what you have available to you and I can recommend you something from there.

For perspective, I'd yielded a little over 3oz from a 3g pot with Critical OG strain. One should be able to yield 8oz from a single 10g pot easily from a single plant, the caveat is that it would require more than 4 weeks veg time most likely.

This isn't me trying to brag, nor put you or anyone else down. Simply just trying to demonstrate the possibilities is all, and my possibilities are mediocre as fuck.

In your shoes, this is what I'd do. If Belladona exhibits sativa type growth, you should be able to get away with SCROGing 1-2 of those plants in a 3x3 tent.

You can totally pull over 8oz from a single 10g pot. I've pulled over 1lb from 10g pots plenty of times in my day, so I'm confident you can too. It will just take time, and experience.

Don't stress too much on yield my man. Just do your best, and continually strive to improving upon that even more. Letting fear cripple you will cripple you from trying new things, and learning.

I'd recommend a stronger light, if possible. I'm currently vegging plants in a 7ft tall 8x8 tent with a single 1000w DE light. Getting a light stronger than 400w fixture will likely help you tremendously. And grab a dimmable ballast if at all possible. My 1000w DE light is dimmable, I can run it at 600/750/1000/1100w depending on the setting.

I highly recommend getting a better light, because if you're already pulling .53GPW then the only things holding you back are either your soil, your light, or your strain, or any combination of the three.

The advice I stress to every and anyone is to stop being afraid to fuck up. You aren't growing commercially, you're growing for yourself. No need to be afraid to fuck up.

In fact, that .53GPW you grew was probably some of the best you've ever smoked. Was it not? Each and every grow is a learning experience friend.

Tent is 6,5 feet tall.

Yep, last grow was my best smoke until now. It was also organics, but i'm pretty confident that my new soil mix is better than last batch.

Any number of plants is illegal here. Most of the times that growers got caught, the police weighted the plants including pots and dirt, so the news said you had pounds of weed lol.

I don't know why, but here buying 400W HPS is much cheaper than other wattage's. I mean...3x 400W kits (ballast and bulb) are cheaper than 1x1000W. 2x400W kits are cheapear than 1x600W.
One 1000W bulb cost as much as seven 400W bulbs!
But not only that, also wattage's like 150W and 250W aren't much cheaper than the 400W ones. I guess 400W is the standard in lots of applications here.

What i'm not sure about is if 1x1000W has better characteristics than 3x400W. I mean, maybe the depth penetration of the 1000W bulb is bigger than the 400W, so adding more 400W is not better than having a 1000W.

Maybe for this grow i can borrow a led panel from a friend, to add some lights.

Regarding the strains i am able to get here...we have a good breeder but i guess it's unknown outside South America. Anyways, they have some sativa dominant hybrid with good branching, i will start leaning towards those strains. I have a friend running a few, so i will be checking their growth.
I may also be able to get seeds from the spanish breeder Kannabia Seeds.

Thanks for your answers man, will keep this updated and tell you how is going.

JHake said:

Tent is 6,5 feet tall.

Yep, last grow was my best smoke until now. It was also organics, but i'm pretty confident that my new soil mix is better than last batch.

Any number of plants is illegal here. Most of the times that growers got caught, the police weighted the plants including pots and dirt, so the news said you had pounds of weed lol.

I don't know why, but here buying 400W HPS is much cheaper than other wattage's. I mean...3x 400W kits (ballast and bulb) are cheaper than 1x1000W. 2x400W kits are cheapear than 1x600W.
One 1000W bulb cost as much as seven 400W bulbs!
But not only that, also wattage's like 150W and 250W aren't much cheaper than the 400W ones. I guess 400W is the standard in lots of applications here.

What i'm not sure about is if 1x1000W has better characteristics than 3x400W. I mean, maybe the depth penetration of the 1000W bulb is bigger than the 400W, so adding more 400W is not better than having a 1000W.

Maybe for this grow i can borrow a led panel from a friend, to add some lights.

Regarding the strains i am able to get here...we have a good breeder but i guess it's unknown outside South America. Anyways, they have some sativa dominant hybrid with good branching, i will start leaning towards those strains. I have a friend running a few, so i will be checking their growth.
I may also be able to get seeds from the spanish breeder Kannabia Seeds.

Thanks for your answers man, will keep this updated and tell you how is going.

Click to expand...

South America? Very cool, you may be able to source some original White Widow is thats the case as White Widow comes from South American landrace strains. A single sativa in a 10g pot can easily fill a 3x3 tent no worries.

You're correct about the main difference between 400 and 1000w bulbs being the penetration mostly. I used to use a 600w bulb for 3x3 SCROGs. If its financially possible for you to do, perhaps look into another 400w fixture if you're able to deal with the extra heat and electricity costs.

While it certainly isn't mandatory, if you're after better yields you'll certainly need more light.

Even those LED panels from your buddy will help, especially if they're quality LEDs. Anything is better than nothing.

GPW is a fairly arbitrary number, but its still a decent way to track progress in terms of yields.

Your yields aren't bad, and even if you added another light it wont do much if the plants aren't vegged tall enough, the soil isn't up to snuff, or the plants are being overwatered.

Perhaps consider starting a grow journal on here so others can provide input too, but it sounds like you're already on your way IMO.

And most importantly, stay safe out there my man.

I usually add a few when I top dress worm castings as I don’t screen them and only pick out the ones I see.

JHake said:

Hello RIU.

Do you think 10gal pots is big enough to hold some earthworms?

My soil is:
Base (peat, perlite, EWC)
Nutrients: alfalfa meal, fish meal, guano/yeast based commercial pelletized fertilizer
Minerals: Calcium carbonate and gypsum
It also has stone meal and grounded barley

I've found some worms in the EWC i bought, but i also have my own, which has a lots of worms.

Would you add some of them to the 10gal pots or it would a better practice to do with bigger pots?

Click to expand...

Worms are never really a bad idea. Just put a couple in, and let them do their thing. I put assasin bugs in my tent

Yesterday i added the worms to the pots and transplanted from the cups. Still in darkness, will check them in a few hours. I've seen a few Belladona grows and i believe 2 will work fine; it's pretty similar to an indica, big leaves and not a lot of foliage and branches compared to others strains i know.
I also realized that is hard for me to imagine the plant since i never used any pot over 6 gallons, so one of the main ideas of this grow is to develop a bigger plant and expand my experience with this style.

Multiple light sources are almost always superior to a single point source. I agree with Kratos about adding at least another 400w in there. 600w would be better. 1kw would likely be too much with a 6' tall tent. Either a single 600w, or two 400w with good reflectors would be ideal. No opinion on the worms, I'm very organic, but not that organic. I grow in 7 gal Dirt Pots (similar to Smart Pots, but I don't like their handle design). I run a living soil, the biggest thing is to continually re-inoculate the soil with beneficials, as in smaller containers they just won't survive all that long. Your ingredients look pretty good, but might go for a bit more diversity, and carbon content. Need carbon to feed the microbes, which feed the plant.

Also, you should be going from cups, to 1gal or so, then into the final container a week or two (preferably two) prior to flowering.

JHake said:

Hello RIU.

Do you think 10gal pots is big enough to hold some earthworms?

My soil is:
Base (peat, perlite, EWC)
Nutrients: alfalfa meal, fish meal, guano/yeast based commercial pelletized fertilizer
Minerals: Calcium carbonate and gypsum
It also has stone meal and grounded barley

I've found some worms in the EWC i bought, but i also have my own, which has a lots of worms.

Would you add some of them to the 10gal pots or it would a better practice to do with bigger pots?

Click to expand...

I'm putting worms in my next run with the clover. I grow the clover in the pots then prune or pick them to die in the pot. Not lots but a little, so that the worms have some dead organic food to turn to castings.

.

JHake said:

Thanks for the answer Rufus.

May i ask you how many and what size pots would you put inside a 3x3 grow tent to run organics?

Click to expand...

I would put one single pot close to 3x3 feet wide and length in there to run organic the most effectively. You have the floor room, take advantage of as much as you can. It's kinda free! lol

Thanks everyone for your answers.

I wanted to ask which height would you try to achieve with the plants?
As tall as i can get them while leaving room for the rest of equipment (filter, exhaust fan)?

From what i've been reading, the 400W bulb may have a penetration power of 2 feet.

I've made a diy scrog net, but not sure at what it should go.

You're better off making a worm bin and using the castings. Putting the worms in really isnt going to hurt anything but theyre probably not going to affect much either. You cant even get close to the kind of worm population you can get in a worm bin in your plants container. If its recycling your soil youre interested in, fungal remediation is what you're after. Fungi is what is going to break your roots back down into humus.

How would you add fungal biology?
I was thinking about IMO from KNF.

JHake said:

How would you add fungal biology?
I was thinking about IMO from KNF.

Click to expand...

Good compost and castings is really all you need. Good woody compost that smells like mushrooms. You can inoculate the soil with whatever strain of fungi you want. Oyster mushrooms are exceptional at breaking down roots.

ReignMan, sorry for the late asnwer.
I added some woody material to my worm bin and started another compost pile with pine barks and cannabis stems and branches. Won't be usable now, but at least i started the process.

I also started a grow journal, so you people can check what i am doing right now, feel free to visit and comment if you want: