2 gal bucket = 2 gal soil????

[lilred121686]

when i mix my soil i use a 2 gal bucket, is this equial to 2 gal of soil???

 

[facelift]

Gallons is not commonly used for solids, but common for liquids. It would make sense that if you weight out 256 ounces of soil, it would be the equivalent to 2 gallons. Will it fit, I don't know. I can't choose between not enough soil and too much. I think it will require a hydraulic press to fit that weight of dirt into a 2 gallon pot.

 

[Guest]

Usually not.I use NSI containers which are very common blown plastic but shouldn't be used as measuring devices,especially when measuring for dolomite!An NSI 1 gal container is actually .6 gal,a 2 gal nursery size is 1.6 gal.Use a 1 gallon plastic juice container with a wide mouth instead for measuring soil

 

[Guest]

The red Folgers 52 oz Classic Roast containers like sold as Costco are pretty close to exactly one liquid gallon....close enuf for our purposes.

If you want more accuracy, go to WalMart paint section and buy the semidisposable paint pots. They have graduations on them. Sizes from 1 liter/1quart to 8 liter/2 gallon.


pedro

 

[lilred121686]

so when i mix my soil how can i measure it out

 

[Guest]

so when i mix my soil how can i measure it out

Go to walmart and buy a 1 gallon clear plastic paint pot for $.99. Good to measure out stuff with and good for growing in too.

You're making a soil mix, not a nuclear bomb. You don't need absolute accuracy.

2gallons of a good potting mix like ProMix. I use locally made potting soil
1 gallon of worm castings
2 gallons of perlite(maybe less depending on how much is in basic mix above)
6 Tbls of dolomite lime
3Tbls of Hi Nitrogen Guano
6Tbls of Hi Phosphorus Guano

there's a basic mix to start with

Go read The Sticky over in the Organics forum. There's a good one over there by BurnOne on soil making

pedro

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

From Wikipedia...

U.S. liquid gallon is legally defined as 231 cubic inches, and is equal to 3.785411784 litres (exactly) or about 0.13368 cubic feet. This is the most common definition of a gallon in the USA. The U.S. fluid ounce is defined as 1/128 of a U.S. gallon.
U.S. dry gallon is one-eighth of a U.S. Winchester bushel of 2150.42 cubic inches, thus 268.8025 cubic inches (exactly) or 4.40488377086 litres (exactly). The U.S. dry gallon is less commonly used.

There is a difference between a liquid and dry gallon. Compare cubic inches in bold above. The difference is small so you can just use a 2 gallon container and get 2 gallons of soil.

Happy growing icmag!

 

[Guest]

I use the classic 300 1 gal and classic 600 2 gal nursery size,I'm not familiar with the other sizes except 1200 which I flower in which is 3 gal.They are not true up to 3 gal they become true at 3 gal,the classic 1200.I dont see the 400 or 800 in the 3 hydro stores in my area,but 300,600,1200 and 2000 are considered 1 gal 2 gal 3 gal and 5 gal down here.Now git to Big Lots and get yourself that 99 cent 1 gal plastic juice container!

 

[Guest]

One reason none of us should be too anal about these differences in gallons is this:

I can give identical 1 gallon containers to 10 different people and tell them to each bring me a "gallon" of soil from the same soil bin. I would bet my life that I would get 10 different results just from the way each person "packs" or doesn't pack the soil in the container....nevermind any other reason.

The key is to be consistent in how YOU measure your stuff.

pedro

 

[Guest]

You win.But there isnt a classic 800 thats 2 gal is there?Its 900 man at least get it right before you want to contradict someone thats just here to help out.Like I said.the 300 600 1200 and 2000 are the common clasic series,do you even use them man? I have a wormsway,harvestime and mom and pop hydro within miles of me.I've never ever seen these sizes you spout off about so knowledgibly.Thanks for straightening me out though lol

 

[Guest]

Jiggy!!

If I am in the market for a 5 gallon container I want it to hold at least 5 gallons. It should not be called a 5 gallon container if it cannot hold 5 full gallons of a mix.

Jiggy:

I could not agree more with you more. If I was made czar of the weights and measures I would demand that all containers sold for commercial purposes being labeled with TRUE, ACTUAL volumes, etc. etc. No stupid "codes" to have to correlate to a true volume. Mandatory marking on the container too indicating where the maximum volume. blah blah and like that. Just the "truth" please

pedro

 

[Microwido]

Yup, i always suspected my 5 gal buckets were not 5 gallons! They look like 4 ish gallons to me. Hell, thats a 5 gal bucket right next to them, and they are clearly smaller.

 

[The _Selecta]

i was just stressin how shitty this is to my local hydro shop, unfortunately my shop carries the most worthless sizes of the most worthlessly labeled pots, hmm c300 equals .66 blah blah c800 = .. well shit i guess i better print out that chart you posted jiggy

 

[lilred121686]

so when i make my mix should i keep the soil loose or pack it???