Pot Size in Soil-less medium?

Would you guys say it is better to use a 2x 10 gallon pot a soiless mix instead of 2x 5 gallon pots?
Does more room for the roots equate to better yields/growth? Or there is no real difference for a soiless medium?

By the way, I am using Dr. Bugbee's mix of vermiculite/peat feeding synthetic nutes.

Overgrowtho said:

Would you guys say it is better to use a 2x 10 gallon pot a soiless mix instead of 2x 5 gallon pots?
Does more room for the roots equate to better yields/growth? Or there is no real difference for a soiless medium?

By the way, I am using Dr. Bugbee's mix of vermiculite/peat feeding synthetic nutes.

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Indoor or out?
Indoor that size pot is probably too big= 10g
And yield comes down to training and veg time

Good luck

Indoors @Herb & Suds
I was thinking to do 2x 15 gallon pots (total 30 g) instead of 4x 5 gallon pots (20 g).
Since my grow space is small, just 4x4, I think 2x plants will be easier to reach in, and and prune dead leaves etc.
Either way I will veg and train for optimal yield.

Why do you say that 10g is too big? What is the disadvantage, if any, from using a pot that might be too big?

Overgrowtho said:

Indoors @Herb & Suds
I was thinking to do 2x 15 gallon pots (total 30 g) instead of 4x 5 gallon pots (20 g).
Since my grow space is small, just 4x4, I think 2x plants will be easier to reach in, and and prune dead leaves etc.
Either way I will veg and train for optimal yield.

Why do you say that 10g is too big? What is the disadvantage, if any, from using a pot that might be too big?

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A waste of soil and nutrients
And too hard to control watering

10 gallons is just too big. When you say soiless are you thinking about coco coir or promix? Honestly, with drain to waste, I wouldn't go above 3 gallon pots. 4 plants in 3 gallon pots will fill up a 4x4 tent with as lush and thick a canopy as you could ever want. There just isn't a benefit to bigger pots in DTW hydro, and they actually don't work as well. Smaller pots require more attention, more feedings=more growth, and there is less chance you will over water them.

Indoors - 5-7 gals max. You can grow decent sized plants in a 3 gal pot. If you have 10 foot tall ceilings or a ton of space then maybe 10s, but in 4x4 space with normal ceiling height, 5 should be more than enough.

I use 2.4 gallon pots.

Overgrowtho said:

Would you guys say it is better to use a 2x 10 gallon pot a soiless mix instead of 2x 5 gallon pots?
Does more room for the roots equate to better yields/growth? Or there is no real difference for a soiless medium?

By the way, I am using Dr. Bugbee's mix of vermiculite/peat feeding synthetic nutes.

Click to expand...

10 gallon all the way. I'm in 5 gallon buckets now and I have to water twice per day in the final 3 weeks of flower on my big plants. That shit ain't no fun. I start in 1.87 gallon dollar store trash cans converted to hempy buckets. They then go into 5 gallon buckets after 3-4 weeks. I plan to toss 'em in 10 gallon buckets instead of the 5's to solve my current problem. I recommend you take the shortcut unless you're growing relatively small plants. If you're in a grow tent go 5 gallon. If you have a grow room go 10 gallon.

Some dudes on ICmag grow multi-lb plants in 5 gal. fabric pots.
Also, @rikdabrick grew some monsters in 5 gal buckets. https://rollitup.org/t/are-10-gallon-smart-pots-too-small-for-outdoor.1013274/post-15470854

Simple Irrigation systems are very easy and cheap to set up, if you are worried about watering frequency.

waterproof808 said:

Some dudes on ICmag grow multi-lb plants in 5 gal. fabric pots.
Also, @rikdabrick grew some monsters in 5 gal buckets. https://rollitup.org/t/are-10-gallon-smart-pots-too-small-for-outdoor.1013274/post-15470854

Simple Irrigation systems are very easy and cheap to set up, if you are worried about watering frequency.

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It's not that you can't grow big plants in 5 gallon buckets.



The question is how often do you really want to water? I'm against auto irrigation for a number of reasons. I run different sized plants in water to waste hydro. Wet to dry cycles are very important for optimal growth. How do you auto irrigate a flower room when different plants require different time intervals between water cycles? I just took down 2 ghost trains that only took water every 2 days. I'm running 5 different strains that each grow differently and have different needs. I've got 4 big plants that require water twice per day and another 2 that require water only once per day. As you can see auto irrigation would be a dilly of a pickle for my garden. I like to see how much run off comes out when I pour a gallon in. This tells me if the frequency needs to increase or decrease and gives me an idea of how vivacious the plant is growing. You completely lose that data in an auto irrigation system. And I'm also kind of a bone head. I'm that guy that would wake up to a flooded basement.

I don't mind watering once every other day. It's a pleasure. Twice per day? Ay caramba

My auto-fertigation system has soil moisture sensors so I can monitor it. Running one strain. It is great and saves a lot of time. I water 3 times per day without lifting a finger. This works really well in my setup. Nonetheless, I have decided to go with 2 x 7 gallon pots for my 4x4 (used to be 4x 5g). I feel like it is the middle way. I will have 4 emitters in each pot. Those 3x waterings will be calibrated for the proper runoff and fertigation need for the period of day and overall day. While 5 gallons is definetly okay to do, I feel like 7 will give the roots extra room for comfort. If looking to yield 500 to 1000 grams, a total of 15 gallons of soiless medium really isn't that much or that little. Seems to be a good middle way for me?

Hand watering for me is pressing this “water pump” button my my phone lol

4x4 and you're asking about 10 gallon pots? Jesus christ. Nah dude, half that size at most. Personally i'd run 4, 2 gallon pots.

I use 6 and 10ltr air pots most often with coco+perlite they'll yeild 1/1.5oz per litre with some training/lst, 5/10 gallon are for trees imo.

I was almost going to run 7g pots. But seems everyone is advising against upgrading from 5.

So I will run 4x 3 gallons!

I ran 4x 2gal airpots last time, this time im running 9x 2gal. 6in cuts, veg in half gal for one week until just over 12in, will top this weekend and up pot to 2gals, a week to recover, then flip. Fingers crossed

Rurumo said:

10 gallons is just too big. When you say soiless are you thinking about coco coir or promix? Honestly, with drain to waste, I wouldn't go above 3 gallon pots. 4 plants in 3 gallon pots will fill up a 4x4 tent with as lush and thick a canopy as you could ever want. There just isn't a benefit to bigger pots in DTW hydro, and they actually don't work as well. Smaller pots require more attention, more feedings=more growth, and there is less chance you will over water them.

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I pull over an elbow with that... you know what your talking about