More time & money into fewer plants = Larger Plants/Heavier Yield

I've been growing for several years on and off, last season was my best year yet. I'm in the Northeast US so we have a shortened season especially for sativas. Last year I pulled about qp off 3 plants. This year I have 10 seedlings, on accident nute burned 5 afgoo seedlings in the beginning so now I'm down to 10 and I feel it's to late to order from seedbank. So I've recovered some of the pots I used last year some are 3 gallon others are 5. I've decided if I invest some money I could grow some trees and hopefully have a decently large yield off just 4-5 plants.

I only work with strains I can get my hands on and last year I didn't feel like crossing one of my indicas with Tangie pollen so I only had 4 Afgoo aka Afgooey, 1 AK47 cross, and 5 Super Silver Haze.

They are regular seeds so ill hopefully I'll end up with at most 5 females.

I've started out with buying a couple bags of Fox Farms Ocean Forest and have the seedlings in that soil mixed with some Peat Moss in 1/2- 1 gallon pots.

I'm all organic and hate receiving bud that has horrible taste and irritates my throat. Last year I used Organic Dr. Earths Herbs/ Vegetable Natural nutrition. Dr. Earth Organic 5 Tomato, Vegetable and Herb Fertilizer is a superior blend of fish bone meal, feather meal, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, soft rock phosphate, fish meal, mined potassium sulfate,humic acid, seaweed extract, PRO-BIOTIC seven champion strains of beneficial soil microbes plus Ecto and Endo Mycorrhizae. I'm wondering if this is a good organic nutrients for my plants as I made the special tea recipe on the back of the package instead of much mulching it in with my soil, You let the tea sit for a few days then pour a cup in each pot.

Other then FFOF and Dr. Earths organic nutrients I'm just using Compost/Cow Manure/Peat Moss.

My seedlings are about 5 inches tall just growing out their 3 finger fan leaves.

Any suggestions on what you would do? I'm burrying my pots in the ground this year.
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I'm sorry but why are you not planting straight in the ground?

If you're trying to max yield outdoors, add a 0 or two to the ends of those 3 and 5 gallon numbers. Or plant in the ground

You def have the right idea as far as your soil nute line up....however im with the fellas on this.....weed roots want to grow more out not deep...buckets prevent this from happening....plus gallon size has a huge impact on yield. The guys who grow 10+pound plants have 600-1000+ sized holes.
Y would you put the pot in the ground?

Chillin710 said:

Other then FFOF and Dr. Earths organic nutrients I'm just using Compost/Cow Manure/Peat Moss.. i

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Organics soils, the holy grail of potting mix,

is best sought locally, look hard ask the old peeps in your area,

its heavy and time consuming to make,

hence buying it in as bags from a commercial concern claiming its organic, can never be trusted,

as Organic means different to all people

FFOF is a good mix it claims its organic ..you can never be certain

and its easy to make to .....so go diy

as for the pots go get a 200-500 gallon kiddie pool or sum such

good luck

The native soil is very low ph and I don't have enough money to invest in a bunch of bags of promix ($29.99 locally) or FFOF($17.99 locally) to fill giant holes in the ground but maybe I'll just big some good 25-35 gallon holes and line them with trashbags make a good mix of peatmoss, FFOF, and Promix I only need 5 holes. I've researched this company and they guarantee 100% natural resources in their products but who knows like you said only the people who make it right. Anyways my bud tasted amazing last year and burnt white ash all day, made grams and grams of shatter with the trim with good terps. I might stick with it this year and maybe add something when they start flowering.

My first grow was 50 plants in 5 gallon buckets and the yield sucked. I can get more off of one properly cared for plant with lots of good soil. It's definitely worth the investment to use good soil and lots of it. That is the number one factor that goes into a good yield IMO. Then water, light, pest management etc.

Chillin710 said:

The native soil is very low ph and I don't have enough money to invest in a bunch of bags of promix ($29.99 locally) or FFOF($17.99 locally) to fill giant holes in the ground but maybe I'll just big some good 25-35 gallon holes and line them with trashbags make a good mix of peatmoss, FFOF, and Promix I only need 5 holes. I've researched this company and they guarantee 100% natural resources in their products but who knows like you said only the people who make it right. Anyways my bud tasted amazing last year and burnt white ash all day, made grams and grams of shatter with the trim with good terps. I might stick with it this year and maybe add something when they start flowering.

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dr earth dirt sucks unless u like growing in bug infested bark,never tried there nutes go with peatmoss lots of lime and perlite

One bag of that fox farms will fill about 10 gallons. People are saying you need huge pots for a decent harvest but thats not neccesarily true. As long you end up qith something 15+ gallons your yield will be increased

I do fabric pots above ground. Allows for good oxygenation and drainage. Minimum size is 100 gallons. I scrounge up quite a bit of my material, just scored a big load of Alpaca manure. The stuff is amazing, but you have to find the farm and load it yourself. Non-burning and ready for immediate use. I also have a great compost pile with lots of worms. Both sources are essentially free...just requires a bit of sweat equity. I would not grow in the ground, as the big pots allow me to control the moisture and soil mix better. Most of my amendments are added in the fall after harvest, allowing for decomposition of organic nutes. In late spring, it is simply plug and go.

That One Stoner Guy said:

One bag of that fox farms will fill about 10 gallons. People are saying you need huge pots for a decent harvest but thats not neccesarily true. As long you end up qith something 15+ gallons your yield will be increased

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I've been using 5 gallon fabric pots and recently used 3 plastic 10 gallons for my mothers. The difference in plant size is significant. I think I might be going into naive soil soon because my day job eats too much time to make raised beds. I have an indoor/outdoor method so I can flower anytime of the year. My only issue is small yields :/

bigskymtnguy said:

I do fabric pots above ground. Allows for good oxygenation and drainage. Minimum size is 100 gallons. I scrounge up quite a bit of my material, just scored a big load of Alpaca manure. The stuff is amazing, but you have to find the farm and load it yourself. Non-burning and ready for immediate use. I also have a great compost pile with lots of worms. Both sources are essentially free...just requires a bit of sweat equity. I would not grow in the ground, as the big pots allow me to control the moisture and soil mix better. Most of my amendments are added in the fall after harvest, allowing for decomposition of organic nutes. In late spring, it is simply plug and go.

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I've done and do this, like survival scrounging on 'Stranded Deep' (RPG from steam)

very much of weed growing is free educational, and fun ..if we can ever be bothered

Dig big wide holes in the ground. Mix up some soil using chicken manure compost, cow manure compost, peat moss, potting soil, perlite and/or vermiculite. Don't forget to add lime and Epson salts. I use all sorts of other ingredients, including lava rocks, mushroom compost, blood meal, bone meal, worm castings, used coffee grounds, kitty litter and plant foods. I'm not trying to be 100% organic, but I do use some of the 3-3-3, 3-4-5 type smelly fertilizers. If not for the smell, I would use more. Instead I use bulk fertilizer like 13-13-13 and 15-0-15 along with time release plant food. {It is true it can effect taste, but I wouldn't be able to grow without it}

Even if you only have 15-20 gallons of soil mix per hole, go ahead and dig a 50-75 gallon hole. Just mix what you have with the existing soil.

You can figure gallons by Radius X Radius X 3.1415 X Depth / 231

As a reference point, a hole 36" across and 24" deep is 105 gallons. And it doesn't have to be that deep. The kiddie pool is a good option. Here is one of my young Yellow Pear tomatoes {along with a dozen stunted peppers} in a pool, about a month after I transplanted it. A big root ball is what makes a big plant.

Thanks everyone for all the advice and tips. I'll defiantly invest some money into more organic additives, and I do have a connection for Chicken manure. I know a grower who lives by it.

Cannabis roots like to go deep and will. If your plant is healthy and grown in correct conditions it's roots will take on any container. I have a plant right know that I purposely planted in taller containers since the beginning. No matter the container the largest roots are on the bottom or growing downwards.