The Mad Librettist is scaling up

[mad librettist]

So I had a change of scene. I am now single, and I now live in a very dense city. All my old soil is gone and I am starting from scratch.

The plan:

Modular scrog - 25 gallon smart pots x 6 (4 at a time in the tent)
4x4 tent
600w switchable

the shopping list:

10 cubic ft of peat
6lbs rice hulls
3.5 or so cu ft of compost/humus
15 lbs of biotone
1.25 gals lime
a few pounds of clay
azomite


mixed evenly throughout will be 16 gallons of an experimental soil that is too heavy:

Peat
Peat humus
worm castings
biotone
zeolite for pool filters

everything will have to be store-bought

after reading the ingredients list of biotone, I see no reason to add anything else.

The two smart pots that are "resting" will be kept in a sunny room with some kind of cover crop, and will also be fed bokashi and worm cocoons.


any ideas for a mod scrog that will work with a big smart pot?

 

[jaykush]

oh dang watch out now.

 

[mad librettist]

Heya Jay!

don't expect beautiful shots, the old lady took the camera.

 

[VerdantGreen]

phew, when you said you'd ditched the wife and bought a tent, i was slightly worried that you were going to live in the tent

anyway, for the smartpot modular scrog, i would suggest making out of wooden batten like mine but extending the uprights down to the floor and putting some crosspieces on the bottom so you have a 'cube' type affair. find or make a tray to fit the bottom. stand the smartpot inside the cube and parhaps put some mesh or rails round the side halfway up to hold the pot in position. basically a cage for the pot but with a gap at the top with access to the soil. alternatively do them exactly like mine with a standard pot and then just put the smartpot inside and make sure it's not going to rattle around in there. wedge it in with some bits of wood/polystyrene or similar if necessary

if that makes sense...

VG

 

[mad librettist]

That should work...

the pots are 21" in diameter, and the tent is 47.24" across, leaving me theoretically with 5" or so wiggle room.

If that is too tight, maybe I should bury the base of the scrog trellis inside the pots? Anyone out there with a DR120 know how much of the interior space is usable?

 

[VerdantGreen]

hey mad ive never used smart pots but am intrigued by them. afaik they are not rigid so you couldnt lift them in and out without some kind of frame or pot round them. i have considered using them myself and those were the two ideas i came up with.

looking forward to your grow.

VG

 

[mad librettist]

for lifting them I am thinking more along the lines of a sling and a little dolly (not sure what you call it in UK, basically a flat board with 4 casters)

25 gallons of what I posted is gonna be pretty heavy.

you know what is funny - this grow will probably use no more juice than my micro cab.

 

[MrFista]

You're one step ahead Mad - a dolly will do the trick nicely. A solid base under each might make it even easier to slip em on and off the dolly.

 

[VerdantGreen]

ive never used a tent. will you be able to wheel a dolly in and out of it? if so then great. 25 gallons is indeed going to be heavy.

 

[StonedCrow]

Good for you Mad. I've been running a 600w in a dr120 for the last year and a half,and love it. However, I don't run scrogs, I'm more of a topper/bender/tie her down type - it's all about the pain in my tent.. ......SC

 

[StonedCrow]

ive never used a tent. will you be able to wheel a dolly in and out of it? if so then great. 25 gallons is indeed going to be heavy.

VG -

My dr120 has a lip at the bottom of the door, you couldn't roll a dolly through it. SC

 

[MrFista]

If you lived in the tent you'd have a lot more room for weed.

 

[StonedCrow]

If you lived in the tent you'd have a lot more room for weed.

That's just it, if you have a tent you do live in it, why else would you have one?.............SC

 

[mad librettist]

If you lived in the tent you'd have a lot more room for weed.

LMFAO

I guess I could roll it up to the lip of the tent, and have a second dolly on the other side to transfer it to?

I was thinking more of moving the pots around within the tent, so I can get around to train.

Stoned Crow, you are giving me ideas... need I scrog?

And VG, if I attach the trellis to the dolly...

 

[StonedCrow]

Stoned Crow, you are giving me ideas... need I scrog?

It depends what your goal is, and that truly is the beauty of the tent. I grow more than enough for me and one patient, and I shut down my flower tent the end of October and don't start it up again until around the middle of March (growing is hard work, it's my vacation.)

Without a doubt, if weight is important to you, then scrog. I get enough that it's not needed. The way I use my tent is for flower only. I use 3.5 gallon square pots, and I have 4 in the tent at any given time. Sometimes, I'll flower out two mothers in 5 gallon pots just to see how damn big I can get them, those harvests are spiritual.

I'm someone who needs to walk around my plants and look at them. If I was to use a scrog, I'd make sure to leave enough room to be able to walk around and be able to sit down and inspect the plants in the tent. I'm not a grams per watt guy..........SC

 

[mad librettist]

those are good points SC, I will have to give this some thought.

 

[trichrider]

imo four pots @25 gal is very tight inside a dr120...also the frame for a scrog is going to whittle your 5" 'wiggle' room down to about 5 cm.
I am using 5 gal buckts and find it difficult to maneuver a watering can...but you may have blumats
any rate...sorry she took the camera, hope the card was deleted.
Best of luck on your new gro.

 

[mad librettist]

hmmm maybe 3 at a time then... I sorta saw myself going in through the side openings

I'm trying to maximize soil volume. Even in my microcab, the last container was 14 gals. It's a lot easier to keep 14 gallons of soil active than it is to keep 5 gallons going. Seems to me the benefits of increased soil volume make it worth pursuing.

one big pot?

 

[StonedCrow]

I've been considering starting a scrog. So far, what I've come up with for the dr120 w/600 watts is using two 18 gallon totes, like these http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-18-Gallon-Tote-Box-Set-of-8/10401037

Put 3 clones from the same mother plant in each tote, and just feed and water, keep them as healthy as you possibly can. I'm pretty sure you'd be swimming in bud in three months....SC

 

[VerdantGreen]

i don see how the frames would increase the diameter of the smart pot because you could make the width so it is exactly the same diameter. the diagonals would be bigger anyway to the pot would fit in and bulge out so it was flush with the outside of the batons.

4 modules is pretty logical for a square tent. i am a fan of big pots too but imo you could get away just fine with a bit smaller. what is the next size down?? i would say 12 or more gallons would be fine and less problematic to move about.

VG