Need help ,want to grow 10ft giants this year

KreegDaddy

KreegDaddy

Active Member
Ok I have a situation. I had planned to buy some clones this month and run 20/4 light in an ebb n flo till mid May then put outside in 100 gal fabric pot to finish the season naturally. My goal is to grow biggest plants I ever have.

My issue is that I cant get clones anymore and have to start from seed. I'm thinking of starting the seeds in soil and after they get going for a couple weeks, wash the soil off the roots and run them hydro. Has anyone tried this? My gut tells me this might be a bad idea. But I cant afford to lose anymore time.

Thanks

KD
 
GOLDBERG71

GOLDBERG71

Well-Known Member
Why not buy a few small cells of rockwoll and germinate them in there and when it out grows that cell it can be put in whichever medium you're using? You should be able to get that on Amazon by Friday if you order fast enough.
 
T

The Nine

Active Member
KreegDaddy said:
Ok I have a situation. I had planned to buy some clones this month and run 20/4 light in an ebb n flo till mid May then put outside in 100 gal fabric pot to finish the season naturally. My goal is to grow biggest plants I ever have.

My issue is that I cant get clones anymore and have to start from seed. I'm thinking of starting the seeds in soil and after they get going for a couple weeks, wash the soil off the roots and run them hydro. Has anyone tried this? My gut tells me this might be a bad idea. But I cant afford to lose anymore time.

Thanks

KD
Click to expand...
You can wash the roots and change medium but the damage you will cause doing it will set you back with root shock and damage to the micro roots compared with controlled upcanning.
How will you move your hydro set up outside as you introduce your plants to the elements prior to moving them outside?
 
C

CC Dobbs

Well-Known Member
KreegDaddy said:
Ok I have a situation. I had planned to buy some clones this month and run 20/4 light in an ebb n flo till mid May then put outside in 100 gal fabric pot to finish the season naturally. My goal is to grow biggest plants I ever have.

My issue is that I cant get clones anymore and have to start from seed. I'm thinking of starting the seeds in soil and after they get going for a couple weeks, wash the soil off the roots and run them hydro. Has anyone tried this? My gut tells me this might be a bad idea. But I cant afford to lose anymore time.

Thanks

KD
Click to expand...
bad idea
 
KreegDaddy

KreegDaddy

Active Member
Thanks for the replies, I knew to follow my gut.

Goldberg- thats what Ill do and I should have thought of that, Im just used to the ease of getting clones and I panicked a little changing course. Im on this tonight! luckily I have a hydro shop down the road. I've never started seeds like this before but should be easy, keep em warm and moist, they'll have to pop.

Nine- my plan for going outdoor is to have large soil beds prepared and just plant them. I know they will experience shock here but I believe it will be short lived as long as the beauties are top health when they make the transition. I also plan to cut the light to match outside hours about a week prior to the move. This should soften the blow.

Im in the Rockies and theres a lot of winter left, so i cant think of a better way to reach my goal. We cant plant outdoors here til June 1, so I need a way to get a good head start. This is pretty much an experiment as Ive never tried it before. Although, i have done indoor soil culture and moved them outdoors with good success.

My guts talking to me again, its saying "I see poundage in your future!!"

What do you guys think of my plan?

Thanks again.

KD
 
T

The Nine

Active Member
KreegDaddy said:
Thanks for the replies, I knew to follow my gut.

Goldberg- thats what Ill do and I should have thought of that, Im just used to the ease of getting clones and I panicked a little changing course. Im on this tonight! luckily I have a hydro shop down the road. I've never started seeds like this before but should be easy, keep em warm and moist, they'll have to pop.

Nine- my plan for going outdoor is to have large soil beds prepared and just plant them. I know they will experience shock here but I believe it will be short lived as long as the beauties are top health when they make the transition. I also plan to cut the light to match outside hours about a week prior to the move. This should soften the blow.

Im in the Rockies and theres a lot of winter left, so i cant think of a better way to reach my goal. We cant plant outdoors here til June 1, so I need a way to get a good head start. This is pretty much an experiment as Ive never tried it before. Although, i have done indoor soil culture and moved them outdoors with good success.

My guts talking to me again, its saying "I see poundage in your future!!"

What do you guys think of my plan?

Thanks again.

KD
Click to expand...
I would suggest a heated propagator for germination and use something like plagron royal sugar at .5 ml per litre warmed to tepid temperature to soak the cubes in prior to popping the seeds into the medium. This will ensure the very best start IMO.
Why not use fibre pots with the soil you are going to grow outdoors to get them going? You can use a dropper system to feed in doors and just transplant into a larger fibre pot when required, use heated mats for increased root production until you decide to transplant out side where you will just bury the whole fibre pot in your chosen location.
There would be no transplant issues in this system and you could also lift the plants out side to acclimatise the ladies for a week or two before evicting them outside for the summer.

What do you think?
 
Alienwidow

Alienwidow

Well-Known Member
I grew two pound plants last season. I just started them in dirt. Why do you want to start them in rock wool or in an ebb system? Seems weird to me to start dirt plants in hydro... Is it in hopes of faster veg growth?
 
KreegDaddy

KreegDaddy

Active Member
Alien, yes my reason for hydro is I hope to maximize my vegetative growth prior to putting them outside.

Nine, yes I have a little clone machine and put a heating pad under it which should work good as a seedling nursery. I forget the name of them but i have those cloning cups made out of a sponge material with a hole in it for the stem. After reading your reply Im thinking to start the seeds in those in the clone machine and then move them up to a larger pot and introduce to the ebb n flo system. And I like your idea of using a fiber pot but wonder about how often I would be changing the fiber pot out, ive worked with them a couple times in the past and they seem to get a bit delapitated after a while. What do you think about using a large size plastic net pot lined with coir and a good soil within it? My thought is that the plastic pot would never need to be changed out, the coir would act as a filter to keep soil from running into my tank and just bury the whole net pot with the plant when the time comes?

I've never tried the dripper system but will probably stick witht the ebb n flo since its already set up. If I did go the dripper, i guess I could utilize my existing system and just run a dripper to each plant and let the runnoff go back to the tank? Might be fun to try.

I sure appreciate your thought provoking reply. This is going to be another great season, i can feel it

Thanks for the ideas
 
M

MjAeJdIiK

Well-Known Member
Your over thinking it IMHO.... Just start them in a good soil mix indoors and treat them right , then plant outdoors when ready. I can almost GURANTEE all the messing around with hydro to soil yadda yadda is going to stress them out and stunt growth... Your goal is max growth so why stress them? Just start in soil and do it right.
 
KreegDaddy

KreegDaddy

Active Member
You could be right. Since I love growing weed anyways and enjoy trying new grow methods, I should try soil and hydro/soil side by side. Then we'll know what works best for future grows. I think that if done right you can get higher yields by combining the two methods. Just have to nail reducing stress to minimize unproductive growing time.
 
T

The Nine

Active Member
KreegDaddy said:
You could be right. Since I love growing weed anyways and enjoy trying new grow methods, I should try soil and hydro/soil side by side. Then we'll know what works best for future grows. I think that if done right you can get higher yields by combining the two methods. Just have to nail reducing stress to minimize unproductive growing time.
Click to expand...
Well put a heated mat under the soil to give it a fighting chance, then you will see excellent growth from both media. (I am saying this with regards to your 'cold Rockies' comment earlier)
Heated mats under hydro induce water born fungus, but gentle heating mats under soil promote bacterial growth and helps dry out the bottom layer of soil which holds a damp anaerobic layer of soil.
With fast drying soil I think you maybe surprised at how fast they can grow.

Put 1 heated mat under a soil pot and compare.
Should be interesting.
 
K

kenya123

Well-Known Member
KreegDaddy said:
Alien, yes my reason for hydro is I hope to maximize my vegetative growth prior to putting them outside.

Nine, yes I have a little clone machine and put a heating pad under it which should work good as a seedling nursery. I forget the name of them but i have those cloning cups made out of a sponge material with a hole in it for the stem. After reading your reply Im thinking to start the seeds in those in the clone machine and then move them up to a larger pot and introduce to the ebb n flo system. And I like your idea of using a fiber pot but wonder about how often I would be changing the fiber pot out, ive worked with them a couple times in the past and they seem to get a bit delapitated after a while. What do you think about using a large size plastic net pot lined with coir and a good soil within it? My thought is that the plastic pot would never need to be changed out, the coir would act as a filter to keep soil from running into my tank and just bury the whole net pot with the plant when the time comes?

I've never tried the dripper system but will probably stick witht the ebb n flo since its already set up. If I did go the dripper, i guess I could utilize my existing system and just run a dripper to each plant and let the runnoff go back to the tank? Might be fun to try.

I sure appreciate your thought provoking reply. This is going to be another great season, i can feel it

Thanks for the ideas
Click to expand...
u dont need hydro,if you start seeds now,once big enough to veg id transplant to 10 gal containers,by mid may the plants will be plenty big enough for your beds
 
hotshotisdashit

hotshotisdashit

Well-Known Member
If you wanna grow 10 foot plants I suggest you look into growing vertically. But keep them in soil. The switch could severely damage your roots.
 
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