Holistic Farms
Active member
How much money do you save by making your own pots and how long did it take you to make the 400's? Will they last just as long? Do you have a DIY smart pot thread or video you could recommend?
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MotherLode Gardens 2015
- Thread starter Shcrews
- Start date
These DIY pots are half the cost of smarties. I love them, they are gopher-proof and last literally forever. Made of hardware cloth and bailing wire. Lined with replaceable landscape fabric. Really simple. They take about 20-30 minutes each to make.
here is a crappy tutorial i did for 200gal DIY smarties.
To make 400 gallon DIY smarties they need to be 6' diameter x 2ft deep:
Basically buy a bunch of 4-foot rolls of hardware cloth, 1/4" or 1/8" mesh either one is fine. To make the sides of the pot, get some tin snips and cut the roll in half lengthwise, into 2-foot wide strips. for the bottoms just use bailing wire to stitch together a 6x6 foot square of hardware cloth, then attach the side to the bottom using bailing wire.
thats how we made our 400's and 800's last year. saved almost $1000 plus the DIY pots are far better
Just thinking out loud here, you were asking about just testing a couple pots because they were all the same mix. But what about the fact that it was quite a few strains/pheno's that you grew last year. Do some plants use more of certain minerals than others? That would be my only worry about testing a couple instead of all of them.
Would hate for you(someday me) to only test a couple and they happen to be the most depleted of the batch. So you add back according to those measurements, and in turn make less depleted pots heavy on certain minerals. Or vice versa and underammend depleted pots.
B
bruvio
Nice seedlings Schrews!
what kind of soil what you use to germinate?
what kind of soil what you use to germinate?
epicorchard
Member
Good luck man, looks like your off to a good start!
hey schrews, i used waters agriculture laboratories because they were on the cheaper end but the test results were a little hard to interpret. After help from them and working on it on my own i figured out what I thought would be the proper amount to amend.
Each test was $10. if you tested all 24, $240 wouldn't be a bad investment to have an idea of whats left in each pot and there individual ph.
I ended up using way less amendments then i would have if i didn't test my soil so it actually saved me money in the end
Each test was $10. if you tested all 24, $240 wouldn't be a bad investment to have an idea of whats left in each pot and there individual ph.
I ended up using way less amendments then i would have if i didn't test my soil so it actually saved me money in the end
my main concern is that my soil is depleted or somehow imbalanced after last season, and with my luck if i try to amend it without knowing what i'm doing then i will fuck something up and lead to disaster
thanks a lot, i will keep that in mind. still havent gotten the soil thing figured out yet.
yah probably would be best to get each pot tested individually since last year the plants were all different sizes. thanks for the input guys.
B
bruvio
hello Schrews!
could you tell me which lab tested your buds at last year?
could you tell me which lab tested your buds at last year?
we are using black gold this year, they seem to like it. All tests are done at SC labs, one of our friends is a lab tech there
thanks bro, you growing more monsters this year?
epicorchard
Member
I'm in a new spot, so I'm sure it'll be a challenging year.
All our seeds are starting to grow. Out of about 130 seeds only 10 didn't sprout. Pretty good germination rate from Bodhi seeds.
They are still in cups, under t5's. We didnt bring them outside much yet because of the weird weather this week. it got down in the 20's here and snowed some. We are a little behind some of the other guys on here but still ahead of where we were at this time last year.
The weather is warming up now so i think we will transplant the seedlings and put them outside soon. I have to decide whether to build a hoophouse with supp lighting for them or just put them right outside on the porch. Also should we put them in 1gals first, or straight into 5's?
They are still in cups, under t5's. We didnt bring them outside much yet because of the weird weather this week. it got down in the 20's here and snowed some. We are a little behind some of the other guys on here but still ahead of where we were at this time last year.
The weather is warming up now so i think we will transplant the seedlings and put them outside soon. I have to decide whether to build a hoophouse with supp lighting for them or just put them right outside on the porch. Also should we put them in 1gals first, or straight into 5's?
N
NewAgeGenetics
biker kush from karma genetics... yeaaa boiii
Holistic Farms
Active member
Nice germination rate. We had the same experience with Bodhi seeds this season other then Tigers Milk. When your seeds lank out like that top of your starter pot with soil/castings to give your seedlings additional support. They can focus most of their energy on foliage and root development rather then support. I would transplant straight to fives you will have to transplant from one to five a couple weeks later anyway so may as well skip the one gallon and save the plants from additional stress. The seeds will be happier and grow faster in a hoop with or without supplemental light. That biker kush looks proper but a little small for my liking. Can you give us a description of the BK?
I'm planning on doing 1 gal first, then maybe 5's after, I might just throw them straight into 65's though if I get them done in time. I think I'm going to follow your advise and start blacking my hoop house at the start of June. I've got plenty of space/power in my veg room to have a second round ready to go right after this first crop finishes up.
Goodluck this season!
yea i like sticking my seedlings outside way early nowadays, they get the best growth. gets the acclimated to real sunlight from a young age.
and definately get that soil test, not something you want to play guessing games on. i just got some of my tests back and they showed that my soil still had high P, but was low on soluble K and soluble Calcium. everything else was in optimum range so now i know exactly what to add and it takes all the guess work out of it!
FGL costs more like BYF said but the test results are very easy to understand. maybe just test 2-3 of the pots that should give you a good idea. i took 3 samples from 3 totally different areas of my dirt and they all came back very similar.
and definately get that soil test, not something you want to play guessing games on. i just got some of my tests back and they showed that my soil still had high P, but was low on soluble K and soluble Calcium. everything else was in optimum range so now i know exactly what to add and it takes all the guess work out of it!
FGL costs more like BYF said but the test results are very easy to understand. maybe just test 2-3 of the pots that should give you a good idea. i took 3 samples from 3 totally different areas of my dirt and they all came back very similar.
my seedlings are already outside in the green house, I grow outdoor plants, outdoors.
Even my cuts, only stay under T5 for a week...then it's the half way house for them!
Even my cuts, only stay under T5 for a week...then it's the half way house for them!
Can you get a carport frame and cover it with some polyweave and throw a few CFLs in it?
