Is 5gal bucket enough for outdoor grow?

these where taken in early august in maine here ya can get away with 5 gallon guckets because ya only got between june 1st and mid sept for a season haha now if these where in ca i'd go with s.b.w. method

As earlier mentioned you can grow in a 5gl but, plan on doing lots of watering. I've done it and thought it to be a pain in the ass watering every week. And leaving trails due to constantly having to maintain them. Your better off digging a hole and dumping 5gls of super soil in it. Then, you only have to water every couple weeks.

was root bound by the time the plants started flowering last year using 5 gallons.

Anything 10-25 gallon would be best for optimal growth and best yield...i usually veg in a 5 gallon til it starts to get pretty big but for flower go bigger

be ez said:

I grew in 5 gallon pots and found them to be alright. They weren't really too root bound at the end either but defiently had to water them a bunch more that if I had used bigger. Depends on your growing season aswell, my plants were started mid may and were done by late september so obviously in Cali or something it would be a different story.

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with bigger pots u water with more water less often, smaller pots vise versa, less water more often. i finished in 5 gal a couple years ago, and in full flower i'd water anywhere from 1-2 gal per plant every 2-3 days, and it wasnt fun. Id rather do 3-5 gal per plant every 5-7 days with large containers, or better yet holes

This was my 1st grow back in 2011 using whatever I could find for containers.. some not as big as 5 gals





This was 2012's grow...











very few 5 gals or smaller.. I found out in the 2012 grow I like big plants and I cannot lie.. oppps... I mean I like them fat not tall.. going to attempt a scrog once I learn more on the details ..

OGEvilgenius said:

I assume you're using the buckets to carry your nutrients?

200 gallons or more IMO (with minimum 8 weeks inside pre veg).

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thats very realistic for the newb or novice grower now isnt it? we all cant afford, a truckload of soil per plant, nor do many of us have the means or oppurtunity to do such a grow. Sure its a nice thought for us growers, 200 gal containers and 10 lb trees, but lets be realisitic, the guys asking about finishing in 5 gal, do u think 200 gal/ plant is even remotely possible for him? you'd need a damn resevoir or water truck to keep up with adequate water supply. We aren't all large scale medical growers in here

cobra28widow said:

If I had one that I started outdoors and I have one thats 2 months old when I put it outside... which one will get ALOT MORE buds??? Yep the one that you started indoors.. and it has a much better chance to survive.. but to each his own

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of course if you had a bigger container, but with only a 5 gal how big can plant possibly get. unless u live somewhere with short summers

gioua said:

This was my 1st grow back in 2011 using whatever I could find for containers.. some not as big as 5 gals

This was 2012's grow...

very few 5 gals or smaller.. I found out in the 2012 grow I like big plants and I cannot lie.. oppps... I mean I like them fat not tall.. going to attempt a scrog once I learn more on the details ..

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Nice. I lst my outdoor so wi can get nicne big bushes and to keep the height controlled. I plant right in the ground.

A 3'x3'x6" raised bed costs under $10 to make out of untreated lumber. It takes roughly six bags to fill and it isn't hard to find good potting soil priced at $4 a bag at the big retail gardening stores (ie Home Depot, Lowes, OSH, etc). Let's do the math... $4 x 6 = $24. That's less then a bag of Roots Organic. Even more appealing is it doesn't require digging or weekly feedings. Optionally for an additional $30 you can buy a drip irrigation kit and for another $40 you can buy a timer.

Using fresh soil (and lots of it) you shouldn't need to fertilize, but if you do just buy a bag of dry organic fertilizer like Kellogg or Epsoma for under $10.

Come harvest time, don't leave to soil bare. Instead put it to work by growing legumes. They love the colder winter climate anyway. Then when spring rolls around harvest the legumes and chop up the plant and bury it in the bed. Legumes will put nitrogen back into the soil which will help recharge so you can go light on your feedings. After that you can top off with mulches and compost teas as needed.

Thank you! I was thinking that it would be a bit impractical to use 200gal pots. And also where i will be planting the soil is very tough to dig. I like the mobility of the 5gal, but if I end up being able to build a greenhouse, I like the the wooden raised bed option. Seems most affordable and customizable way to go except "good" soil isn't very cheap. Is it alright to just buy the cheapest soil you can find and mix in some nutes ect.? Also love the idea of growing legumes during winter months! Its a pain and a waste to just buy new soil every season!

I once tested Kellogg Patio Plus ($4) against Fox Farm Ocean Forest ($20) and Roots Organic ($30). For three years I tested these soils and the one that did the best on average was the Roots Organic followed by the Kellogg Patio Plus. However the difference was so small that from an investment point of view I decided to stick with the. Kellogg. That's because some strains did better with Kellogg and others did better with the other soils. And it wasn't the same year to year. So I think natural hardiness, properly time fertilizer applications, and correct watering made a bigger difference.

Isn't the rule of thumb on containers 1 gallon/every foot in height?.

SenorBrownWater said:

if you use them to feed and show scale they are great!
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*not mine

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this is the work of a legend .. Tom Hill .If you are vegging indoors and plan to head out in April you are looking at a very long season. I learned from this guy Tom Hill. The bigger the pot the bigger the tree. Of course time is a factor. Lots of amendments . Crazy thing is the depth of these pots is only 18 -20 inches. A lot goes into considering the right pot size like vegg time , breed you are using, ferts you are adding ,clone vs. seed, when you plan to harvest. Its' alot of trial and error. I put plants in 150 gallon containers in June and harvested in early Oct only to realize I wasn't utilizing the entire pot or soil in the pot. the same plants were also put into 50 gallon pots and the roots covered the entire area. So had I started earlier with the 150 gallon pots, like a month or 2 maybe the root system would of used up more of the area. Remember plants from seed grow a tap root and clones don't so there is another variable to consider.. BLaBLaBLa , Im ramblin on but I guess what I'm trying to say is it's all about trial and error. Good Luck

Anyone have experience transplanting out of 5 gal buckets? I'm wondering if i should prepare them so that i can just remove the bottom and bury the whole thing, or attempt to "pop" the whole root-mass out and "Transplant" them into either the ground or raised planters.

Sunbiz1 said:

Isn't the rule of thumb on containers 1 gallon/every foot in height?.

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i have a sativa in a 4 gallon bucket that's 7 feet tall... that rule is only very general and vauge but yes you can "go by that guess" for pre planning your grow...

Oldcheesekush said:

Anyone have experience transplanting out of 5 gal buckets? I'm wondering if i should prepare them so that i can just remove the bottom and bury the whole thing, or attempt to "pop" the whole root-mass out and "Transplant" them into either the ground or raised planters.

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you can cut the bottom of the bucket, and insert it in the top of another 5 gallon bucket mostly full of soil for a bucket in bucket stack...bigger roots usually means bigger plants and bigger yields...

Oldcheesekush said:

View attachment 2492145Any input on outdoor soil growing in 5gal buckets? I'm considering using a few of these Camo 5gal. along with Some 20gal pots. I was planning on drilling holes in bottom for drainage and maybe adding a 1" layer of hyrdoton on the bottom.

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I pretty much did the exact same thing except I used pebbles from a creek. Shit did not go as planned. The plant was a bust man. I'm talking 2 feet tall max hah

I'm trying to to for monsters this year if my fenced in back area is only 10x14 should I do 6 50 gallon smart pots, or just 3 in the ground as big as I can get them then maney a small row of autos in front of the 3 huge ones


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