Luke Highwalker

Heres the setup.

31gallon rubbermaid tub. chiller set to 64, {2} eco 4 air pumps, 8 bubble curtains.
1kw light, shared. this tub represents half of the lights footprint.
the other half of the light/space is a soil perpetual. so the light is always 12/12..there is no changing this.

my choices are 3" net pots or 5" net pots.
i can fit {12} 3" or {5} 5"

if i do the 12 3" i can only really use 10 spaces, because of air lines and such. this means if i want to rotate the lid 180 to keep the growth even, i will have to pull two plants out through there holes and move them to the other side of the lid....this also means those 2 plants will never get rotated.

the 5" pots will be a symmetrical layout. like the pattern on a dice. so turning the lid will be no prob.

my issue is this... these are basically zero veg clones. or what little veg i can manage in the bubble cloner. however the res temps in that thing are pretty warm, and last time i added weak nutes it instantly grew slime and nearly killed everything.

my gut says go with the {5} 5" pots, but my greed says go with more plants since i cant veg them larger i might as well lollipop more of them...

all i want is the best yield per run from this system im not asking much.

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Allglad

I would go with 5"s and maybe change later..or go 1/2-1/2. This is partly because I am constructing though and 5's would be less work all around.

Course I dont seem to have nearly the experience...just thought I'd give you something to think of that you may of thought about already..LOL

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Luke Highwalker

my thoughts or concerns are with overcrowding.

the 3" pots will be fairly close together. the 5" will have alot more space to breathe..... but i dont know how big the plants will get with no veg time in a bubbler.

im not much of a hydro guy. the problem is i only have one lid, so once the holes are cut im committed.

i dont want to cut the 5 holes, only to have the plants be all small and waste alotta space. when i could have had twice as many lollipops in the same space.

strain is nirvana white rhino.

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M_Jacobs

my vote is for 3" pots, and lollipop'ing. I just spent 5 hrs trimming my harvest, and it was such a pain trimming all the smaller buds and popcorn buds.

After I finished I went and trimmed my other batch to lollipop them hahaha.

DrDankman

from my experience i would go with 8 (3") and give them more space when laying them out..

you will be kind of crowded with 12 (3") i think 5 (5") would be perfect but if there is no veg on them it could be a bit of a waste of space.

you could go supper crazy and use 2" net and put about 25 on there

its really personal preference luke.. but if it were me i would give a couple weeks of veg and use 5"

M_Jacobs you can still lollipop in 5" or any other, just make sure you trim all side growth when you flower to eliminate the popcorn...
lollies still take a while to trim

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Luke Highwalker

yeah im torn.

my cloner has 30 spots, 18 of which are filled and rooted right now.

my plan, is if the hydro blows the soil away im going to put another tub in there, or just slide this one to the middle and scrog the hell outta this thing. i have enough of everything to double my hydro setup if i can get my sea legs

if i lay out 3" pots the spacing will be basically the same for 12 10 or 8. because of the shape of the tub the minimum spacing is what i look at. the y axis would be spaced farther with 8 but the x axis would remain the same...so i might as well just put the other 2 in there

cant do 12 cause all my plumbing runs out the side and eats up the middle 10-12 inches of the lid along that side.

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n_d_shadows

Damn, had a post all written out, looked up and you posted it!
Agree 100%
I'd also get me a second lid and set it up differently, just in case . but yea, 8 3" pots spaced out in rows 3-2-3.

n_d_shadows

Uhh question, how would the hydro blow the soil away? We talking taste, yield, effort (etc)?

Luke Highwalker

all 3. it has to produce enough to keep my needs met. right now 1 plant ever 2 weeks is my soil style and works fine. but if i can get the same or better production with the same or hopefully less effort than that wouldbe even more great!!

i cant do rows of 3 2 3 unfortunately because of all the shit inside the tub. well i could, but i dont want plants directly above the sub pump incase i have to get to it. i can do rows 3 2 2 or 3 3 2. but i am thinking long ways. i could do 3 2 3 if i orient my brain differently

i know it sounds stupid, but with 3 2 3 the spacing is weird, rectangles. if they are close together in the rows, is it going to matter if the rows are farther apart? this is how i got to the 10 or 5 pots. because my brain says even spacing all around the plants, otherwise you are just wasting real estate.....

i can train the end rows away from the tub a bit, but not much. cause there are walls on either end.

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DrDankman

NDS great minds think alike!!! getting another lid will be the best way to find out what works for you!

my tub has pluming down the middle so i have 2 rows of 4 and the middle has a 6" access hole with lid for top offs taking readings and other maintenance..

but it sounds like you would be best suited for the 5 (5")

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Grow journals

Ashes to Ashes and hydro back to soil - in progress

Aero Experimental - in progress