how many gallons should my container be?

[jiboia]

I plan on doing sog for a space of 22" x 33". The strains are White Rhino, Bubblicious, Jack The Ripper, Grapefruit, Blue Moonshine, C4, Ice and TroubleMaker.

I want to do hydro, so i wonder how many gallons should the containers be for flowering? This way i can also calculate how many plants i can cram into that space.

I have a 400 watt HPS for flower and I use four 125 watt fluo for veg. I plan on vegging for about 7 weeks cause i only have 2 rooms, one for clone + veg and one for flower.


THX!

 

[imnotcrazy]

You're gonna SOG with a 7 week Veg???? My flower tray is about that size, made from a 60L Concrete Mixing Tub used as Ebb&Flow. I can fit @ 28 5" x 5" square pots in it but I would only Veg for max like 7 days if at all depending on how strain stretches. With my scenario I have @ 4 plants psf. I don't have any pics using my tray for SOG because I just moved and lost my moms while in "storage". I have 6 plants in there and they were flipped to 12/12 at @ 12" tall. Some stretched to @ 4' and I had to tie them down away from the light. Killed my yeild as all the tops were pulled down and killed my light penetration. My point is even a SCROG won't need a 7 week Veg to fill a screen. As for container size, mine is 25 gallon filled to 16 gallon but it could be any size. I use 9 gallons for 11 mothers. The size of the rez only relates to how independant your system will be from you. You'll have to adjust for nute strength and water levels more often with a smaller rez. My 6 plants at 6 weeks flower drink at least 1.5 gallons a day.

 

[slyfoxberg]

You're gonna SOG with a 7 week Veg???? My flower tray is about that size, made from a 60L Concrete Mixing Tub used as Ebb&Flow. I can fit @ 28 5" x 5" square pots in it but I would only Veg for max like 7 days if at all depending on how strain stretches. With my scenario I have @ 4 plants psf. I don't have any pics using my tray for SOG because I just moved and lost my moms while in "storage". I have 6 plants in there and they were flipped to 12/12 at @ 12" tall. Some stretched to @ 4' and I had to tie them down away from the light. Killed my yeild as all the tops were pulled down and killed my light penetration. My point is even a SCROG won't need a 7 week Veg to fill a screen. As for container size, mine is 25 gallon filled to 16 gallon but it could be any size. I use 9 gallons for 11 mothers. The size of the rez only relates to how independant your system will be from you. You'll have to adjust for nute strength and water levels more often with a smaller rez. My 6 plants at 6 weeks flower drink at least 1.5 gallons a day.

i agree. i am an outdoor guy, but if i did an indoor grow, i would never veg 7 weeks. just do clones for your sog. remember, no matter how powerful your light is, after the first foot, it loses a lot of its power. good luck.

 

[jiboia]

I need to veg for 7 weeks because i only got 2 rooms! one for cloning + veg and one for flowering. I dont keep moms so i need to grow these clones tall enuf and then cut the top, flower them, root the cuttings, then wait till the prior batch finishes flowering which would be about 7 to 8 weeks. Then those clones would be tall enuf to top, so the cycle...

The plants under these fluo seem to grow at 1 inch per week. So at 7 weeks, i would top about 3 to 4 inches and root. The remaining 3 to 4 inches would go into flower.

I was thinking of building individual DWC containers of 4 gallons each plant. Should i connect the containers?

 

[imnotcrazy]

Having all of those plants in veg/flower all the time is quite the risk. Take clones one last time as you have been doing and label the clones and to coorespond to the donors. Flower out the donors and determine the keepers and keep those clones as moms. The way you are going about it now, at 4 plants/sqft you'll fit @ 24 plants. With keeping the same number of clones during the whole run you're at 48 or more as I'm guessing you clone more than you will need and dispose of the weaker ones. As 24 clones per month or more should be easy for a mom to produce over 2 months time and even if you wanted to keep multiple strains I doubt you'd keep 24 at a time. Keeping moms is also a benefit as the plant will be more mature and at peak potentcy. With moms, you'll only be at 48+ plants for 2-3 weeks max.

 

[jiboia]

As for keeping moms, i need to find good keepers first. I will consider this option in the future since this is my first grow and i only got 2 Jack the Ripper and 4 White Rhino in veg almost showing sex. The rest of them are still in the paper towels waiting to crack.

The containers in flower would be 7"x7"x15", that would hold about 3 gallons of water for each plant. Is it too big? imnotcrazy, you are suggesting to have 24 plants, so i would need to adjust my container size to 4 rows of 6 instead of 3 rows of 5 as i am planning now?
That means i need to slim my containers but i could add volume by heightening them. Whats a good volume anyways?

I only change the water once every 4 weeks, but i add water and nutrients every week. Is this ok?

 

[jiboia]

I am still trying to figure out how much "MaxiGrow" i need to add to the container every week now. I top the water every week so it is at one gallon per plant. I also add subcool and black diamond into the water every time i replace the water which is once every 4 weeks.

Any suggestions or comments very welcome!!

Thanks for all the help!!

 

[imnotcrazy]

I'm just throwing ideas at you. If you were to use an E&F type setup like mine it leaves you with options.. You could use 15-24 or more containers and veg less. As for container size, it doesn't matter as long as the medium doesn't dry out completly between feedings/floods. Obviously RW and Coco hold more moisture than Hydroton. What type of system are you planning? Will you be feeding by hand or will it be automated. If by hand, you'd want the medium to hold out between feedings/waterings when you aren't available to do it, E&F you just adjust your flood times accordingly.