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[Sabelter O Adoob]

Scaling Down Autoflower Pots For Hydro Growing
By
Sabelter O Adoob​

Greetings Stoners
I had the idea to scale down my hydro pots after time and again seeing tiny rootballs coming out of big pots. Nothing to do with the plant above, I just wondered how efficient the larger reservoir actually was in terms of what the plant takes from it. This isn’t a typical grower’s journal but may be of interest to those with experience growing autos so I’ll skip the techy stuff it’s standard dwc under led in a tent.
So here’s what I did
3ltr pot

Seeds germed in rockwool in the baskets then popped into the pot with a little airstone as soon as they show roots in the basket,

Just watering to maintain root contact with fresh water until..

They are now being fed hydro grow nutes on alternate days to fresh water, this Diesel by dopeseeds.com is 24 days from seed.
Just treating them the same as my 10ltr pot grows but pro-rated feeds and it’s looking like they’re doing just fine, which is interesting enough in itself, but take a look at this..

The 2 plants in the back are Big Gun by Short Stuff in 3ltr pots and the 1 in front is a Gorilla Shizzle by can’t remember in a 10ltr pot. These are all 55 days from seed. By this point the 3ltr pots need topped up twice daily but anyone with a tent grow is in there at least that many times anyway so no real effort required.
So far I’m seeing normal growth over multiple strains in 3ltr pots, but let’s consider what’s actually in the pot because it was never 3ltr of water in its puff. I would say that from seedling there’s probably 2.5ltr of water in a 3ltr pot when you take account of the inverted lid and depth of a 3” basket that sits in it. This volume is decreasing as the roots are forming. I’m guessing at this point that a mature plant may be sitting in as little as 2ltr of water but I’ll let you know later when the harvest comes. I set my feed rate for a 2ltr reservoir from the start with this in mind. So feeding costs are reduced on the 3ltr pots compared to 10ltr pots and the efficiency question is beginning to form an answer in coin, but the plants performance seems to be decent and that’s what I want to explore as we go through this cycle.

Big Gun at 55 days 3ltr, the stones are counterweights as well as nice looking.

Gorilla Shizzle at 55 days 10ltr. Spot the first aid?

The 3ltr pots are easier to handle and open up a useful amount of floor space in your tent which as you all know means more plants, if you like, and potentially for the same costs you run now. I’ll see how a sea of green works out later as there are 5 after the Diesel all born together. The nutes are accurately delivered, I inject from the container into the pot with a piece of airline attached to a syringe and top up with water, so no messing around mixing brews up.
Thanks for taking the time to look at this, more later, if you’re interested.
Sabelter

 

[Mikis]

Mate dwc is the one technique that ive never tried
They are all looking good but, so if you dont see much difference in quality and yield and like you said you have the time to do it then go for the smaller ones!
But on the other hand, say you canny get to them one day and they end up drying up, if they were in 10l buckets they would still be awrite!!
Tough choice...

 

[Sabelter O Adoob]

thanks man I've only ever done dwc cos that's how I started n its been no bad but am all about variety from my wee eternal garden. work for myself n Jnr Adoob knows the score if am away but its an experiment n as ye say if these run well I'll keep doin it. wee pots would square ma space circle nicely

 

[Sabelter O Adoob]

baked on ma page! Av made it

 

[baked in the bluegrass]

Sabs running experiments!

 

[Sabelter O Adoob]

told ye b am no messin aboot here hows you?

 

[Mikis]

@davisgirl could you have a wee peek in here please? I know you have experience with dwc and could maybe help out a bit in here ✌✌

 

[baked in the bluegrass]

Im well man, thanks!
Im interested to see how yer lil dwc does!

 

[Frenjamin Banklin]

I use small pots as a DWC nursery but for a full grow I see these as issues.

You aren’t saving space as the plant still takes up the foot print under the light.

The twice daily top ups can cause issues if you don’t get them timed right.

If you really want to run hydro in a SOG then a flood and drain table would work and be automated.

You can already see the issues with a counter balance at the bottom and you don’t even have full buds yet. Going to be a struggle in full flower. Not sure the rocks will be able to keep up.

I’m always one to try new things and go against the grain so I applaud the experiment and wish you nothing but good luck. Can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

 

[Sabelter O Adoob]

Hi Frenjamin thanks for those thoughts, so far the only answer I have is that the stones aren't there to counterbalance the plant. the plant is fine in the pot once it puts on some weight and applies its own load but as a seedling the shape of the lid means it wants to move around but I'll need to clarify that in the thread