Colorado Growers Thread

[Stankie]

anything I should know before I use a smart pot for the first time?

There is no need to re/up-pot plants grown in Smart Pots. If you have a small veg area and want to re-pot then I'll let others give their opinion on which way is best. There however is no need. I have started clones/seedlings directly in 5 or 7 gallon pots. I know people start the same in 20 gallon and up.

Smart Pots air prune the root tips. They greatly increases water and nutrient uptake through increased root branching (think of 'pinching' a root). Smart Pots eliminate circling of the roots at the bottom of the pot, they eliminate the roots only growing around the edge of the soil mass, and the whole soil mass is utilized by the roots, via the air pruning (Hence there is no need to up-pot). I had started a strain in a small pastic container, it started to yellow as soon as its roots started to circle. Re-potted to a bigger plastic pot, plant started to yellow as soon as the roots started to circle the bottom again. Re-potted to a Smart Pot, end of yellowing problem.

They do dry out faster than plastic pots, but that is the point. More oxygen=bigger roots=healthier plant=better bud. The manufacturer recommends mixing a soil with less aeration amendments than one would use in plastic pots. Or just plan on watering a bit more often.

Water slowly. Get a saucer that is a few inches bigger than the pot. The run-off water is soaked back up into the soil. Seriously consider embracing mulches, as they will help with the drying issue (one of the many, many benefits).

One more thing . . . . I can guarantee you will never use a plastic pot again

 

[SELFHEMPLOYED]

Just me here and it suits my style of grow well,.... Rooted clone goes into 1 gallon plastic pot for 3-4 weeks of vege, then up pot to 5 gallon smart pot 3-4 more weeks of vege before switching to flower in SCROG.

The roots expand quickly in vege, not so much in flower, so it works out that it's still pretty loose in the 5 gallon when I move her to 12/12 and by the end of flower her roots are getting pretty packed in and I feel that i have better control over feeding and flushing at the very end.

+1

 

[dragging hooks]

Thank You all for your input
I filled the 5 gallon Smart Pot up and stuck a 4 week old (LSD strain) plant in it

I also switched back to Age Old nutes, didn't care for the Earth Juice
(I'm still using EJ molasses)

My plastic pots have holes drilled all around the rim
that I use for low stress training with string
Since drilling holes in the rim around the smart pot doesn't
seem like a good idea, I'm thinking of getting some safety pins
and pinning them to the rim of the smart pot the attaching the string to them
to low stress train

 

[greenmatter]

any colorado growers out there wondering when it was we fell asleep in the rectangle and woke up in the pacific north west? strange weather this year folks. lived here most of my life so i would never bitch about free water but i think i might be doing some reading about mold control in outdoor crops if this keeps up. never had a problem before, but i can't recall a spring and summer that were this wet.

 

[303hydro]

any colorado growers out there wondering when it was we fell asleep in the rectangle and woke up in the pacific north west? strange weather this year folks. lived here most of my life so i would never bitch about free water but i think i might be doing some reading about mold control in outdoor crops if this keeps up. never had a problem before, but i can't recall a spring and summer that were this wet.

Man I swear it used to be like this every summer in the early and mid 1990's..... I would check out sulphur dust....

 

[cobcoop]

Man I swear it used to be like this every summer in the early and mid 1990's..... I would check out sulphur dust....

Yep, shit was normal, used to snow in the winter too...

 

[Bobby Stainless]

Yep, shit was normal, used to snow in the winter too...

 

[Paco]

Yep, shit was normal, used to snow in the winter too...

Fuck, I remember snow in late june. It's been so long since it's been this nice out all summer. Just wish I had some OD on the Western Slope this year. good year for that.

 

[cobcoop]

Snowboarding loveland pass on july 4th! For reals... fuck the 100 deg all summer bullshit.

 

[Tierra Rojo]

Yeah, I was just thinking it sure does rain a lot in the "High Desert". Not bitching. Just sayin. It's been nice.

 

[Stankie]

My plastic pots have holes drilled all around the rim
that I use for low stress training with string
Since drilling holes in the rim around the smart pot doesn't
seem like a good idea, I'm thinking of getting some safety pins
and pinning them to the rim of the smart pot the attaching the string to them
to low stress train

You can get velcro garden ties or velcro garland ties. They are essentially velcro tape. Easy to train plants, reusable. Cheap.

 

[Canniwhatsis]

You can get velcro garden ties or velcro garland ties. They are essentially velcro tape. Easy to train plants, reusable. Cheap.

+1

 

[Space Case]

Colorado Growers Thread

Yeah, I was just thinking it sure does rain a lot in the "High Desert". Not bitching. Just sayin. It's been nice.

La Niña year....extra wet summer. At least there aren't hundreds of fires this year! I haven't got a chance to even go tubing this year, been way too busy...I'm slacking on the recreational tip!

 

[greenmatter]

Yep, shit was normal, used to snow in the winter too...

and people use to be able to drive in the snow........ WTF happened with that?

 

[Stankie]

and people use to be able to drive in the snow........ WTF happened with that?

Must be all these damn Californians!

 

[dragging hooks]

You can get velcro garden ties or velcro garland ties. They are essentially velcro tape. Easy to train plants, reusable. Cheap.

I'll grab some this afternoon, thanks for the tip

We aren't getting much rain here in FC
I have had to water most every day
Something called "the Cheyenne Ridge"
steers the storms to the north of us

if any, we get 5 minutes of rain and lots of thunder and lightning

I know how to drive on snow
having grown up in the land of lake effect snow
100+ inches every winter no matter what

 

[greenmatter]

Must be all these damn Californians!

i wish it was that simple ..... i think it has more to do with drivers thinking that SUV's,AWD and the shit they see on a bridgestone billboard will trump newtons laws. technology will not replace a good dose of common sense anytime soon ...... JMHO

 

[nattynattygurrl]

That was a really good tip, Stankie!

As for the weather, good grief!
We usually don't get more than a drizzle, but the past week has been another story...La Nina's definitely got a hold of us.
It's really dry here, so I usually have to water my little o'd flower garden, (non-cannabis), everyday, sometimes twice; but I haven't watered in 4 days!

We've had thunder and a fantastic light show every night, and at least one good downpour a day, has accompanied all the noise. Flash floods even washed out a few roads here, last night. Perhaps some of this will make it's way to you Dragging Hooks!

Wow, as I type this, we're getting another round of crazy loud thunder and rain. Worried my plants are gonna drown!
Stay safe everyone!

 

[BudGood]

It hailed here a few days ago. I had taken a nap to try and get rid of a migraine (or at least not be in agonizing pain), I was awoken by my son telling me it was hailing outside! I went and moved my vehicle under the carport, it was easily quarter-sized. Lasted only about 3 more minutes after I moved the vehicle, didn't even bother to look for damage. I did have a nice little lump on my noggin from a chunk of hail, didn't help the migraine so much, lemme tell ya.

I live near a lake, and the weather gets screwy around here, usually for about a mile or two around the lake. I think we were the only neighborhood in town to get hail that day... Weird. Another reason why I don't like having unprotected plants outdoor around here, I've had 6ft BUSHES reduced to nothing by a few minutes of a hail storm (a guerilla grow not far from here, I planted a prevegged monster out there. It was 6 foot tall by mid-June when the hail came). They bounced back, but I can only imagine what the yield would have been had they not had to regrow... Hail has jacked outdoor for many an outdoor grower around here.

Hell, I remember going out to my plot one year, and holding my windbreaker and body over the plants, trying to protect them from the hail! (It worked too, at the expense of some bumps and bruises.) The things I do for my plants!

As I've heard since I was a kid: "If you don't like the weather in CO, just wait a few minutes."

 

[dragging hooks]

lost my best friend of the last 19 years today

when our son moved out and I turned his bedroom into a grow room
she used to go in and sleep between the plants
because she had always slept in our son's room

sad times in the Fort