coco: pot size

badtorro

badtorro

Well-Known Member
hi, I keep 4 plants vegging in coco+perlite (1:4) in 2.5L pots. I grow it in 1x1m tent.
I'm about to switch them to flower, but first I want to put them in new, bigger pots 5L

1) is the 5L pot big enough?
2) should I plan to re-pot again during flowering? if yes, how big pots?
3) 1.5months into flowering I will have to leave for holidays for 5-7 days. How do I make the plants survive without damage for the crop?

Merci beaucoup for your help :)))
 
ghb

ghb

Well-Known Member
you have one part coco to 4 parts perlite? where did you get that recipe?

i would go straight coco no perlite and instead of 5ltr pot a 20l one, this way you can get away with watering once a week if you're lucky. perlite will dry out quicker and there really is no need for it.
 
B

bogistJoe sr

Member
I'm hoping to try somewhat same setup except 4" Rockwool cubed Clones onto 6"gutter overfull of coco. Then maybe 18" between plants. Clones, if steady source found for wkly purchase or seedlings if not. Just trying to eliminate critical veg space. I'd rather get ready2bud girls &after 1week in 4" RWcube under 18hrs lite, transfer to 12/12 room on coco gutters. But realizing 650cu in may limit roots, maybe scrapping gutters plan for 15L->80L pots would drastically help my yields. My 26'x10' room allows any size for each of 60 plant containers size, but hate wasting coco. What size containers do 8-20oz budding plants need when given copious amounts of HPS light ?
 
Last edited:
xmatox

xmatox

Well-Known Member
I use a 4:1 coco to perlite mix. Perlite will help the coco not clump up. I have seen people who use only coco and the EC goes through the roof because of improper draining. Not saying it will always happen, but it can.
 
lawlrus

lawlrus

Well-Known Member
I always followed the rule of 1:3 for coco:soil pot sizes, i.e. 1 gallon coco roughly equivalent to 3 gallons of soil. This is totally a rough estimate and isn't accurate for every grower by any means. My last few runs I have used fabric pots with coco and am starting to think that you can get away with extremely small containers if you use these. I'm going to test the theory this run and stick with at least half of my flowering plants in the 1gal fabric pots they are currently in through the end of flower and compare that to the others going into 3gal. One thing to consider is that oftentimes, the smaller the pot size is the more often you can comfortably feed...say 3-5 feedings a day instead of 1-2. This really applies more to hard-sided pots than fabric pots in my experience. I'm curious if anyone has done any actual research with control groups, etc. to establish both the coco:soil ratio and the differences between hard-walled and fabric pots.
 
B

bogistJoe sr

Member
Wow...lawlrus. I can't imagine getting more than an oz or two per plant using only one or even 3gals of medium. I'd think in 3-4 weeks in bloom they'd be rootbound. What has your biggest yield been in the 3gal fabric pots? I have almost no space limits with 5-6 sq ft ea plant plus 8ft ceilings. Just hate limiting plants that'd benefit with bigger pots. Thumper60's supersoil addition brings to mind my first thoughts of 2/5 supersoil, 2/5 coco, 1/5 perlite. Seemed like jumbling up contradicting methods, or THE way to limit fertilizer use. How often would I water that,lol?
 
lawlrus

lawlrus

Well-Known Member
bogistJoe sr said:
Wow...lawlrus. I can't imagine getting more than an oz or two per plant using only one or even 3gals of medium. I'd think in 3-4 weeks in bloom they'd be rootbound. What has your biggest yield been in the 3gal fabric pots? I have almost no space limits with 5-6 sq ft ea plant plus 8ft ceilings. Just hate limiting plants that'd benefit with bigger pots. Thumper60's supersoil addition brings to mind my first thoughts of 2/5 supersoil, 2/5 coco, 1/5 perlite. Seemed like jumbling up contradicting methods, or THE way to limit fertilizer use. How often would I water that,lol?
Click to expand...
I have not run 3gal fabric pots yet, only the 1gal. Largest yield last run from the 1gal fabric pot with about 5 weeks of veg total was 108 grams not counting some additional larf that was not weighed and tossed right in the bubble pile. Since that is right in line with the yield I expect from a 3 gallon hard-walled pot, you can probably see where I'm getting the idea that I might be able to get away with much smaller pots if using fabric over plastic containers. The major benefit to the fabric pots is that they really don't allow the plants to become rootbound, at least not in any way that has a quantifiable negative affect on yield or vigor.
 
Craig1969SS

Craig1969SS

Well-Known Member
lawlrus said:
I always followed the rule of 1:3 for coco:soil pot sizes, i.e. 1 gallon coco roughly equivalent to 3 gallons of soil. This is totally a rough estimate and isn't accurate for every grower by any means. My last few runs I have used fabric pots with coco and am starting to think that you can get away with extremely small containers if you use these. I'm going to test the theory this run and stick with at least half of my flowering plants in the 1gal fabric pots they are currently in through the end of flower and compare that to the others going into 3gal. One thing to consider is that oftentimes, the smaller the pot size is the more often you can comfortably feed...say 3-5 feedings a day instead of 1-2. This really applies more to hard-sided pots than fabric pots in my experience. I'm curious if anyone has done any actual research with control groups, etc. to establish both the coco:soil ratio and the differences between hard-walled and fabric pots.
Click to expand...
Bingo, you've nailed it. Smaller pots more frequent feedings lots of runoff....in fabric pots flipped to flower sooner. They won't grow tall but wow are the dense and sturdy. I hand water 2-3 x daily and they would take more if time permitted.
 
Craig1969SS

Craig1969SS

Well-Known Member
Yes they do have root whiskers all around the bottoms but as long as you're drenching them enough times per day they continue budding and look great
 
B

bogistJoe sr

Member
Yeah after reading up about those fabric pots I'm convinced they're the best way. Kinda dreading the idea of having to water 2-3 times a day. Was thinking about installing a drip feeder on each container or placing them onto a bed of water polymers. I've used them to keep clones in Rockwool moist and they've never kept them overly saturated, and when showing their effectiveness to friends I'd fill a gallon jug with water and those crystal polymers and dip my whole hand to the bottom and my hand is hardly wet. They'll only release the amount of water to keep the pot barely moistened. I've been told though that they aren't technically organic and might bleed some undesirable (micro?)chemicals into my bud but That's never been confirmed to my knowledge. Has anyone used a dripper on a smart pot?
 
Craig1969SS

Craig1969SS

Well-Known Member
bogistJoe sr said:
Yeah after reading up about those fabric pots I'm convinced they're the best way. Kinda dreading the idea of having to water 2-3 times a day. Was thinking about installing a drip feeder on each container or placing them onto a bed of water polymers. I've used them to keep clones in Rockwool moist and they've never kept them overly saturated, and when showing their effectiveness to friends I'd fill a gallon jug with water and those crystal polymers and dip my whole hand to the bottom and my hand is hardly wet. They'll only release the amount of water to keep the pot barely moistened. I've been told though that they aren't technically organic and might bleed some undesirable (micro?)chemicals into my bud but That's never been confirmed to my knowledge. Has anyone used a dripper on a smart pot?
Click to expand...
Yeah don't worry about a hydrophilic polymer like that poisoning anything. They won't die with one good soaking a day if you miss a feeding, I've done it working 7/12's. A dripper or timed feeder? Timing it to drench your plants yes, a dripper idk.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top