cannabal13
Member
Hi all, do you think a five gallon pot 1/2 compost 1/2 bag soil is enough medium for a mature mj plant? I imagine bigger is better but it gets heavy, maybe 7 gal? any suggestions or tips? tx, cbl...
5 gallon pots big enough for outdoor?
- Thread starter cannabal13
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stevefrench
Active member
5 gal will get the job done just fine, and no real harm in useing a 7 gal either
Bass Akwards
Member
Big enough, but not too stable ...
Big enough, but not too stable ...
Five gallon buckets can be large enough for a good crop. Half & half compost and soil sounds good, but I'd suggest 1/2 cup of Gypsum and/or a few cups of pearlite just to keep it loose.
Even if they're a few inches deep in the soil, a tall plant in full bud can be hard to keep upright. Wind will blow them down over and over. How many times are you willing to pick them up? The only simple solution is bush-pruning.
They'll need water, regular water, and if they get through the heat of Summer, they'll get root-bound all to hell. But, that's OK too. Restricted roots boost flowering response. Consider trying copper-based paint on the inside of the bucket. It's been controversial on other grow-sites, but it does cause root tips to stop and regenerate back inside the soil. It's an efficient use of the growing medium, and keeps the root ball away from the hot sides of the plastic bucket. Whether any elemental Copper makes it into your resulting joints is a question for a particle physicist. Your results might vary.
Prepare for deer problems before they happen. They can and will munch it.
Top off each bucket with a handful of Milorganite, a mulch mat of human barbershop hair, and a handful of mothballs on top. Piss all over the place, and block it off with a fence of mono fishing line if you can. Good luck.
Big enough, but not too stable ...
Five gallon buckets can be large enough for a good crop. Half & half compost and soil sounds good, but I'd suggest 1/2 cup of Gypsum and/or a few cups of pearlite just to keep it loose.
Even if they're a few inches deep in the soil, a tall plant in full bud can be hard to keep upright. Wind will blow them down over and over. How many times are you willing to pick them up? The only simple solution is bush-pruning.
They'll need water, regular water, and if they get through the heat of Summer, they'll get root-bound all to hell. But, that's OK too. Restricted roots boost flowering response. Consider trying copper-based paint on the inside of the bucket. It's been controversial on other grow-sites, but it does cause root tips to stop and regenerate back inside the soil. It's an efficient use of the growing medium, and keeps the root ball away from the hot sides of the plastic bucket. Whether any elemental Copper makes it into your resulting joints is a question for a particle physicist. Your results might vary.
Prepare for deer problems before they happen. They can and will munch it.
Top off each bucket with a handful of Milorganite, a mulch mat of human barbershop hair, and a handful of mothballs on top. Piss all over the place, and block it off with a fence of mono fishing line if you can. Good luck.
HighonPottery
Member
they're the smallest pot i'd ever consider outdoors. more suited for late-season minis in my garden that way i can move them around to get the best sun as it shifts in the fall. tippy in wind if exposed to it. dry out very quickly, need regular watering like stated before. could use some water polymer crystals to help it. benefit from burying partially in ground to keep cooler and retain a tad more moisture. plants usually finish a little bit earlier than in-ground, same strain. hempy's style bucket might work though, never tried it myself but considering it.
definitely go with something bigger, its is hard as shit to try and transplant out of a 5gal bucket without ripping half of the root mass off. found that out the hard way last summer, just put it straight into the ground your yield will thank you for it
HighonPottery
Member
true...but that's why some nurseries recommend cutting pots off so you don't damage the root too badly. it works, but it's a waste of a pot that could easily have been reused. a dry soil plant is much easier to transplant than one with a good amount of moisture in the soil; its because the rootball tends to shrink away from the sides and releases easier. next time if you know you're gonna transplant out of the 5-gal use a grow bag and cut that mofo.
i am truly jealous of your 300 gal planters, fisher. are they one plant each or multiple plants? what does your mix consist of? if it's one plant, when you go that big why do you not just plant in the ground?
i've dream of the day when i have a chunk of property big enough to pull that kind of stuff off. i remember a pic in a magazine once about 10yrs ago that was of a wheelchair dude his backyard with this ONE plant that was bigger than a car and filled up the whole yard. i think it was in like a 5x5x5 hole that was dug and amended with lots of goodies.
J
JackTheGrower
Between 5 and 7 I'd go 7.. They are the largest i care to move by hand.
I would have a gravel bottom and some screen over the gravel then the soil mix on top of the screen material. Nice oxygen displacement IMO.
ICK-SNAY the Milorganite-A it may contain heavy metals..
for 7 gallon pots a small batch of gourmet compost top dressing is good.. Also a nice manure tea with stuff... But water more than feed IMO. Weak and often IMO.
Not only are we supporting the plant we are supporting microbial life as well..
Watch out when watering in the heat with fertilizer laced water. It can cause a Hermi condition..
Cool the area down by watering on and around the pot then water the pot then fertilize.
Besides more moisture the Sun has to evaporate in the area, the longer your watering will last.
Like a dehydrated man it's best to not let them drink right away.. Cool them down first to avoid shock.
That's all I can muster up right now..
Jack
I would have a gravel bottom and some screen over the gravel then the soil mix on top of the screen material. Nice oxygen displacement IMO.
ICK-SNAY the Milorganite-A it may contain heavy metals..
for 7 gallon pots a small batch of gourmet compost top dressing is good.. Also a nice manure tea with stuff... But water more than feed IMO. Weak and often IMO.
Not only are we supporting the plant we are supporting microbial life as well..
Watch out when watering in the heat with fertilizer laced water. It can cause a Hermi condition..
Cool the area down by watering on and around the pot then water the pot then fertilize.
Besides more moisture the Sun has to evaporate in the area, the longer your watering will last.
Like a dehydrated man it's best to not let them drink right away.. Cool them down first to avoid shock.
That's all I can muster up right now..
Jack
Howdy, highonpottery- well I wanted to go in-ground, but there are leech lines in the way and my ground is very rocky with hard clay, would've needed a month of tractor time so I went with the planters. One in each. Super easy to make with wire fencing and landscape fabric. My soil mix is about 60% greenwaste compost, 20% sand, 20% black 'dirt' all delivered from my local landscape/soil place. Each planter also got about two bags of perlite, and some also have coco. Dry nutes include bone/blood meal, fish meal, alfalfa meal, greensand, oystershell lime, soft rock phosphate, glacial rock dust. Was a little worried how they'd take to it, but everything seems to be blowing up proper 
i think the big question is how long is the veg going to be... plan for a gallon per month. Outside in full sun i would think that they would be rootbound pretty quick in 5 gallons.
dig a hole 6 inches deep as wide as the five gallon bucket. cut 1 inch of the bottom of the buckets and place it in the ground. the plant will grow vigorously.
okanogan green
Member
Hello there. I have some plants growing in 5 gallon Nursury pots with a mix of Subcools Super soil half full and the top half with sunshine #4 and perlite. I have put some Soil Moist polymers in most of the pots as the summer heat here is intense and the plants dry out and require almost daily watering. Some of thes plants the roots start coming out of the train holes and want to take root where they really belong in the earth. Although I enjoy the portability of the plants in containers I am amazed at how the plants do when the pots are sunken into the ground or better still when the plants are transplanted into a hole with amended soil at the bottom of the hole with some polymers added. These plants in the ground thrive while the ones out in the wind and hot sun in the pots struggle and need constant attention due to drought. I would recommend the 5 gallon buckets as they are quite a bit bigger than the 5 gallon nursery pots. I have even heard that some hardware stores sell camo'ed 5 gallon pails!!!. My first ever grow I had a Timebomb female from legends seeds grow to nine feet tall and yeild one-half a pound of dry dank weed in a 5 gallon nursury pot. Cheers.
okanogan green
Member
Hello there. I went out to water after a day or so and lo and behold my 5 gal nursury pot had tipped over. The plant was laying down among the sage brush and when stood up it looked so weird as all the branches and leaves were at a 90 degree angle. Watered the plant and then nestled it in good to where it will not fall over again. Have to consider digging a hole to transplant into or just partially sink that pot into the ground. They have to be babied and watered so often it is starting to make more sense to me to "plant" them in the ground where they belong and not have to water so much. Safe and happy growing to all. Regards.
Bass Akwards
Member
Heavy Metals Not A Problem With Milorganite
Heavy Metals Not A Problem With Milorganite
Actually, that suspected problem was addressed many years ago.
Thirty years ago, there was a warning about the possibility of heavy metals printed on bags Milorganite, but it proved to be false. The manufacturers erred on the side of caution at that time, and recommended that it not be used on food crops.
That's no longer the case.
Check out the Milorganite website: http://www.milorganite.com
In fact, Milorganite has Less heavy metal content than commercial chemical fertilizers.
Milorganite is an organic, slow release, fertilizer with a high Iron content.
One additional benefit is that it gives off a musty odor when dampened that appears to function as a deer repellent. Studies are underway to test its' level of effectiveness following many anecdotal reports from the field.
Heavy Metals Not A Problem With Milorganite
Actually, that suspected problem was addressed many years ago.
Thirty years ago, there was a warning about the possibility of heavy metals printed on bags Milorganite, but it proved to be false. The manufacturers erred on the side of caution at that time, and recommended that it not be used on food crops.
That's no longer the case.
Check out the Milorganite website: http://www.milorganite.com
In fact, Milorganite has Less heavy metal content than commercial chemical fertilizers.
Milorganite is an organic, slow release, fertilizer with a high Iron content.
One additional benefit is that it gives off a musty odor when dampened that appears to function as a deer repellent. Studies are underway to test its' level of effectiveness following many anecdotal reports from the field.
Guerilla Family
Member
I havent grown in 5 gal Buckets since my first grow, 9 years ago. This year I am growing in them again. I have my buckets on the edge of a swamp. Theres a small creek that runs right along side the area I have my buckets at. They are among the cat tails and saw grass.. I staked my buckets down, to save them from being swept into the neighbors yard by a flood
In the buckets I have promix amended with Cow Manure, and Mushroom Compost. IF I had polymer moisture crystals available, I would have used these as well.. But these mothers had to get into bigger pots ASAP, and there just wasnt time or funds for the polymer crystals.
GFam
In the buckets I have promix amended with Cow Manure, and Mushroom Compost. IF I had polymer moisture crystals available, I would have used these as well.. But these mothers had to get into bigger pots ASAP, and there just wasnt time or funds for the polymer crystals.
GFam
cannabal13
Member
the 5 gallon pots appear to hold twice as much soil as 5 gallon nursery pots. With excellent 1/2 compost and 1/2 top line bag dirt and your nine foot 1 1/2er story, I feel more confident. thanks, 1cannabal
okanogan green
Member
Hi there.. Just to confirm. It was 1/2 pound or eight ounces of dry weight and not 1 1/2, if the plant was in the ground who knows how it would have yielded as it was monsterous in that 5 gallon pot. It was my first ever grow and got me into homegrowing outside. That weed was superb and the tops were black in colour man!!! I have popped a few Timebombs for this years season. Regards
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Guerilla Family
Member
Good luck man
cannabal13
Member
green, thanks for the update, even 8 oz is a bonus. movable plants has it's advantages, great as a supplement. cbl
