What's new
  • Happy Birthday ICMag! Been 20 years since Gypsy Nirvana created the forum! We are celebrating with a 4/20 Giveaway and by launching a new Patreon tier called "420club". You can read more here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

Whoaaaaa.. Wait a sec!! 1 Gal Pots as measurement for mixing?

PaulieWaulie

PaulieWaulie

Member
Veteran
I just realized that the "1 Gallon Nursery Pot" that I have been using as a measuring container is not actually 1 Gallon, as in 3.785L (1 Liquid US Gallon) But much less at 2.5L I measured 10X 250m measuring cups to fill it. Maybe 11. This is without major compaction, just light compact enough that there are no air pockets.

I did a quick search and it seems this is standard with Amazon

"NOTE: 1 gallon of loose soil will fit in this pot when compacted. Actual liquid volume is 2.9 quarts"

"These pots actually hold 0.664 gallons and not 1 full gallon"

So all those mix recipes, did they use 1G nursery pots or an actual US Liquid Gallon Container at 3.787L.

Im assuming 3.785L Measuring container, which means that

I have been making my mixes 26% too strong!!!!!!

and yes the plants arent happy, else I wouldn't be worried about something like this.
 
Mikell

Mikell

Dipshit Know-Nothing
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Bit of a face palm a lot of people go through. Some are close but each number can vary by almost 100% in terms of dry volume.

Probably something the British invented based upon the size of a king's asscheek.
 
PaulieWaulie

PaulieWaulie

Member
Veteran
Close, guys but its deeper than that.

US DRY Gallon = 4.4L
US Liquid Gallon = 3.785L
Imperial Gallon = 4.54L

Any of those would be totally ok and understandable. more or less 4L to a gallon as standard. But a 1 Gallon pot isn't any of those.

the 2 popular ones I checked on amazon were 2.9L

and the other .66 G (.66X4L = 2.64L)

My own measurements gave me 11x250 ml cups = 2.75L

so all of these are still one whole liter below the measurements.

Who the hell decided to apply a street weight system to nursery pots and just shave off 33% of the top and call it a gallon !!!

Real question is, are the creators of mix recipes using a 1 gallon nursery pot as measurement like many would, or should I use an actual 4 L Container.
 
K

KIS

Active member
A 1 gal Nursery Pot is really a #1 container. Nowhere near a gallon. Sorry you're learning this the hard way.

The best bet is to take the container you want to use and then measure what it holds, leaving an inch or so at the top.

Many fabric pots are now "true to size" so you really just need to start with what size container you have and go from there.

Most soil mixes are really just ratios so you can scale them based on what you're doing. I can't comment as to how most mixes on the internet have been created, they are all over the board.
 
Bud Green

Bud Green

I dig dirt
Veteran
it's a dumb system, but that's that way it is...

Nursery pots were never really called "one gallon or two gallon or three gallon...
Look on the bottom.. It just says Number 1 or Number 2 or Number 3..

KIS has it right... Most formulas are given as ratios, so it doesn't matter if your measuring device is an old coffee can, a random big bucket or a pickup truck bed..
the ratio is still the same...
 
PaulieWaulie

PaulieWaulie

Member
Veteran
Bud Green Sr. said:
it's a dumb system, but that's that way it is...

Nursery pots were never really called "one gallon or two gallon or three gallon...
Look on the bottom.. It just says Number 1 or Number 2 or Number 3..

KIS has it right... Most formulas are given as ratios, so it doesn't matter if your measuring device is an old coffee can, a random big bucket or a pickup truck bed..
the ratio is still the same...
Click to expand...

Yes the Base MIX I wasn't worried about as it is ratios of EWC/Peat/Perlite etc. But ammendments are all per Cubic Foot (8 Gallons) and Im breaking down the recipe to a per gallon basis since I don't want to mix up large batches to do experiments and Im going to be doing a lot.

Il just start using a 4L Ice cream bucket from now on as a 1G measurement and assume that my previous mixes were 25% stronger than I had assumed. Rather be 25% weaker if anything.
 
growingcrazy

growingcrazy

Well-known member
Nursery pots are horribly inaccurate if your medium is already dampened. If it is bone dry you should be able to get about .75 gal per #1.

What does your mix come out to once you dampen and put it into a final container?
 
Absolem

Absolem

Active member
Nursery containers go by what's called a "trade gallon". A "trade gallon" is about .71% of a true gallon.
 
Andyo

Andyo

Active member
Veteran
metric and logic

metric and logic

It became the obvious conclusion to me .
Uk pots where bullshiting about capacity too.
I found buckets better and drilled drainage holes and marked levels.

So i just measured with water 1ml = 1 gram at 20 dec C
most of us own scales.
I found uk 100 gallon tanks had enough spare room to hold 500 litres at 50 ml depth
The math told me the 100 gallon mark was off to fukin muppets
100 uk gallons being 454.6 litres i make nutes so i adjusted the water in the concentrate to be ec 2.0 at 100 ml in 20 litres pure water thats max concentration solution
with 12 x 500 ltrs to change every 14 days easier on the grey matter
Also i new exactly the uptake and how much feed being taken up after topping up with 0.0 ec water.

Fuck Gallons.A
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top