Growing big plants. Are 3 gal pots big enough?

[trichnut]

iv got 4 1000 watt lights and i want to grow 4 plants per light
(curently im growing 9 plants per light)
I want to build a system similar to CAPs ebb and grow bucket system and use the Sure to grow media.
the CAP system uses 2 gal pots and im thinking that those are just not going to be big enough to give me a good thick canopy when using only 4 plants per 4'x4' or even 5'x5' area.
here is the bucket i was going to use. hXXp://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=8627
was originaly thinking of going with the 5 gal bucket but the only difference is that the 5 is a few inches taller and all the roots just hang out at the bottom of the bucket anyway.

with this system im expecting to veg my plants for 6-8 weeks and flower for 8-9 weeks.
In soil with 3 gal smart pots im veging them 3-4 weeks and flowering 7-9 weeks (9 plants per 4'x4')
please let me know if you see any potential problems with this idea or if anything i said sounds confusing.

thanks for your help.

 

[loolagigi]

bigger the container the bigger it can grow.

 

[nouvellechef]

I thought 2gal was too small too. Nope

Sure to grow sucks. Stays wet way way too long.

 

[trichnut]

Sure to grow sucks. Stays wet way way too long.

iv used it once and it acted like a DWC bubble bucket. only thing is it didnt need an air pump.
I made a "hempy bucket" and stuffed it with lose fill STG media. all my other hempies where with perlite and coco. the STG hempy made the greenest and thickest plant. it also didnt seem to mind when it got watered. if it where 5 days or just 1 day between waterings. by far the most wory free and forgiving media iv ever used. im now looking at totes that are atlease 30" wide so i can put one plant on eather side 8 totes 16 plants. but filling all that up with media is sounding like a real pain in the edit. Maybe i will just go with a standard bubble bin.

 

[nouvellechef]

i got some. In Ebb, it stays wet too long. It decreases floods, which in flood and drain is bad.

 

[DonJones]

nouvellchef,

Have you tried contacting Sure To Grow and asking them how to alter your feeding/watering schedule to use it for ebb and flow/flood and drain? I know their recommendations on their website are different than what I seen different people say they are doing on the various forums.

The thing is whenever you change media or growing methods, you have to adapt to the new media or method. What works in Rockwool is different than what works in Hydroton and so on.

 

[nouvellechef]

3-4 floods a day. Thats not good. Little more in flower.

 

[LEFTHAND]

nouvellchef,

Have you tried contacting Sure To Grow and asking them how to alter your feeding/watering schedule to use it for ebb and flow/flood and drain? I know their recommendations on their website are different than what I seen different people say they are doing on the various forums.

The thing is whenever you change media or growing methods, you have to adapt to the new media or method. What works in Rockwool is different than what works in Hydroton and so on.

you cant just change the concept of EBB to meet your method.. ebb was made to operate a certain way to provide optimil growth.. and one is many feeds a day.. how in the world am i going to run 1hr on 2off 24/7 with something that stays drenched?? im not, not without root rot.. ahh you say to cut back then my plants suffer... ... not good.. now you say with highly oxygenated water absorbing into this sponge is the same as many feeds with hydroton NO.. because that air becomes stail.. then what.. have stail air sittin in there for 3-4 hrs till the next watering i think not..
ever stop to think they have people writing good crap about this product on there site.. like AN is the BEST in nute.. LOL i think not..
or its like saying you can take the spay er heads out of areoponics bcuz the clog.. its not areoponics any more dude..
so altering a system to meet you media dont always work when you need to run the system a certain way to gain that growth..
STG is not a EBB media its simple..
LH

 

[Matthew7]

I had the same question. I wanted to use 3 gallon buckets because I already had them. I went with five gallon buckets instead. I have no regrets as I've seen how large a root mass actually gets when the plant gets big.I would go with five gallon buckets. Hope that helps, Matt