A few questions for my first serious grow

Old Name

Member
Hi all. I'm pretty much undertaking my first serious grow this summer in the southern hemisphere (live in Uruguay). Hoping to supply myself with bud for the next year at my habitual smoking pace. I can't remember exact dates, but I believe the summer solstice is around December 21st or possibly early January, and harvest is usually about April.

I'll probably use this thread to refer back to questions I have throughout the process rather than clog up the forum with a lot of different ones, haha. I'm also probably not going to be following my progress close enough with pics to merit a grow journal.

So... for a little perspective, I have

1) 5 Blue Mystic autoflowers, one which has just started flowering and is about 6 or 7 weeks old, and 4 which are at about 3 and a half weeks. I have them planted in 3 gallon pots.

2) I also have 4 feminized Wonder Women which I have in about 5.5 gallon pots...

As the autoflowers finish I plan on reusing their pots with the 'freebies' from my Nirvana seed package. That second generation will probably end up quite small but better than nothing!

So first up.

Question Number 1 I see now that my 5.5 gallon pots are going to get rootbound quite fast, even though I'm planning on implementing both LST and SCROG. If I cut the bottoms out and put them in the ground, will that eliminate my problem?

Other details

I'm growing using a 70/30 coco/perlite mix, feeding with these (1 set for Grow and 1 for Flower) and pHing the water appropriately to about 6.2 give or take .1

Of course, it's far too early to estimate my yield accurately, but what's average for these conditions? Maybe an ounce or two at most off the autoflowers and about 1 oz/gal for my other ladies? Ideally I want to yield as much as possible, so I consider me an empty vessel waiting for rollitup's collective knowledge to pour into me...
 

dirtpower

Well-Known Member
Why not just plant them into the ground? if you must use pots, you could just plant the pots about 1/3 of there depth and the roots will grow into the soil...but if you need to move them, there will be a lot of shock, but at least you will have an intact rootball. as for cutting out the entire bottom? again why not just plant them into the ground? 5 gl pots are pretty small but placed 1/3 into the ground will at least give better results. good luck with your grow.
 

roseypeach

Well-Known Member
Use the biggest pots you can or else put them in the ground. A five gallon pot won't get as rootbound as a 3 gallon, you can always push it with bigger, 15 gallon pots. I wouldn't even bother putting them in containers if going straight in the ground is an option. Good luck with your grow! :)
 

Old Name

Member
Unfortunately I need to keep them in pots at first before I relocate them to final growing site.

So as long as I put them a few feet into the dirt, I can just count on the roots to grow out the bottom into the medium or would it be preferable to cut the last inch or so off the pots?
 

dirtpower

Well-Known Member
You could either transplant when you get them to your site or just plant the pot 1/3 of it's depth and yes the roots will find there way out and into the soil, but it would be alot better to transplant into the soil once you get them there.
 

ruby fruit

Well-Known Member
Those wonder womans are gonna need all the room they can get they are huge yielders...if they were in 15s u could get half pound per plsnt easy if in ideal conditions...better in the ground obviously though.
Top those bitches as much as you can they dont stop growing much at all when topped
 

Old Name

Member
I will try to get them in the ground then! How many times do you top your plants? And in your experience whats Wonder Woman like as far as quality and type of high?
 

ruby fruit

Well-Known Member
I will try to get them in the ground then! How many times do you top your plants? And in your experience whats Wonder Woman like as far as quality and type of high?
Its one of my favs.
A really nice hybrid great taste smell awesome high energetic yet relaxing
Quality is really gd if grown right yield is well above average.
I topped at the 3rd node and topped pretty much every chance i got till a month before flower.
Ive had topped and untopped wonder womans and both styles still yielded well what ever you decide to do.
It loves a weekly based seaweed feed after its a month old
 

Old Name

Member
Its one of my favs.
A really nice hybrid great taste smell awesome high energetic yet relaxing
Quality is really gd if grown right yield is well above average.
I topped at the 3rd node and topped pretty much every chance i got till a month before flower.
Ive had topped and untopped wonder womans and both styles still yielded well what ever you decide to do.
It loves a weekly based seaweed feed after its a month old
Excellent info, thanks...

A question, if I transplant into the ground, is it preferable to put them in straight soil/coco mix or to keep them in their current 5 gal container with the bottom cut out and let the roots grow? I read that in open soil it's hard to keep control on the pH and nutrients and whatnot, but I don't have any access to smart pots (or really anything bigger than what I have now. I'm using cleaned out paint buckets with trash bags inside to keep out any potential toxins leftover from their previous life lol)

Thanks for all the help everyone. Hopefully in no time you'll all have me growing some nice, dank cannabis...
 

sandhill larry

Well-Known Member
Thoughts on pots.

Here in the southern US, I can get used pots free or very cheap at nurseries. You might want to check on that where you live.

You can make your own smart pots with landscaping fabric. I used some old 2X4 dog wire to make mine stand up better.

All that said, digging a big wide hole and putting in as much good soil as possible is almost always the best way to go.

Good luck.
 

A.K.A. Overgrowem

Well-Known Member
Hi all. I'm pretty much undertaking my first serious grow this summer in the southern hemisphere (live in Uruguay). Hoping to supply myself with bud for the next year at my habitual smoking pace. I can't remember exact dates, but I believe the summer solstice is around December 21st or possibly early January, and harvest is usually about April.
I have read that Herb costs about $.10 a gram U.S. in Uruguay? What's the scoop on that. How is legalization working out there?
 

Old Name

Member
I have read that Herb costs about $.10 a gram U.S. in Uruguay? What's the scoop on that. How is legalization working out there?
Haha, not quite 10 cents a gram by any means. The program to open dispensaries in pharmacies and such got kinda stalled but the people Ibuse to get my nutes, soil etc are handling the grow and they told me it would be rolling out this summer (for us Dec, Jan). Last i heard it was about a dollar a gram but no idea how the quality will measure up.

Outside of that, some decent bud is about $100 an ounce if you're going with a dealer. A lot of that terrible brick weed circulates here around people without money to drop on decent weed or who are new to smoking. Just about everyone I know keeps a plant or two around in summer though, because authorities dont give much of a shit and if you register yourself its legal to keep up to 6 plants or I think 100 if you have enough people to start a grow club (not sure how many people that requires though)

It is pretty great though. I go everywhere with my little kit and I live in a resort town near the beach. Its legal to smoke anywhere so I spend my summers on the sand or in the water chilling with friends and smoking it up without any kind of fear.
 

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
Probably shouldn't be growing autos for your first grow. They're a hassle, and you have no control, and with lack of experience and understanding of the nature of autos, you can seriously fuck yourself out of yields. Good luck, though, brother.
 

A.K.A. Overgrowem

Well-Known Member
Haha, not quite 10 cents a gram by any means. The program to open dispensaries in pharmacies and such got kinda stalled but the people Ibuse to get my nutes, soil etc are handling the grow and they told me it would be rolling out this summer (for us Dec, Jan). Last i heard it was about a dollar a gram but no idea how the quality will measure up.

Outside of that, some decent bud is about $100 an ounce if you're going with a dealer. A lot of that terrible brick weed circulates here around people without money to drop on decent weed or who are new to smoking. Just about everyone I know keeps a plant or two around in summer though, because authorities dont give much of a shit and if you register yourself its legal to keep up to 6 plants or I think 100 if you have enough people to start a grow club (not sure how many people that requires though)

It is pretty great though. I go everywhere with my little kit and I live in a resort town near the beach. Its legal to smoke anywhere so I spend my summers on the sand or in the water chilling with friends and smoking it up without any kind of fear.
Thanks for the Reply. Maybe I read it was Paraguay that had $.10 grams, maybe I dreamt it, don't get old. Couldn't imagine saying "give me 4 lbs". for personal stash, died and gone to heaven. Hope the roll-out goes well read other S.A. countries are watching it. Sort of like we are watching Canada.
 

Old Name

Member
Is there any way to roughly estimate my yield? Feel like maybe they're a bit small. Would be pleased to get half an ounce from her.
 
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