Solo Cup secrets [wanted]

I was going to plant this out, but I've changed my mind and decided to grow the plant in it's 5" pot. I am hoping to get something like what I've seen in a good solo cup challenge. This is purely for fun and to make use of my photon spill.

I have obtained a seedling mix with fertiliser already in it and I mixed in some perlite, I used that to surround the little eazyplug, for the bottom of the pot, I mixed in a little extra tomato compost also with added fertiliser, into the seedling mix and put that in the bottom 2". Mixture is loose and damp, but not wet.

My plan is to use the GP3 nutrients I'm using for my hydro, in fact I can just scoop some out of my reservoir but I'm happy to mix up something tailor made. I have not used any hydro solution in it yet, I figure there should be enough already in the soil to last a couple of weeks.

I'm hoping to get some tips from people who have grown a decent plant in a solo cup. This is going to be under indoor lights. At 5 days she is looking similar to a hydro grow so far.

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Hey Iconoclast,

First off, goodluck with that grow mate!!
Next, I don't think you'll be needing nutrients any time soon... Although the pot being small the little one will have enough until she hits flower. That being said. You could always try to raise the nutrients by introducing them by means of watering the seedling, but do that after the root system get's settled (after 15days or so). Then look out until you see burnt leaf tips and then dial the nutrients back a bit...

Regards,

Bob

 

[The Iconoclast]

@Bob's Auto's Thanks for the good vibes. That helps, should I just keep her in this damp state, i.e. no water runs out, or should I let her dry out, and water till something comes out the bottom?

 

[Bob's Auto's]

@Bob's Auto's Thanks for the good vibes. That helps, should I just keep her in this damp state, i.e. no water runs out, or should I let her dry out, and water till something comes out the bottom?

Ok, I'm gonna explain to you how I learned it here

Take some soil in your hand and squeeze...
The squeezed soil you have in your hands now is the driest you'd ever want your soil to be. Put that in your pot/container/bag/whatever and put it on a scale and weigh. Now water the soil until water runs out through the bottom and let it leak out until no more drops fall from the bottom. This is the wettest you'd ever want your soil to be. Weigh it again and now you can extrapolate how much water there is in the pot going by weight. After a while you'll even won't need a scale to weigh your pots.

Hope this helps

 

[DCLXVI]

The only advice I was going to give was to use coco so you can treat it like hydro. I don't know if the small volume lends itself to soil very well.

If you measure in/out volumes it's easy to see when to increase volume and frequency. Also if you test your runoff for EC/ppm you can see when to increase or decrease strength.

I find that a standard solo can take about 250-300 ml before excessive runoff. By midway through my coco solo cups I give 250-300 twice a day.

I'm only on my third solo so do take that with a grain of salt.

 

[Bob's Auto's]

I'm not that big of a fan of small pots anymore. To much can go iffy to fast...
I rather up the size and do some more pruning then take the risk of them running out of water/nutrients for a couple of hours again

 

[DCLXVI]

The advantages of being old, semi retired, and having lots of time to fart around with plants.

 

[The Iconoclast]

The advantages of being old, semi retired, and having lots of time to fart around with plants.

You got that one right! My only work now involves me writing with my plants always 3 steps away and more often than not me looming over them.

If I knew I wasn't going to plant this out, I would have taken more care, as it is if this is not completely terrible then I'll give coco a gogo next time. If it works out I will consider doing an entire grow in coco pots so I can grow smaller plants but more of them.

Do you think it's too early at the one week stage to give her a good soak and drain?

 

[2budz]

I grow in 5 inch (1 liter) pots regularly. I have the least amount of issues with those plants. It’s really hard to overwater. But, you have to be a grow god to get huge yields. I have had a 12 gram harvest and a 17 gram harvest out of those pots. I currently have a King Gelato going that I think will finally get me to the ounce+ mark. I use soil, and for the first 7-10 days I just spray with a spray bottle to keep it moist. Once they have their 2nd-3rd leaves I’ll water through. Once they’re in flower I water daily but not to runoff. Just a small amount til it’s just about to run out the bottom. You’ll learn pretty quickly how much water that is. I’ve also found that I can feed these plants in small pots a lot before they show any signs of over feeding. Good luck with your grow. I actually like growing in these small pots because I know what to expect now and I always try to grow the next one better. They’re just a space filler really.

 

[2budz]

My current King Gelato