Would this nitrogen burn?

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
What makes you think that is the case? It is very easy to grow organic in small containers
You can grow with smaller pots but it's not ideal for the life in the soil that we rely on to process the nutrients into usable forms for the plants.

 

Boatguy

Well-Known Member
You can grow with smaller pots but it's not ideal for the life in the soil that we rely on to process the nutrients into usable forms for the plants.

No till isnt the only organic option. Microbes arent needed.
Plenty of dry and liquid ferts fill the gap.
 

Boatguy

Well-Known Member
Are you seriously telling me microbes aren't needed in organics, :shock:?
Yes. I can buy a bag of gardentone and dose up a batch of promix. Only have to feed late in flower.
A bottle of liquid fish fert takes care of that.
Sure the microbes made the product, but its already available to the plants when i add it to the soil
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Yes. I can buy a bag of gardentone and dose up a batch of promix. Only have to feed late in flower.
A bottle of liquid fish fert takes care of that.
Sure the microbes made the product, but its already available to the plants when i add it to the soil
Garden tone has microbes in it, :lol:.
 

tstick

Well-Known Member
Check out refrigerant scales on Amazon.
Actually, I tried using a digital type scale. The problem is that they shut off and reset. So, if I set a pot on one of them, it will show the weight, initially....then it will shut off. If I turn it back on, it zeros out with the pot on it. That's why I wanted to try it with some type of analog scale. The only affordable options were the bathroom scales. I still might revisit that idea if the ones I want go on a Black Friday sale or something.
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Actually, I tried using a digital type scale. The problem is that they shut off and reset. So, if I set a pot on one of them, it will show the weight, initially....then it will shut off. If I turn it back on, it zeros out with the pot on it. That's why I wanted to try it with some type of analog scale. The only affordable options were the bathroom scales. I still might revisit that idea if the ones I want go on a Black Friday sale or something.
Please post pics when you put bathroom scales under your pots. Thanks in advance.
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Actually, I tried using a digital type scale. The problem is that they shut off and reset. So, if I set a pot on one of them, it will show the weight, initially....then it will shut off. If I turn it back on, it zeros out with the pot on it. That's why I wanted to try it with some type of analog scale. The only affordable options were the bathroom scales. I still might revisit that idea if the ones I want go on a Black Friday sale or something.
Look for used laundry scales.
 

Swan23

Active Member
I know it's labor intensive and wouldn't be practical for anything other than a very small grow (a few plants)...but, whenever I start out a grow, I try to pre-moisten my soil mix to the "ideal" dampness level. Then I weigh the container (bathroom scale works fine) and pre-moistened soil. Then I plant the plant into that container and water thoroughly. After watering (and allowing the container to drip-dry), I weigh the container, again, to determine the maximum weight. After that, I monitor the weight throughout the week to see how much the plants are actually drinking. When they start returning to that ideal weight, it's time. If the top of the soil dries out, I just use a pump sprayer to wet it down a bit.
I find this method to be almost fail-safe and I've never run into any watering problems using it. I run a similar soil mix (basically FF with some added coco and perlite).
I use fabric pots and when I water them, I put them into a 5 gallon bucket and water them inside it until the water comes up to the soil line and then I let them sit there for several minutes until the bubbling stops. Then I hoist them up and hold them to drip into the bucket for a couple seconds and then into a drip pan for several more minutes until they can be returned to the tent.
After a few weeks, you will get a "feel" for the timing of the watering and you will become more in-tune with your plants. They will "tell" you what they want if you "listen". :)
It's a laborious process....but, honestly I love working closely with my plants and I don't mind it at all. Growing plants is therapeutic for me.

So I just weighed a 3 gal pot with around the same materials that my planted pots have and it weighed 8 pounds. My planted pots weigh 14 right now and that's without watering for 3 days. I have around 5-6 pounds of water weight still. I'm guessing that's too much?
 

tstick

Well-Known Member
So I just weighed a 3 gal pot with around the same materials that my planted pots have and it weighed 8 pounds. My planted pots weigh 14 right now and that's without watering for 3 days. I have around 5-6 pounds of water weight still. I'm guessing that's too much?
My 3 gallon pots weigh 13 pounds when they are "moist". When they are fully watered, they weight 21 pounds. A gallon of water weighs ~8 pounds. So that tells me that the soil mix and fabric pots are holding about a gallon of water (after they stop dripping).
When the plants were small and in veg the pots took about 6 days to dry back down to 13 pounds. Now that the plants are in flower and drinking a lot more water, it takes about 3 days for the pots to dry out. Also, as the plants get bigger, I shift the minimum weight from 13 pounds to somewhere around ~14 or 15 pounds before I water again. I do this because, as the plants get bigger, they have an established root system to deal with a more saturated soil, and also because the plants, themselves, are holding water in their tissues and adding weight.

Here's some more scale humor: :)
I grow a max of 4 plants -usually all different strains. Even with all other factors being the same at the start, as the plants mature, they drink water at different rates. Weighing them makes it easy to determine when each one needs water and also helps to "dial-in" a new grow. Additionally, my thinking was to set it up so that the pots would sit on its own scale that could be viewed at a glance and water added accordingly. This might help me if I have the plants in a scrog-type grow (for example), where I couldn't remove the pots from the tent to water them. One of the pots in that scrog might be ready for water, while one of the others might not be ready for water...thus the scales.

I promise that IF I do this, I will take pics! ;) heh heh
 

Kushash

Well-Known Member
My 3 gallon pots weigh 13 pounds when they are "moist". When they are fully watered, they weight 21 pounds. A gallon of water weighs ~8 pounds. So that tells me that the soil mix and fabric pots are holding about a gallon of water (after they stop dripping).
When the plants were small and in veg the pots took about 6 days to dry back down to 13 pounds. Now that the plants are in flower and drinking a lot more water, it takes about 3 days for the pots to dry out. Also, as the plants get bigger, I shift the minimum weight from 13 pounds to somewhere around ~14 or 15 pounds before I water again. I do this because, as the plants get bigger, they have an established root system to deal with a more saturated soil, and also because the plants, themselves, are holding water in their tissues and adding weight.

Here's some more scale humor: :)
I grow a max of 4 plants -usually all different strains. Even with all other factors being the same at the start, as the plants mature, they drink water at different rates. Weighing them makes it easy to determine when each one needs water and also helps to "dial-in" a new grow. Additionally, my thinking was to set it up so that the pots would sit on its own scale that could be viewed at a glance and water added accordingly. This might help me if I have the plants in a scrog-type grow (for example), where I couldn't remove the pots from the tent to water them. One of the pots in that scrog might be ready for water, while one of the others might not be ready for water...thus the scales.

I promise that IF I do this, I will take pics! ;) heh heh
I was chatting with Dr. Who about the loss of iam4satori back in 2019.
I thought you would like this post about weighing pots.

My conversations were with iam4satori in 2017.
Then he wasn't around for a while and started popping in again from time to time.

I remember something he said to me a couple of years ago that made my day at the time and it was something I would occasionally look back to in a good way.

I would do experiments with watering soil, and I was recording the weight of my pots each day back in 2017.
Not many people were interested but he was.

I shared results and we chatted about it and during the conversation I said I'm no scientist but and went on to explain whatever it was I was thinking.

His response was something to the tune of you may think you're not a scientist and went on to say I was, and it was just a couple of sentences that made my day and stayed with me as a pleasant memory.

Coincidently I am about 5 weeks into flowering in 5 gallon pots right now and for the 1st time I'm having excellent results watering every day.

I have occasionally tried watering every day in the past and could not get it right.
This is only the 1st time I feel I am getting good results.
I didn't start watering every day until I was part way into flowering and didn't plan to water everyday it just sort of went that way.

So here I am today watering every day and weighing my plants. :peace:
 
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