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Soil Mix for a 1-Gallon Pot: From Seedling to Harvest

flower~power

~Star~Crash~
ICMag Donor
Veteran
That’s 👍 good a practice…feed water Runoff is as important as removing it ( in my experiences)
 

Tranquilidade

Well-known member
I made a ton of rookie mistakes last round but this time I'm more prepared because of you guys. I will share my progress here if you don't mind. I will flip my tent into flower next week so the fun is just around the corner.
 

Tranquilidade

Well-known member
@Creeperpark thanks again for your invaluable tips. I'm in the 3rd week of flowering, watering with rain water with Canna Terra Vega 0.8 EC and Terra Flores 0.4 EC and occasional Cal Mag every 3rd watering. Feeding every watering every 3 days. All plants in the tent are happy except this one which looks like Cal/Mag or potassium deficiency?

leaf.jpg
 

piper

Well-known member
i love growing in one gallon pots or solo cups all the way thru


I have done many many sogs in one gallon pots and solo cups (grew outside in the 70's)


I am heavily disabled, like have to be babysat and can only use 1 arm


Creeperpark has good advice


some people fall to the thc trap others about yeild


Yes, i was that person at CW that would grow in miricle grow to piss off the others who said don't do it, you can't do it


damn young whippersnappers :)
 

RobFromTX

Well-known member

LndRcLvr

Well-known member
No, I didn't mix Pro mix hp and bx, I use them individually. Pro mix BX is the best Summer mix and HP is the best Winter mix. Both will work find with the right water management.

I follow the table charts by the book, with the exception that I only use 1/3 or less of the manufacturer's recommendations. The trick is to use a very low ppm (160)ppm of nutrients with every watering, instead of heavy feed one time and then water for a few days. Feed with every watering.

I start my seeds in the dixie cups and when they fill up the cups I up-pott into 1-gallon pot.

View attachment 18875622

View attachment 18875625

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View attachment 18875627
Hi creeper please could you tell me about the light you are using for the young plants in the top picture? How strong, what type ect. Thanks 🙏
 

Old Uncle Ben

Well-known member
I want to master growing in small pots (1 gallon / 4L from seed to harvest ), and I usually run into trouble roughly 3-4 weeks into flowering. Leaves are starting to yellow, and I have to finish my plants 2-4 weeks earlier. My setup looks like this:
Recommend you check out my garden link.

Less is more
Uncle Ben
 

Old Uncle Ben

Well-known member
Very impressive creeper. Its simply amazing what some growers can pull off with smaller pots (y)
Been doing it for years using root pruning systems. About the only way you can do it and get good yields. Small pots restrict abundant root mass which comes with all kinds of problems. Root spinout caused an inefficient root system, inefficient water uptake and nutrient lockouts.

UB
 

Tranquilidade

Well-known member
I will update on this, that in my case it wasn't soil at all. I have received success growing in small pots by using fabric pots, rain water and most importantly when I start feeding I do it every watering until the very end when you start flushing your plant. Thanks for the @Creeperpark who gave me some hints that you have to use rainwater and keep EC constant.
 

Old Uncle Ben

Well-known member
Yes, i was that person at CW that would grow in miricle grow to piss off the others who said don't do it, you can't do it
damn young whippersnappers :)

I WAS that young person at OG, CW, PG, RIU and others and have been busting cannabis forum myths and ridiculous paradigms since around 2000. Now I'm going on 75 and still busting the same old myths that are embraced by each new crop of newbies i.e. flushing, defoliation, use of "bloom foods" CalMag and Epsom salts, etc. etc.

I don't grow large plants anymore, too much of a PITA plus I sure don't need that much weed. Recently been growing in as small as I'm going to go and that's 2 gal. pots treated with MicroKote, which is what I'm doing now. That and Osmocote 15-9-12 from start to finish is all I need to produce healthy green productive ladies. I water (usually rainwater) until a good runoff and don't recycle it back. Runoff goes to house plants.

Afghani topped Feb.1.jpg


It's ALL about the roots! https://www.icmag.com/threads/my-ga...ons-fire-away-im-here-to-help.18129483/page-6

Uncle Ben
 
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Tranquilidade

Well-known member
I WAS that young person at OG, CW, PG, RIU and others and have been busting cannabis forum myths and ridiculous paradigms since around 2000. Now I'm going on 75 and still busting the same old myths that are embraced by each new crop of newbies i.e. flushing, defoliation, use of "bloom foods" CalMag and Epsom salts, etc. etc.

I don't grow large plants anymore, too much of a PITA plus I sure don't need that much weed. Recently been growing in as small as I'm going to go and that's 2 gal. pots treated with MicroKote, which is what I'm doing now. That and Osmocote 15-9-12 from start to finish is all I need to produce healthy green productive ladies. I water (usually rainwater) until a good runoff and don't recycle it back. Runoff goes to house plants.

View attachment 18954738

It's ALL about the roots! https://www.icmag.com/threads/my-ga...ons-fire-away-im-here-to-help.18129483/page-6

Uncle Ben
2 gallons is not 1 gallon, also growing under the sun is way more forgiving than indoors under artificial lights.
 

Old Uncle Ben

Well-known member
I want to master growing in small pots (1 gallon / 4L from seed to harvest ), and I usually run into trouble roughly 3-4 weeks into flowering. Leaves are starting to yellow, and I have to finish my plants 2-4 weeks earlier. My setup looks like this:

Soil: CANNA Terra Professional 80%, worm castings 20%, Guanokalong Bat Guano Powder
Lights: 480W Mars Hydro FC 4800 (max running at 60% of intensity)
Nutrients: CANNA Terra Vega, Canna Terra Flores, Canna Rhizotonnic, Biobizz PH down
Watering: every 4-5 days in veg, every 2-3 days in flower


I measured runoff PH levels in flower, and it was 7.2, which is a bit off, so I tried to flush it; however, it took 5 gallons of pH'ed water to bring it down to 6.8, and then I got tired :) Still don't know why my soil became so alkaline and why it was so hard to pH down.

Another thing I've noticed is that my tent has two compartments, one bigger one with LED lights and a smaller one that runs on 4 x 35 watts CFLs. Plants in the smaller compartment under CFLs looked way more happier than on LEDs, although the yield was significantly smaller.

Can you please share your experience growing in small pots, what works for you (soil, watering, nutrients). If you see some red flags in my setup, please share.

2 gallons is not 1 gallon, also growing under the sun is way more forgiving than indoors under artificial lights.

You need to see my link. I'm growing indoors primarily. Split some of the garden into the greenhouse to sex and later to make seeds.

Unless you're using a root pruning system 2 or 3 gallons is always better botanically than a Solo cup or 1 gal. Speaking of 1 gallon....


Explain why you think "growing under the sun is way more forgiving than indoors under artificial lights".

UB
 

Tynehead Tom

Well-known member
lets not wind this out into a debate.

I used to run rooms of SOG in 1 gallons under 5 x 1000w HID per room, 300 plants per room..... for many years. Not from seed though, always from clones. The plants would yield 1.25 to 1.5 ounces dry and no larfy flower, all prime buds. Taking a vigorous well rooted clone , transplant to a 1 gallon of sunshine mix #4 , vegged 10 days feeding Peters 20-20-20, then flipped to 12/12 , fed 20-20-20 for 2 more weeks then Peters 10-52-10 till the finish. Was pretty basic.
Later on I switched from Peters dry nutrients to "Lucas Formula" General Hydro Flora series using the Micro and Bloom only from clone to harvest
We never watered to run-off back then, it would have flooded the entire room with 300 pots LOL
I was taught to measure the volume of the pot I was going to use by putting a plastic bag inside and filling it with water until I had an exact measurement of the pot's liquid volume. Most pots have a "dirt line" or a "fill line" that is around an inch below the top of the pot. Fill the water to that line and measure how much water it took. Then you divide that number by 6 and this gives you your watering amount which is usually applied every 48hrs approx. This works for most growing I do although some plants want more or less so if you are running a multi strain garden you will have to watch.
We were running rooms of all the same strain per room so water uptake was very predictable room to room. The 1/6 volume watering technique is something I was taught back in 89/90 and still practice it today.
 

Old Uncle Ben

Well-known member
lets not wind this out into a debate.

That's how we learn, especially if you listen to folks that have a botanical background and have been gardening for decades.

Bloom foods, especially something like your Peters 10-52-10 will screw up a plant in the end. Induce premature yellowing leaves then leaf necrosis. I learned years ago that high P foods are no bueno. Plants just don't need that kind of P. In general I stick to a moderate P food like Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro, 9-3-6 or what I'm using now Osmocote 15-9-12, 8-9 month. Used many a Peters food too in the day. Got suckered into the hype and marketing many years ago and used their 10-30-20. Got off that one too.

P and K are not flowering stimulants.

Regards,
UB
 
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Old Uncle Ben

Well-known member

Where's the beef? Just kidding but to get any kind of bud volume/weight you need a lot more leaves. Therein lies the problem with limited root systems, they just can't support much plant tissue, leaves.... and it's healthy leaves that produce and support flowers.

Being that it's not flowered I'd get that thing into a tall pot and bury as much of the trunk as possible for root output. Roots will push from the buried trunk, from the nodes first, just as when you plant a tomato plant. My plants are buried up to the first set leafsets, above the cotyledons.

Love me a good IPA and a pint can of ice cold Lone Star - the National Beer of Texas.

Don'tMessWithTexas!!3-11.jpg


UB
 

Old Uncle Ben

Well-known member
We were running rooms of all the same strain per room so water uptake was very predictable room to room. The 1/6 volume watering technique is something I was taught back in 89/90 and still practice it today.

You may have worked out the dynamics for your set up, good on you. But that is not the traditional, widely acceptable way of watering in the commercial nursery trade. They water until they get a good run off and never let the soil go dry, which can happen if you nickel and dime it. And there's nothing more problematic than grower induced dry channels in pots.
 

xtsho

Well-known member
Where's the beef? Just kidding but to get any kind of bud volume/weight you need a lot more leaves. Therein lies the problem with limited root systems, they just can't support much plant tissue, leaves.... and it's healthy leaves that produce and support flowers.

Being that it's not flowered I'd get that thing into a tall pot and bury as much of the trunk as possible for root output. Roots will push from the buried trunk, from the nodes first, just as when you plant a tomato plant. My plants are buried up to the first set leafsets, above the cotyledons.

Love me a good IPA and a pint can of ice cold Lone Star - the National Beer of Texas.

View attachment 18954901

UB

That was just a plant from some fem seed I made and started for a friend. They never came by to pick it up but I kept it healthy for them. I transplanted into a bigger pot and flowered it.

Here's some plants grown in 1 gallon pots of coco fed nothing but cheap VitaGrow nutrients and no additives.

I think you'll like the leaves.

pckcontrola.jpg




Different plant than the one above. That's a 17" tray.

wickedwidow1.jpg


These males were in 1.75 liter pots.

males175liter.jpg


I'm in total agreement with you regarding healthy leaves. I'll never understand why people defoliate cannabis. There is a concept for that process as in removing excess fruit and focusing on just a few as they do in Japan with apples, melons, grapes, etc... One thing they don't do is remove the leaves providing the energy to produce the fruit.

It just takes away the potential power of the plant. Like taking a V8 engine with a 4 barrel carb and putting a 2 barrel on it.
 

Tynehead Tom

Well-known member
You may have worked out the dynamics for your set up, good on you. But that is not the traditional, widely acceptable way of watering in the commercial nursery trade. They water until they get a good run off and never let the soil go dry, which can happen if you nickel and dime it. And there's nothing more problematic than grower induced dry channels in pots.
well, I know from the various threads you post in that you have a method that you believe is superior to all others...... I stay out of those type of conversations. I cash cropped that way for pretty much a decade and always got top dollar for my flower. My plants did not suffer from "dry channels" as you imagine.
I am not here to debate , simply sharing my own experience with the topic of this thread, growing to harvest in a ONE GALLON container. Conversation that baits into "your way is wrong and my way is better than your way" are not conversations I want to be part of. Instead we have the 2 and 3 gallon pot crowd show up and dilute the conversation. Not knocking anyone by this whole post, just stick to the topic for a change.
 

Tynehead Tom

Well-known member
That was just a plant from some fem seed I made and started for a friend. They never came by to pick it up but I kept it healthy for them. I transplanted into a bigger pot and flowered it.

Here's some plants grown in 1 gallon pots of coco fed nothing but cheap VitaGrow nutrients and no additives.

I think you'll like the leaves.

View attachment 18954917



Different plant than the one above. That's a 17" tray.

View attachment 18954918

These males were in 1.75 liter pots.

View attachment 18954919

I'm in total agreement with you regarding healthy leaves. I'll never understand why people defoliate cannabis. There is a concept for that process as in removing excess fruit and focusing on just a few as they do in Japan with apples, melons, grapes, etc... One thing they don't do is remove the leaves providing the energy to produce the fruit.

It just takes away the potential power of the plant. Like taking a V8 engine with a 4 barrel carb and putting a 2 barrel on it.

Defoliating has it's purposes and some plants actually produce better quality flower when doing so.
Some strains like GG4 and many of the Kushes , benefit from agressively defoliating before flowering. The response is the proof that defoliating being bad is a myth among growers. I fact I have ran my own tests on this theory and some genetics benefit from it and others do not. Know your plants and thier repsonses to such things. Some tradtional growers in less civillized regions smash thier plants into the ground at a certain age which results in a massive spread out plant and all those mashed down branches grow thier own root systems. So defoliating and training of plants to increase or improve flower quality has it's benefits but maybe it depends on the genetics at play.
 

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