Yes the Juniors only hold about 5 gal if not mounded over. I believe that an Orginal would most likely be a little less work than Juniors due to 2x the amount of soil. Build a Soil and Kis Organics both say 10 to 15 gal minimum for Organics to work best. However, for smaller and faster strains a Junior is the smallest I would go. People using 3gal Smart Pots will have a harder time keeping the plant happy til the end than someone using 7gal. Juniors need top dressings starting before flower and decently often the whole grow for optimal growth and not getting hungry. I think you are right about the low profile shape of Juniors, they wick perfectly due to the height. Too tall woukd not wick as well and would leave parts too moist down low and parts too dry at top. Kis Soil cost me a small fortune to get shipped here, and I have a bunch of Juniors. Otherwise I would use some Originals for some larger strains and to see what works better. All of the plants I have done in Juniors seemed to have gotten plenty large enough. I believe with more experience I can time out the Top Dressings so the plants are able to provide the plant with a little more food before they actually need it. Have not been able to grab any worms yet. Honestly no big deal for me, but I am curious if they would help. With Juniors I think properly timed top dressings are the key to best sucess vs having worms or not. I have not done enough plants in them to have a solid routine. I have Coconut water for plants going into flower and in flower, not sure if it helps or not...but worth a shot. So far I have also tried Popcorn Seed Stater tea. Not sure if it helped or not, butvits easy to do. I will also grab some Malted Barley soon for sprinkling on them. Cheap and cant hurt to try. Peace, slow
Wonder all you like but, and I repeat, Worms are the World’s BEST Gardeners. Notice that statement ended with a period, I rarely ever end any written communication, except my last line with a period or whatever, trust me slow, they do make a difference .... Having said that I wouldn’t put worms above say light, co2, wind, temps or humidity that for sure but they will help improve the quality, I believe .... but you can grow some fine plants without worms, just better with .....
Junior verses Original - Having grown both but not same strain I can speculate the Original is easier unless you grow a monster strain and then the work will increase due to strain size ...... So far Juniors have held up well for the smaller strains and perhaps a medium strain too but I suspect if White Crack was grown in an Original - 12 oz plant or better possible .... Growth in a SIP when dialed in is nothing short of fantastic.....
For rcokbuds I think the Juniors would be perfect fit, but I have very limited info on rocks strains so I assume most strains are small .... or put two plants in an Original, if smallish strains, I’m sure it would work just plant at either end ......
I also coco plus I add mammoth p, not sure either but I’m liking the results thus far so I will continue - I’ve also let some Kashi soak couple days and feed that to the plants, otherwise pretty much top dressings ....
Soak your straw and then wring dry and sprinkle some kelp and few other dry amendments on the straw and mist and then top dress - I also add finely ground egg shells, washed first of membrane - ground fine and then ran thru fine strainer mixed into the straw as well as some rock dust - Rock dust and egg shells helps worms digest should some hatch from your castings and some calcium from shells, not much but variety is a key in Organics.
Peace,
MOB
