How many bags of soil do I need for 50 5gal buckets

aug181983

aug181983

Active Member
Im trying to figure out how many bags of soil I need. I want to grow with
FoxFarm Ocean Forest Potting Soil


but that stuff is 19.00 for 1.5 cubic foot :( meaning that Ill only get 2 -5gal buckets out of 19.00

Im planning on growing auto's so the plants will be under 36" and cropped in 65-75days from seedling.

Thanks
 
Talk to the htgsupply.com guys, you can call them or they have a contact us option on the site. they will work with you and give you a great deal, I just got all my shit for 200 less than what it would of been if i'd payed full price and he threw in some cheaper shit(about $10 each item) i was gonna have him take off my order cuz i didnt have quite enough $ for totally free, and he took off some of the shipping cost for me too. as for the math, well, if you can get 2 5gal from each bag of soil and you have 50 5 gallon pots you would need 25 bags. i would get some pearlite to cut the foxfarm with, like 1 gallon of it for each 5 gallon pot about.
 
Aug, if you are looking 2 1/2-3 foot plants I would consider a 3 gallon nursery pot, you should be OK with that size. That's a 40% savings there, I agree with Darkd mix in some pearlite, a good idea, and you are in the 10 bag range there. I am interested to see what the others say. Sounds like a pretty ambitious undertaking, good luck with your grow.
 
Hey he knows what he is talking about. Go to HTG if there is one close enough to you and buy their Pro-Mix.
 
theres 7.48 gallons in a cubic foot. You need 250 gallons so thats 33.4 cu ft. You need 23 bags (much less if you intend on adding perlite, worm castings etc...) You dont really need 250 gallons of soil/soilless mix unless your using it straight from the bag which is a bad idea in most cases. Find out how many gallons of soil you need per 250g of your final soil mix and then use the math above otherwise youll end up with way more than you need!
A good mix would be:
5 parts sphagneum peat moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts worm castings
(or)
6 parts sunshine mix/promix
2 parts perlite
2 parts worm castings

I dont use fox farm ocean forest but one thing subcool recommends if you check out his super soil tutorial is to mix every 2 parts FF ocean forest with 1 part FF light warrior to even out the shitty nute levels. Im sure youve heard some people complaining about burns using this soil. Go read his words yourself, hes the master :)
 
darkdestruction420 said:
Talk to the htgsupply.com guys, you can call them or they have a contact us option on the site. they will work with you and give you a great deal, I just got all my shit for 200 less than what it would of been if i'd payed full price and he threw in some cheaper shit(about $10 each item) i was gonna have him take off my order cuz i didnt have quite enough $ for totally free, and he took off some of the shipping cost for me too. as for the math, well, if you can get 2 5gal from each bag of soil and you have 50 5 gallon pots you would need 25 bags. i would get some pearlite to cut the foxfarm with, like 1 gallon of it for each 5 gallon pot about.
Click to expand...

I like this idea cut half my cost pretty much. So Htgsupply delivers :) Now if I were to go with 3 gal bags how much pearlite would I need per bag ?

Thanks
 
why are you growing autos in 5 gal buckets? of course a bigger bucket is always better but 3 gal pots should be plenty for 75 days seed to harvest. i agree on the perlite. it's way cheaper than dirt so cutting the dirt with about 30% perlite will stretch it a lot further. i don't mix the perlite with the whole bag, i mix it on a pot by pot basis, but the general ratio i use is 30%. i'm sorry i forget what size bag of perlite i use but it's a little smaller than a standard pillow lol (i think it's 8 qt). i use 2 of those bags of perlite per 1 bag of ocean forest (the 1.5 cu ft bag). i have planted directly into ocean forest seveal times with no issues, but every strain is different and i have heard plenty of complaints about it being too hot.
 
Total Head said:
why are you growing autos in 5 gal buckets? of course a bigger bucket is always better but 3 gal pots should be plenty for 75 days seed to harvest. i agree on the perlite. it's way cheaper than dirt so cutting the dirt with about 30% perlite will stretch it a lot further. i don't mix the perlite with the whole bag, i mix it on a pot by pot basis, but the general ratio i use is 30%. i'm sorry i forget what size bag of perlite i use but it's a little smaller than a standard pillow lol (i think it's 8 qt). i use 2 of those bags of perlite per 1 bag of ocean forest (the 1.5 cu ft bag). i have planted directly into ocean forest seveal times with no issues, but every strain is different and i have heard plenty of complaints about it being too hot.
Click to expand...

Man , I dont know what to do .... Cant I buy some MG or something and toss some perlite in it and call it a day lol ... I plan on growing some sour D , bubba kush , master kush and og kush. So I do want the some good soil .......... I want to put 2 auto's in each bag , DO YOU THINK 2 AUTO'S IN A 3GAL BAG IS OK. These reason I want 2 girls in 1 is because I planning on putting 50 bags next to each other over a 1k watt hps .
 
you want to put 2 plants in 1 container? that's not a good idea even with autos. are those seeds all autos or were you referring to the regular versions? roots tend to take up the whole pot with just 1 plant, 2 in 1 will stunt them like hell. 50 buckets is a bit too much for 1000w. i would grow way fewer plants. mg soil is one of those things with a raging debate but most people on here seem to hate it. mg stuff is WAY hot and has time release nutes that that feed whether you like it or not. and when you dig through it it is full of tons of bark and rocks and crap. I would only use it for outdoor stuff.
 
Ok , then Ill put 50 2gal bags under 1 1k watt hps. Those bags are tiny in width . Im going with fem. auto's there short little fuckers and dont bush out of anything. I just need to find the right soil now
 
aug181983 said:
Ok , then Ill put 50 2gal bags under 1 1k watt hps. Those bags are tiny in width . Im going with fem. auto's there short little fuckers and dont bush out of anything. I just need to find the right soil now
Click to expand...

if you get happy frog you get 2.0 cubic feet a bag. cut with pearlite .5 gallon each pot and that takes 25 gallons of soils place total, that means you'd only need 75 gallons. You know i was thinking and checking prices and my 2.0 cubic feet of happy frog is actually cheaper than if i bought miracle grow organic soil or whatever of the same amount. 50 plants under 1 1000w? I'd think about getting another one or maybe a 600w too.
 
just did some math, 2.0 cubic feet=15 gallons so you'd need like 6 bags total for 50 2 gallon pots cut with .5 gallon of pearlite per pot. htgsupply will cut you a deal of at least 10-20% off if you buy in bulk like that. Ask if he cant do something about the shipping too. I was really impressed like i said b4 and i forgot to mention-it got here in 2 days. I couldnt believe it.
 
darkdestruction420 said:
just did some math, 2.0 cubic feet=15 gallons so you'd need like 6 bags total for 50 2 gallon pots cut with .5 gallon of pearlite per pot. htgsupply will cut you a deal of at least 10-20% off if you buy in bulk like that. Ask if he cant do something about the shipping too. I was really impressed like i said b4 and i forgot to mention-it got here in 2 days. I couldnt believe it.
Click to expand...


I plan on using 2 gal bags for my Auto's. What kind of Promix cause i notice theres different kinds ? Where can I find this for cheap also
http://www.acehardwaresuperstore.com/promix-bx-wmycorise-38-cu-ft-bale-p-61489.html?ref=42

also what kind of perlite cause I found these
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
but how many would i need ^^^^

Thanks

Noob
 
Aug, Promix BX is the one that you are looking for. My local hyro guy sells it for $36, support your local hydro shop if you have one. He also has the perlite $20 for 4 cu ft, that's a pretty big bag, you can get it for about the same price at the local garden center. I would stay away from the MG and just get horticultural grade perlite in the big brown paper bag. You went from FF to soilless...interesting. Good luck.
 
i personally have used HF a few times recently and I dont really like it.. I think it def needs to get cut with perlite and/or FF lite warrior. dude.. buying medium for 50 pots is not cheap. esp if you're upcanning, which is often a good idea. and no, dont put 2 in 1 pot.

also, how many 1k hps ?
 
buraka415 said:
i personally have used HF a few times recently and I dont really like it.. I think it def needs to get cut with perlite and/or FF lite warrior. dude.. buying medium for 50 pots is not cheap. esp if you're upcanning, which is often a good idea. and no, dont put 2 in 1 pot.

also, how many 1k hps ?
Click to expand...

Im going to run 1k watt over 50 auto's ... ill be placing each bag next to eachother the bags are 3 gallons and measure 6.5" x 13" x 7.5" . So I figure they are next to eachother and the 1k watt with a nice reflector can cover the area well.
 
Seems like I've been told that its about 12 - 13 plants per 1K in a 4x4 (roughly) area. But maybe since theyre autoflowers that wont matter? that sounds like a lot of plants for just (1) 1Khps
 
buraka415 said:
Seems like I've been told that its about 12 - 13 plants per 1K in a 4x4 (roughly) area. But maybe since theyre autoflowers that wont matter? that sounds like a lot of plants for just (1) 1Khps
Click to expand...

Hell ya it does but look at the size of the bags and they are auto's which is going to look something like this



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



There all be side by side if someone can figure out the math with the size bags im using they'd be awesome :) 6.5" x 13" x 7.5" each 3gal bag
 
i would look in autoflowering threads and look for some1's journal grows, and get an idea from there. 50 just sounds like a lot - but I dunno.
 
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