SOIL Preferred bag size for indoor photo grows?

[Puglover1]

Looking at vivosun's, are 5 gallon or 7 gallon best choice? I'm going to order some Happy Frog for now, OF later. 5' x 2' x 8' closet. First grow's hard pots were 13" x 10". Thanks.

I found another Mag seed last night, put it in an Aero-Garden starter so I might as well start my Wild Thai and WW Fast fem seeds while the A-G is up and running. I will probably go to peat pots after that, before they get transplanted into bags. They're shorter but a larger diameter than solo cups. The A-G has 6 holes, not sure how many seeds I'll drop, maybe the other Mag seed, last night's was smaller than the first one. My first grow two of the Mag seeds looked iffy but all three grew into big girls. At least I know how old these seeds are, I picked weed out of the same jar last night, it's almost empty now.

[Farmbuck]

I hope so !! Bought 10 Vivosun 5 gallon fabric pots last year. I believe they are good for photos. I grew some of my Kali, Mazar and AK-47 in it... I might buy more for my fall grow. Soooo anyway I'm still debating to which autos I should grow. I'm looking at Magic Melon auto from Humboldt Seed Company.

Yeah go ahead and buy them and if you are not satisfy with it then blame me !! And if you're satisfy then you should thank me non ?

[Puglover1]

Farmbuck

[Puglover1]

Thank you or blame you, lol Nobody has Mag unless they get bag seed from the dispensaries in Illinois. That's how I got mine and somehow I got a few in my harvest. I hope there are more to come. I will clone if these seeds take. Maybe I'll just test the one in the starter now, the first time they took several days to sprout. I have more starters in water now, to drop a few more seeds tomorrow. Since they're purchased seeds maybe I should put them in shot glasses overnight? If I drop 3 I might get one. If I drop 6 they'll probably all germ. Murphy's Law! So you made the Red Lebanese seeds?

[Puglover1]

Oh, yeah, I'm going to buy bags and some Happy Frog for now. The reviews are sketchy, some say the bags are smaller than advertised. They just seem better for the roots than pots, I have several big plastic greenhouse-type pots from buying trees and bushes. I used them outdoors for container veggies, glad I didn't plant those this summer. Wish I'd planted some flowers though, too much green everywhere, lilies are short-lived. I almost bought some solar-powered fake flowers for in front, lol.

[Farmbuck]

Yep got my own. In fact my second generation from the original 4 yrs ago. If their claim is true they are from the Bekaa Valley, north east from Beirut. One thing I'm sure she is Indica from her structure. Like I was saying she's not the most potent but I think she would be a good pheno to cross-breed with a potent strain for hash making of course.

[oldjarhead100]

I have found that the bags say 5 gallons but hold 3 they go by a measurement as to what they say a size is in a bag not what it can hold , I use 7 gallon bags in my woods grow anything bigger is a MF to carry out in the woods lol. George Cervantes says bag size can be broken down to length of grow a 3 gallon bag is could for 2 to 3 months a 5/7 gallon bag 3to 4 months and 10 or above over 5 months . I live in NE and our grow season is 5 months and I use 25 to 40 gallon bags and the difference between my green house grow and my woods grow is night and day I will average 4 to 8 ounces from the 7 gallon bags and over 12 ounces per plant from the green house plants , the old adage the bigger the root the bigger the yield is true

[oldjarhead100]

I wanted to add I used Happy frog once and got bugs cant say if it was the happy frog or me that brought them in but I use roots organic ocean forest I think its a better soil than HF

[Puglover1]

oldjarhead100 - Thank you. I was watching a few YouTube vids last night, heard about HF needing to be dried out > bugs. One mentioned Coast of Maine, there's a 2 cu ft bag for a decent price. Have you used that? I also thought 7 gal or bigger pots, I was researching instead of sleeping. I saw Vivosun has square bags with reinforced top edges and 'loops' on the corners for training devices. The dims for 10 gal seem good. I'll be transplanting up a few times, trying to have my purchasing decisions made and stuff on wishlist or in cart so I'll get notifications of price changes. I just found some DE here so that can wait. I sprinkle the closet carpet before covering it with plastic. I have seeds in shot glasses, starters are soaked. Once they germ I will do what needs to be done. I can throw together a seedling mix with what's here. This is the CoM: Coast of Maine OMRI Listed Bar Harbor Blend Organic Compost Potting Soil Blend for Container Gardens and Flower Pots, 2 Cubic Feet, $28.99. There's 1.5 inches diff between the square 7 or 10 gal bags.

[Bowhunterwoody]

Hey Puglover1. I think PLreef uses Coast of Maine soil but I'm pretty sure he uses the Stonington blend. He really seems to like it. I'll probably use it on my indoor this fall.

[PLreef]

Coast of maine, Stonington blend is definitely my new soil of choice. I couldn't be happier with it.. When I filled my pots I used Stonington blend but the very center of the pots I put about 6 cups of coast of maine seed starter and dropped my beans directly into the center.. With my last auto run I didn't add any nutes during veg. Once flower started I used half strength nutes. Every 4 watering I top dressed with around 3 cups of fresh soil and watered it in. It definitely perked up the girls. The price isn't horrible either. Worth trying IMHO.

[OldManGrower]

Five gallon bags are quite heavy and much more difficult to work with than three gallon bags. Seven gallon bags in an indoor grow will be very difficult to work with unless you are very large and have a much better back than I do. There is always a trade off. I can grow four large plants in my tent with five gallon bags and up to nine smaller plants in three gallon bags. So are you better off with more small plants or fewer much larger plants? More plants spreads your risk out but creates significantly more work. I have never tried to grow nine plants as working with them and moving them around in a small tent would be problematic and require very small plants.

[Puglover1]

OldManGrower I have a 5' x 2' x 8' closet. The bags will be their final home, after seedlings then smaller pots. A video last night said 5 gallon was fine but they don't seem to actually be as big as stated, or a lack of quality control? I stuffed 3 photos in that closet last year when they were flowering, those greenhouse-type pots were 13" x 10". I expect to only fit 3 plants during flower in there regardless of pot type, the bags just seem best for the roots and a longer grow. My 3 gal bags I can lift with one hand, hold one while moving another. So, 5 or 7 were my thoughts. I sit cross-legged on the floor between the guest bed and closet doors, mixing nutes and watering plants, my legs go numb but my back's OK. If I had help I want to put the bed in the 3rd bedroom and make the guest room into another hangout space so I can be comfy when I'm working on the plants, add a work desk, extra sofa, small TV. Thanks. I'm still not sure what size ...

I have two 'rollers' for bigger pots if I had to move them farther than I want to carry.

[PeterMatanzas]

I'd prefer a 5 or 7 gal but my plants get moved around, and I judge "does it need water" by lifting the fibre pot. I can barely lift a 5 gal and a 7 is out of the question. So I usually stick with 3 gal.

[SoOrbudgal]

I work them like PeterMatanzas does, my fabric 3 gal to 5gal all i've every used for indoor photos, yes i do use 3gal. just not sure you can feel comfortable in small grow containers alittle bit more attention is needed in smaller pots. When i do run the 3gal. photos i flip them 12/12 at 6wks veg. You can't get wide Puglover1 in a 2ft closet can you? I'd go with the 3 gal. 4 photo plants can make alot of weed less hassle.

[Puglover1]

SoOrbudgal My first 3 photos - large - were in pots that come out to ~4.5 gallons each. I don't think 4 pots are OK for photos in my closet - tower or floor fan, mini-humidifier. Granted I had to stuff the doors closed near the end but the 3 Mags grew a lot of weed - topped, trained, yoyo'd, some plants' branches shared ties and yoyos at the end. I'm ordering 5 gallon fabrics. I plan to transplant to a mid-size pot, I don't want to cut a 3 gal bag or plant it inside a 5 gallon. I went from starters to peat pots to a 1 ? (I'd have to measure and compute) gallon plastic pot the first time, then to the final pot. Might look at 2 gal fabrics. I forget that lifting 5 gallons of water jacks up my arm & hand for a while, once in the closet on the floor I pull them out or around. I could see growing 4 autos in 3 gal pots in there, I might get monsters if I did, lol. I have 4 seeds in starters, WW Fast Fem popped overnight; two Wild Thai and one Mag seed from my own grown are the other three. If the Mag seed grows I'll clone and save the better-looking Mag seed for another time. WT sativa will take longer, thus the 5 gal. If all four take off I might be finishing the WW in the shower in the attached bathroom, my previous drying room.

[Puglover1]

Farmbuck Look what I found, Mag Landrace Feminized seeds

https://www.pacificseedbank.com/shop-all-marijuana-seeds/marijuana-seeds/feminized-marijuana-seeds/mag-landrace-feminized-marijuana-seeds/

[Farmbuck]

Well thank you @Puglover1
I shall take a look at it..!

[Puglover1]

PLreef I bought a 1.5 cu. ft. bag of CoM Stonington Blend. I had already bought a 2 cu. ft. bag of CoM Bar Harbor Blend Organic Compost potting soil. I have 5 gal square fabric pots (or 3 gal or 1 gal) and seeds and a new light, mostly growing two sativa landraces, and a fast fem photo. Did I read that you use zero perlite in the CoM Stonington blend? I don't know if that bag will fill three 5 gal fabric pots. Or I could grow the fast photo in a 3 gallon. Are you familiar with CoM Bar Harbor? I'm thinking to do seeds in paper towels/ziploc then right into the pots after germ but I'm not sure if I should put something 'milder' in the seed-starting area in the pots' middles? Do you prep the pots - fill and wet a day or so before dropping the seeds? Also, does the bag need to be opened or prepped at all before or just pour into the fabric pots? Do you think the two CoM soils would play well together if I ran short? Thank you.

Farmbuck - when you said sativas go direct to final pots do you do the soak/paper towel/Ziploc until tap root pops and then drop them in the pots? Or seed right into soil? Thnx. I need to get this show on the road.

[PLreef]

I haven't used their Bar harbor compost. I use COM seed starter in the center of my posts. Around the size of of a large coffee can. Then COM Stonington blend for the rest of the pot. On my next run I'll add more perlite. I think the mix would benefit from it.

[Farmbuck]

Ok this is what I do @Puglover1 and it works for me: I soak my beans in a glass of distilled water for 18hrs at least. After I put them in paper towel until they sprouted. Once sprouted I drop them directly to their final place, the 5 gallons pot. It may not be the best method but so far I never lost a bean yet. Well maybe one or two lollll

Bon dimanche !!

[PeterMatanzas]

This is what I do also, soak a seed in water - it should float at first, if it doesn't, not a good sign it's probably bad. When the seed absorbs water and falls from the surface to the floor of the cup, that's when I put it in a paper towel.

[Puglover1]

In March when I was struggling with dud seeds I used the shot glass and water, it didn't drop. I added peroxide - my last NL auto seed - put it in a paper towel, the root popped I dropped it into the pot on 4/20, three days later twins were born. I had zero issues starting 3 Mag bag seeds in the A-G but they were the older spongy starters not these cocos.

[Rwise]

I myself like large pots (I dont use a tent), 20 gallon for the larger root system, also less water concerns etc. However your not going to be moving these around, unless you have a forklift. I picked up some 3 gallon cloth pots to use inside, I have to wonder IF they hold 3 gallons of soil. The 5 gallon seem to hold about 5 gallons and the 7 gallons holds a bit more, the 15 gallon bags must have been marked wrong as they hold 30.
I myself plant all seeds into their final home, it is my thought you get a better stronger root system, and you know what that does. I do presoak sometimes to get a faster germination.
The only commercial soil I have used is in the "Challenged" thread, it did well, but could be better.

[Puglover1]

The nephew was here, my printer is cashed. Add that to two cashed clothes dryers. Anyway, he said he'd come by this week to help me reset the closet, not going to take much/long. The Wild Thai bounced back from being snacked on, seems to want to live but, its roots. Do I rinse them in something before going into soil? Hydro peeps?? I hate these new starters, never had an issue with the old style. I can use tools to cut away most of the plastic, the bottoms don't meet/fuse. It's due for a water change but it's also moving soon and there's nothing else growing in there. I wish Crazy pug was guarding it but he's just hoping the cat drops a morsel of kibble. Would you save the seedling? Rinse/treat the roots or just sprinkle some goodies on them and plant?

I think I'll use 5 gal square bags for the two sativas, longer grow time; a 3 gal bag for the fast photo, finish the two smart cars (little autos) then use 1 gal bags to grow myself some basil, cilantro, and maybe a marigold for color. The outdoor garden I didn't get to have this summer. Is there anything wrong with that? Looking forward to plants on the ground (floor) again.

I guess I'll use Coast of Maine Stonington Blend but put Coast of Maine organic potting soil in the center of the pots for the new seedlings. CoM potting soil for my herbs. Still don't know if I should add perlite to the Stonington Blend though. At least the parts the cat ate were on low nodes, shouldn't be significant.

[Puglover1]

BU2B Thoughts on those roots? ^^ Thnx.

[Puglover1]

BU2B it's an Aero-Garden. Last year I had no issues starting seeds in it, different coco starters now and they suck. I have all of the other holes taped over, I went way farther in there on my 1st photo grow but they were spongy starters. I was going to cut away the plastic and the green coco top but wondered about a peroxide water rinse. The A-G has a pump and I hit it to come on extra when I'm near it. Kitchen, 71 degrees. I'll put it in a pot and see what happens. No algae on the first grow but a huge root ball, it grew fine after transplant into soil. Thnx.