2 week veg, what size bucket?

Hey RIU,

this will be my first attempt with hydro, and ive decided to go with DWC. I've done lots of reading on it for the past few months, but I couldn't find an answer to one question about bucket size. I was going to stick with the 5 gal buckets but then I questioned myself. I will be getting cuttings from a mother plant every 2-3 weeks and will be vegging them for only 2 weeks in 1 gal buckets. Then I will transfer the net pot to 5 gal buckets in my flowering room. Since im only vegging for 2 weeks, will 5 gal be necessary? If not, then what size?

Growing power Kush btw. Seems like a quick vegging strain.

I would use 5gal regardless of plant size gives you good room to grow or better ratios of nute to water

idk about hydro but in a smart pot with 2 months veg 3 foot tall veg then finish height flower 6.5 feet tall in only a 3 gallon pot. do you think you will need 5 ? lol

I figured that, because I remember reading something pH fluctuating with smaller amounts of water. Thanks

kinddiesel said:

idk about hydro but in a smart pot with 2 months veg 3 foot tall veg then finish height flower 6.5 feet tall in only a 3 gallon pot. do you think you will need 5 ? lol

Click to expand...

agreed ^ I'm using 10 g smart pot … i now realize i don't need this much space, and i cut tend to my plant so they don't hit 7 ft !!

Errm no there is some bad information in this thread.

You fail to mention your medium.
I do say this with respect, please don't give advice if you aren't sure.
Also don't give advice from personal experience, they might be using the same things as you.

Example?
3 gal smart pot with Coco Coir vs 3 Gal smart pot with Soil.

The 3G pot with soil will be root bound in half the time it takes for the 3G Coco.
Soil, Coco, DWC, Aero, etc. All different setups, all different requirements, all different end games.

So now that that is said.

I'm growing in 3 Gal smart pots with coco, I can veg for 3 months, then flower, and not have root bound issues.
I have a friend who grows in 3 Gal smart pots with soil, he HAS to transplant before flowering or they will be root bound and stretched and end up with a lot less yield.
Now for DWC or Aero I have no idea, as I have not read into this subject, as personally, I will never, ever, use DWC or Aero.
It has no benefits over coco, and you are almost guaranteed to fail if you fuck up even once in DWC.

Coco = Superior to everything but Super Soil.

Just my 2 cents.

That said (I know rant rant rant)

Coco is very similar to DWC, very similar. I would assume you would be able to get away with a 3 Gal bucket for DWC and monster plants.
5 Gal buckets don't cost more though, so why not? 5 Gal for DWC is the standard, and there is good reason to.
Much more complicated to transplant a DWC plant into a bigger bucket than a medium grown plant.
You don't even have to fill the bucket to the top if you don't want to. You can get different net pots for the 5Gal so if you want to use 3Gal the net pot goes deeper down, want to use 5Gal? Use a normal net pot.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Just wondering how big that three month vegged in coco plant you did was? Why would you veg it that long? Or were you making a point how easy it is to keep your plant alive in coco vs DWC? Just curious.

Big DWC person here. Its easy mode growing, to me anyway. I guess it is all perspective. I have heard coco is much more forgiving though. I might give it a spin, as long as growth rates compare to DWC that is.....

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I'm currently running a dwc with 5 gallon buckets, and my two week old cuttings root mass is already starting to ball up because it's roots are already filling up the bucket. So I would start there in my experience.

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Oh more info I'm using hydroton in net pots on 5 gallon home depot buckets

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I did not veg for 3 months, I'm saying I can, and get away with it.

Coco can hold a ton more root mass than soil, because coco is Hydro.

What I can tell you is my friend veges for 2.5 Months and flowers in the same pot no transplant, he uses 4 gal, 1 gal more, but I'm sure the same can be done with 3.
You really just need to try it for yourself.
Just remember to cut the root nutrients like Rhino Skin, Rhizotonic, B-52, Execelrator, etc if you think it might have too much roots.
I don't see it getting root bound though, I've been told by people that 3 gal of coco can support a 7 foot plant

Wow, useless info. Who cares about soil or coco? This was asked as a dwc question and the simple answer is always have the biggest res available. It makes things so much easier with less work on the grower.

This was a pretty big cutting I took 2.5 weeks ago and the root system is already like this in my 5 gallon bucket.

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Root bound plants will not be your issue with DWC. Running out of water will be. I've had plants that can drink 5 gal. of water in 24 hours. Providing I vegged for 6 weeks u probably won't have this problem. However the smaller the bucket, the more often you will need to change nutrients. A Wal-Mart 18 gallon tub works great. Cut a hole for the net pot and use panda film to block all light.


5 gal buckets are nice, especially if you can rig up a recirculation system with a top off res. If your going stand alone buckets, I like 10-20 gallons. Allows you to leave for a couple day without worrying late flower.

Kmog- just a friendly tip- put a bag over that bucket and tape it up. There's so much light getting to your roots/nutrients. Will stunt root growth and you will be running into algae problems in the near future.


OR

order a couple black 5 gal. Buckets There's a reason hydro stores only sell black buckets

Honestly I've just never had a problem and a month and a half of my growth looks like this. There are three plants in this pic.

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And if that's stunted I don't really want them to grow any faster. Two have them have grown over 4.5 ft in 6 1/2 weeks. As my tent has no more room.

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Pics of these monsters

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Easier to see here. The plants start about 8 inches below where the top of the bucket is. There are three plants in there. Also I bent down two of the tops that grew into the light on the left.

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