Three gallon vs. five gallon fabric pots

King Bloom · Oct 15, 2018

Which do you prefer? Do you notice greatly increased yields with five gallon fabric? I've been googling around and watching videos and see some pretty impressive videos showing differences between different sized pots.

This video playlist is pretty good but he only has an N of 1 for each condition and he never updated it with the final result.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l1h42iRjeo&list=PLOp2o3adUZ23nW3oINtCPj1mndBtSb7zM

I was thinking of doing 9 three gallon pots under each 1000w HPS but five gallon fabrics are just as cheap and soil price isn't an issue because my tests so far have shown the sandy soil on my property performs better than Promix and MG potting mixes in my system.

I'm looking for best yield and quality vs. time and light used. Is five gallon overkill?

troutman · Oct 15, 2018

I came close to ordering 3 gallon pots.

But instead chose 10 five gallon VIVOSUN Tan Fabric Plant Pots Grow Bags w/ Handles to try them out.
It will be the 1st time I get away from standard plastic pots for indoor growing. I chose tan color to get
away from black colored containers. Should be interesting to see how they work out.

LadyGuru · Oct 15, 2018

5 gal for the win. More soil is always better IMO.

paradoxlost · Oct 15, 2018

I was doing 20 and 25 gallon pots. Those plants were monsters. But the 5 gallon pots can fit more plant matter under lights. Just easier to play the tetris game with them. I would have like 1 or 2 twenty gallon pots and a bunch of 5 gallons

zachrockbadenof · Oct 15, 2018

i've used 3 and 5 gallon fabric- didnt see any diff- last run we used 5gall plastic- again see no diff between 5gall plastic and fabric - i do find plastic is easier to water , espec in flower when the plants are expanding - with plastic the water goes thru the soil, and runs out into the dish- with fabric if the soil is dry, the water comes out the side of the fabric, sometimes the dripping misses the dish onto the tent floor...
also did a side by side plastic/fabric - same cuttings, under same bulb- no diff in quanity or quality

Switcher56 · Oct 15, 2018

zachrockbadenof said:
i've used 3 and 5 gallon fabric- didnt see any diff- last run we used 5gall plastic- again see no diff between 5gall plastic and fabric - i do find plastic is easier to water , espec in flower when the plants are expanding - with plastic the water goes thru the soil, and runs out into the dish- with fabric if the soil is dry, the water comes out the side of the fabric, sometimes the dripping misses the dish onto the tent floor...
also did a side by side plastic/fabric - same cuttings, under same bulb- no diff in quanity or quality

When soil is dry, you need to brake the surface tension. Using a Hawes watering can, gently kiss the soil with water. Allow 3-5 minutes so the soil is permeated and then proceed to water. Should you see water coming out of the side of the pot, you are watering TOO fast

I use 3gal pots and they are more than enough. My girls drink 2l every couple of days.

Switcher56 · Oct 15, 2018

LadyGuru said:
5 gal for the win. More soil is always better IMO.

Not necessarily so! It's the capillaries from the "air pruning" that we are after. That's what he said

~ John Hyoshio Naka. 3gal pot is more than enough for indoor grows. Sativas OTOH (outdoors) by all mean a 5 gal hat

troutman · Oct 15, 2018

If the fabric pots get too dry has anyone tried using saran plastic wrap around them yet? :dance013:

It won't make a perfect seal but should slow down the evaporation.

Hydro8 · Oct 15, 2018

I would go with more soil. 3gal is not very much root space.

I like plastic better then fabric pots, the fabric dries out faster.

Switcher56 · Oct 15, 2018

troutman said:
If the fabric pots get too dry has anyone tried using saran plastic wrap around them yet?

It won't make a perfect seal but should slow down the evaporation.

In a "perfect world" you want your pots to dry out (but remain moist) every 24hrs, 2 days at the post. If you can't achieve that. You are overpotted (besides watering too much). Saranwrap would defeat the purpose of fabric pots. IOW you took a fabric pot and turned it into a plastic pot

troutman · Oct 15, 2018

Make lots of holes in the Saranwrap and make a hybrid pot.

I'll see how they work when I try them. I tend to overwater anyways.

Switcher56 · Oct 15, 2018

troutman said:
Make lots of holes in the Saranwrap and make a hybrid pot.

I'll see how they work when I try them. I tend to overwater anyways.

I'll keep that in mind for my AC/DC, Bd, DT etc...

I was watering 1.5l per session last run. I am watering 1l per pot these days. Much better

Air pruning comes from the "Bonsai" world. It may come from some other place but, that is where I learned the technique and yes, I swear by it

PS: Happy 17/10

Switcher56 · Oct 15, 2018

Hydro8 said:
I would go with more soil. 3gal is not very much root space.

I like plastic better then fabric pots, the fabric dries out faster.

Contrary to popular belief, plants/trees don't need soil to grow. Hydro has proven that. If you have a proper feeding regimen along with sufficient moisture. You can grow anything in shards of glass.

Plastic pots do not air prune and hence create very little capillary roots (the good ones). Think of them as leaves, whilst the roots that grow around the pot, consider them branches. Better suited for transportation than sucking up water and nutrients. Capillaries act like a whole bunch of tiny sponges

The more sponges you have, the more efficient your system

I just did a post mortem on a Gdp and the pot was littered with thousands of very fine feeder roots. Very few were the size of a pencil led. Contrary to popular belief, that is what you want. :tiphat:

LadyGuru · Oct 15, 2018

Switcher56 said:
Not necessarily so! It's the capillaries from the "air pruning" that we are after. That's what he said ~ John Hyoshio Naka. 3gal pot is more than enough for indoor grows. Sativas OTOH (outdoors) by all mean a 5 gal hat

I would think growing cannabis is very different than John Hyoshio Naka and his bonsai cultivating, don't you? Growing a tree, in a very small container, with very slow growth doesn't seem like a recipe for sucess in cannabis growing......

IME, one of the main limiting factors of growing cannabis would be the soil volume. Lets take my OG clone that I have grown in just about every environment possible. When I grow her in a 1000 gallon pot outdoors, I still fill the pot to the edge with roots, and those plants yield 10+ lbs. Same clone, same start dates, same nutrients, but in a 100 gallon pot, I only yield 3 pounds. Size matters, IMO.

Hydro8 · Oct 15, 2018

Switcher56 said:
Contrary to popular belief, plants/trees don't need soil to grow. Hydro has proven that. If you have a proper feeding regimen along with sufficient moisture. You can grow anything in shards of glass.

I am growing in 5gal RDWC buckets right now probably has 3.5 gals of nutes in them. The roots are tight by harvest time. I would not want to go any smaller. I think with soil they would have even less room.

Switcher56 said:
Plastic pots do not air prune and hence create very little capillary roots (the good ones). Think of them as leaves, whilst the roots that grow around the pot, consider them branches. Better suited for transportation than sucking up water and nutrients. Capillaries act like a whole bunch of tiny sponges The more sponges you have, the more efficient your system I just did a post mortem on a Gdp and the pot was littered with thousands of very fine feeder roots. Very few were the size of a pencil led. Contrary to popular belief, that is what you want.

Not sure about all the "air prune" hype associated with the fabric pots. I did get some dead roots on the sides after drying out. After the plants were done I tore apart the fabric pots and was just not that impressed by the roots. The roots in the plastic pots just seemed much more healthy.

I played with 10gal fabric pots and was not that impressed so far. I tried some with 5-7 gal of soil and noticed they will dry out a lot faster then 10 gal of soil. When the plants were full grown in the 5-7 gal pots they would soak up the watering too fast.

I would still play with the fabric pots again. I feel like they are much better suited for a timed irrigation system where they are getting watered/feed a few times a day.

King Bloom · Oct 15, 2018

LadyGuru said:
When I grow her in a 1000 gallon pot outdoors, I still fill the pot to the edge with roots, and those plants yield 10+ lbs. Same clone, same start dates, same nutrients, but in a 100 gallon pot, I only yield 3 pounds. Size matters, IMO.

I can definitely see that happening outdoors, but I need to know if indoors I will see a similar effect. There's only so much canopy I can cram under one light.

Switcher56 · Oct 15, 2018

King Bloom said:
I can definitely see that happening outdoors, but I need to know if indoors I will see a similar effect. There's only so much canopy I can cram under one light.

You are correct! Different kettle of fish outdoors

Switcher56 · Oct 15, 2018

Hydro8 said:
I am growing in 5gal RDWC buckets right now probably has 3.5 gals of nutes in them. The roots are tight by harvest time. I would not want to go any smaller. I think with soil they would have even less room.

Not sure about all the "air prune" hype associated with the fabric pots. I did get some dead roots on the sides after drying out. After the plants were done I tore apart the fabric pots and was just not that impressed by the roots. The roots in the plastic pots just seemed much more healthy.

I played with 10gal fabric pots and was not that impressed so far. I tried some with 5-7 gal of soil and noticed they will dry out a lot faster then 10 gal of soil. When the plants were full grown in the 5-7 gal pots they would soak up the watering too fast.

I would still play with the fabric pots again. I feel like they are much better suited for a timed irrigation system where they are getting watered/feed a few times a day.

Bold text... that's because we have become lazy. Not here to try and convince anyone. For me it was a no brainer having used similar pots in the past. They did not disappoint me.

PS: I do postmortems as well

Switcher56 · Oct 15, 2018

LadyGuru said:
I would think growing cannabis is very different than John Hyoshio Naka and his bonsai cultivating, don't you? Growing a tree, in a very small container, with very slow growth doesn't seem like a recipe for sucess in cannabis growing......

R U sure about that?

Have you ever grown a Bonsai?

heatherlonglee · Oct 16, 2018

Those fabric pots just don't get clean enough in a way that I felt comfortable using them again. You can get them clean, but the roots grow into that fabric; everything is stuck and intertwined. Not fun when you try to clean them fabric pots up for next run. I'd go the 5 gal and maybe just leave a little off the top if wanted later down the road to use maybe 4.3 gal or whatever. In my experience just use plastic pots, drill holes in the bottom of the pot and also the bottom 1/3 of the sides. Using quality soil like Pro-Mix (OP if your local sandy is equal? :noway:

) you just don't gain much else using fabric pots. Under 1000w HPS the extra soil space will probably be wanted.

OP what does your soil test mean exactly? Was it on indoor plants under HID lighting? I'd say if this your first run indoor; under HID, don't use that local soil at all not even in the mix.

Three gallon vs. five gallon fabric pots

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