25 gallon tub vs five 5 gallon pots

stawawager

stawawager

Well-Known Member
I'm considering switching from a 25 gallon tub to five 3 or 5 gallon pots.

Pluses of the 25:
1. Can spin the whole tub for maintenance instead of shuffling 5 pots.
2. Easier to water.
3. Grows as a whole unit, can help with support.

Pluses of the 3 or 5.
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Opinions / questions welcomed.
 

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stawawager said:
Why does soil need more volume?
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Because of the way the nutes are taken in. In Coco the media is basically to hold the plant in place, and all the nutes are supplied directly to the roots with synthetic nutes, you feed every day, sometimes multiple times a day. In soil you can only add so many nutes and water without nute burning the plant or killing the roots with too much water (since the water doesn't drain nearly as fast in soil as in coco), so you need more space for the roots to collect the nutes. In organic you need even more space for the roots, because the nutrients have to be broken down by microbes in the soil to make it available to the plants.

stawawager said:
My area is 4' x 4'. I think that is sufficient for 4-5 girls. Agreed?
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I'd say 4 for certain, 5 might be pushing it, but give it a try.
 
stawawager said:
I'm considering switching from a 25 gallon tub to five 3 or 5 gallon pots.

Pluses of the 25:
1. Can spin the whole tub for maintenance instead of shuffling 5 pots.
2. Easier to water.
3. Grows as a whole unit, can help with support.

Pluses of the 3 or 5.
?View attachment 5419926
View attachment 5419933

Opinions / questions welcomed.
Click to expand...
plant count if that matters to ya, just saying one pot means one plant (at least to me). if you live where the witch hunt still rides, lol. so do you let the roots fill the underneath of the bird bath? i imagen loose coco falls in but not much.
 
stawawager said:
My area is 4' x 4'. I think that is sufficient for 4-5 girls. Agreed?
Click to expand...
sureshot138 said:
plant count if that matters to ya, just saying one pot means one plant (at least to me). if you live where the witch hunt still rides, lol. so do you let the roots fill the underneath of the bird bath? i imagen loose coco falls in but not much.
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I use Happy Frog soil. That blanket of roots migrated from above the upside down birdbath into a 4" void.

I actually don't have correct drainage. The drain pipe is 1.5" above the floor of the tub so probably has periods of standing water. I was surprised to see the blanket of roots covering the bottom though.
 
ilovetoskiatalta said:
I have ran 1 to 3 plants in 5 to 15 gallon fabric of the same strain with no problems. My standard is 1 in each 5 gallon fabric in amended soil this seems to work well for most 9-12 week strains.
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Fabric has really taken over. Do you just place a regular plant saucer under them?
 
Phytoplankton said:
Because of the way the nutes are taken in. In Coco the media is basically to hold the plant in place, and all the nutes are supplied directly to the roots with synthetic nutes, you feed every day, sometimes multiple times a day. In soil you can only add so many nutes and water without nute burning the plant or killing the roots with too much water (since the water doesn't drain nearly as fast in soil as in coco), so you need more space for the roots to collect the nutes. In organic you need even more space for the roots, because the nutrients have to be broken down by microbes in the soil to make it available to the plants.



I'd say 4 for certain, 5 might be pushing it, but give it a try.
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More than interesting, TY.
 
Phytoplankton said:
IMHO, multiple plants in one container can be problematic, most times it doesn't turn out well, one or two plants will dominate and the others will suffer/dwarf.
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Every time I put two seeds in a pot one goes like gangbusters the other suffers and is undersized.
I have a few five gallon fiber pots with Vietnam Black and the fiber pots are burried in a cement mixing tray filled with composted manure. Very impressed with rate of growth.
 
stawawager said:
What is the advantage of fabric that you like over plastic pots?
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I recycle my soil and when I take apart the root ball in my experience it is not just swirling around the outside of the pot. It actually looks hourglass shape. I also feel the pots breath or air prune. One thing no-one talk about is they leak when you water them after dry back. I use flora flex bubblers so the problem is somewhat mitigated but I have trays under the plant and bucket head shop vac just to suck up excess water. Just my experiences, its been almost 10 years since I switched. Also i dry them out use a brush to clean roots and bring them to a laundromat, wash them(the looks I get are what you would expect so I go early in the am) dry them and store them in bins.
 
ilovetoskiatalta said:
I recycle my soil and when I take apart the root ball in my experience it is not just swirling around the outside of the pot. It actually looks hourglass shape. I also feel the pots breath or air prune. One thing no-one talk about is they leak when you water them after dry back. I use flora flex bubblers so the problem is somewhat mitigated but I have trays under the plant and bucket head shop vac just to suck up excess water. Just my experiences, its been almost 10 years since I switched. Also i dry them out use a brush to clean roots and bring them to a laundromat, wash them(the looks I get are what you would expect so I go early in the am) dry them and store them in bins.
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Right, if they breath they're going to also sweat.

I had to educate myself on air pruning. Check out my picture in the OP of the roots in the bottom, those pretty much lived in air or so I thought, or they had to go through about 3 inches of air to get to the bottom where there might have been a little puddle after watering.
 
stawawager said:
I'm considering switching from a 25 gallon tub to five 3 or 5 gallon pots.

Pluses of the 25:
1. Can spin the whole tub for maintenance instead of shuffling 5 pots.
2. Easier to water.
3. Grows as a whole unit, can help with support.

Pluses of the 3 or 5.
?View attachment 5419926
View attachment 5419933

Opinions / questions welcomed.
Click to expand...
I dabble with the same question myself so why not try both way lol. Here’s 5 plants in little over a 4x2 prob 5.5x2. It absolutely works. Like others said did one plant dominate ehhh not a crazy amount. PH stays way more stable. More water. Less time watering vs 4/5 gallon buckets. I use 4 and once they grow you are filling them up daily or at least every other or they go dry. The 12 gallon tote barely do anything. I think I cleaned it once when I flipped.
Issues - mold. I took care of it but them plants get really close.
pain to purne again they are super close. When the bucket is full and you need to move it. It’s a pain. I only had this recently happen cause I screwed up with my SG bennies. But if it happens with all the plants in the bucket you are taken care of all the plants in the bucket. Root size. I’m getting better with timing but they get way bigger having all that room

I’m going RDWC and consider doing 2 12 gal 2 plants and using the 2 4 gallon bucket’s as control
Reason being the roots. In the pic you see the roots took up the entire 4 gallon bucket. Hence lots of water. I see this clogging the RDWC. I also have a ton of air going in. You don’t see a single bubble when the roots are taking the whole bucket.
I’d love to hear some comments
 

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stawawager said:
I'm considering switching from a 25 gallon tub to five 3 or 5 gallon pots.

Pluses of the 25:
1. Can spin the whole tub for maintenance instead of shuffling 5 pots.
2. Easier to water.
3. Grows as a whole unit, can help with support.

Pluses of the 3 or 5.
?View attachment 5419926
View attachment 5419933

Opinions / questions welcomed.
Click to expand...

Well, I paid the price for 4 girls in a 25 gallon tub. I had one twice the size as the other 3 and had to prune 7 inches and start stress training for it.

Still plan to make a fixed canopy on the tub so I can rotate it and work on it 360°. I won't be able to incorporate the two 5 gallon containers into the canopy. 20241016_153113.jpg20241008_214611.jpg
 
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