Pot Size for DTW with Coco?

Hello all, I am getting ready to start my first indoor grow. I have been doing quite a bit of research since my state surprised me by passing one of the most relaxed medical programs in the US. I have a 4’x4’x6’11” Gorilla Grow with a 480w HLG-550 (lm301H & CREE 660nm). I will be feeding Dynagro, following their recommendations except I will start at half strength and don’t expect to have to increase from there, but will if necessary. The only thing I plan on adding outside of the DG Pro-Foliage, Bloom, Protekt, and MagPro, is a weekly treatment of recharge. I am using smart-pots, and this is where my question comes in.

Most of my research has indicated that when feeding drain to waste with Coco, that smaller pots are better than larger ones. Apparently, since coco is inert, the more crowded the roots are, the better nutrient absorption they have. (I am not claiming this, this is just what I have read)I have seen many pictures of 4x4 tents with massive plants in 3 gal pots, seeming to do amazing. Today, my smart pots arrived, and looking at the 3 gallon, it just seems way too small. For other more experienced growers that grow this way, would you recommend I go with four 3gal pots or four 5gal pots? I am leaning more towards the 5 gallons now that I have the 3’s in hand, but I am also not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination, hence why i am here asking the experts. If the three gallon is better, I would much rather that be the case as I could get away with a little less water, but if there are benefits to be had that would either allow my plant to get bigger or to get more nutrients, I will go pick up some 5 gallons right now.

thanks again for the help.

In my 4x4 I have grown in coco with 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 gallons Smart Pots.
Five plants Vertical grows in 2 and 3 gallon, 1 gallon 24 plant SOG horizontal grow, 6 and 8 plant 2 gallon horizontal grows, 1 plant (Monster Crop) in a 10 gallon horizontal grow. and a two plant 5 gallon horizontal grow.
I prefer either the 5 plant Vertical grow in 2 gallon pots or 6 plant horizontal also in 2 gallon.
I think the 2 gallon coco smart pots grow plenty big enough plants in a 4x4, height control is important.
Average 24 to 26.5 zips of trimmed dried and cured buds per grow with both methods.

Some of my grows are in my Signatures below.

gr865 said:

In my 4x4 I have grown in coco with 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 gallons Smart Pots.
Five plants Vertical grows in 2 and 3 gallon, 1 gallon 24 plant SOG horizontal grow, 6 and 8 plant 2 gallon horizontal grows, 1 plant (Monster Crop) in a 10 gallon horizontal grow. and a two plant 5 gallon horizontal grow.
I prefer either the 5 plant Vertical grow in 2 gallon pots or 6 plant horizontal also in 2 gallon.
I think the 2 gallon coco smart pots grow plenty big enough plants in a 4x4, height control is important.
Average 24 to 26.5 zips of trimmed dried and cured buds per grow with both methods.

Some of my grows are in my Signatures below.

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That’s definitely reassuring, I’ve already got the three gallons so I will probably give it a shot with the three gallons. Do you have any personal preference for premixed coco? A hydro store nearby has the Mother Earth coco/perlite mix for $16/50L, I was going to just grab two bags of that but they were trying to push “Cyco” brand on me, so I told them I’d have to do more research and come back.

I personally run gallon or so sized pots. Ive also folded down the edges on 3 gallons to make them like 2 gallons but wider. Really just depends on how often you can water imo. If youre the type to miss a day of watering dont go 1 gallon, imo. Aything more than 5 would be a bitch ime as well.

iShatterBladderz said:

That’s definitely reassuring, I’ve already got the three gallons so I will probably give it a shot with the three gallons. Do you have any personal preference for premixed coco? A hydro store nearby has the Mother Earth coco/perlite mix for $16/50L, I was going to just grab two bags of that but they were trying to push “Cyco” brand on me, so I told them I’d have to do more research and come back.

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I have used cheap brick coco, never again, I run Canna Coco, also Canna Nutes.
I have just begun running Coco/Perlite @ 70/30 so the jury is out on mixing the two.

kroc said:

I personally run gallon or so sized pots. Ive also folded down the edges on 3 gallons to make them like 2 gallons but wider. Really just depends on how often you can water imo. If youre the type to miss a day of watering dont go 1 gallon, imo. Aything more than 5 would be a bitch ime as well.

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If you are going to run coco, you don't treat them like soil.
That means you have to keep the coco damp, you cannot over water coco, but you can definitely under water it.
I built a DIY system, total cost under $200. Will handle all I need. I am running three cycle per light period, 24 days into 12/12.
Will post some pics if you would like.

gr865 said:

I have used cheap brick coco, never again, I run Canna Coco, also Canna Nutes.
I have just begun running Coco/Perlite @ 70/30 so the jury is out on mixing the two.



If you are going to run coco, you don't treat them like soil.
That means you have to keep the coco damp, you cannot over water coco, but you can definitely under water it.
I built a DIY system, total cost under $200. Will handle all I need. I am running three cycle per light period, 24 days into 12/12.
Will post some pics if you would like.

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Yeah idk if you misunderstood my post but i've been growing in coco for at least a year now, dtw, 1 gallon pots watered up to 3 times a day in flower. I'll check your journal out though!

edit: if youre referring to my comment about missing a day, im assuming he doesnt have automation and is human lol. Handwatering everyday for 90 days straight youre bound to miss one, and missing one while using 3 gallon pots is much more forgiving than using 1 gallons, is all i was saying.

kroc said:

Yeah idk if you misunderstood my post but i've been growing in coco for at least a year now, dtw, 1 gallon pots watered up to 3 times a day in flower. I'll check your journal out though!

edit: if youre referring to my comment about missing a day, im assuming he doesnt have automation and is human lol. Handwatering everyday for 90 days straight youre bound to miss one, and missing one while using 3 gallon pots is much more forgiving than using 1 gallons, is all i was saying.

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Are you hand watering? Been there did that shit, not fun at all.

gr865 said:

Are you hand watering? Been there did that shit, not fun at all.

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Yeah at the moment i'm just doing a big res with a pump attached to a hose and watering wand. Doesnt take but a couple minutes. I definitely would like to run some lines for my flower room, though. Just so I don't have to be there every time. Working from home though so im always around right now.

iShatterBladderz said:

That’s definitely reassuring, I’ve already got the three gallons so I will probably give it a shot with the three gallons. Do you have any personal preference for premixed coco? A hydro store nearby has the Mother Earth coco/perlite mix for $16/50L, I was going to just grab two bags of that but they were trying to push “Cyco” brand on me, so I told them I’d have to do more research and come back.

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2 and 3 gallon seem to be the most common.

The Platinum Cyco specs look good. Never used it.

kroc said:

Yeah at the moment i'm just doing a big res with a pump attached to a hose and watering wand. Doesnt take but a couple minutes. I definitely would like to run some lines for my flower room, though. Just so I don't have to be there every time. Working from home though so im always around right now.

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yeah, this is basically what I’ll be doing. I’ve got a reservoir with a slower pump in it, will just water plants through the tube. The plant is indoors at my home so watering it won’t be an issue. I can always rig it to auto water but while I’m learning how to identify and correct toxicities and deficiencies.

also, I took advantage of the fact that I live in a state that previously was one of the harshest on marijuana and now has a medical program that is basically a recreational market that requires a license. We have WAY too many dispensaries and marijuana adjacent businesses right now since were only a year in, we actually have a town with 92,000 residents and 84 dispensaries. But because of this, the hydro shops are incredibly competitive. I went to another local shop and was explaining my experience at the last store and the owner cut me a deal and sold me two 50L bags of Mother Earth 70/30 coco/perlite blend for $18

kroc said:

Yeah at the moment i'm just doing a big res with a pump attached to a hose and watering wand. Doesnt take but a couple minutes. I definitely would like to run some lines for my flower room, though. Just so I don't have to be there every time. Working from home though so im always around right now.

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I'm here looking for ideas on drain tables, I'm just finishing up my first coco run. I did hempy's in 3.5 gal and I didn't even get the benefit of skipping a day, they'd be way too dry on day 2. The only pots that even make 24 hours in my veg are my 3.5 gallon square pots I'm planning on finishing in. I can't imagine handwatering 1 gallons. Are you using straight coco? mine are 75/25 perlite, I've had to transplant far sooner than I imagined, some are in their 3rd pots and some in the 4th final pot at 20 days of veg. I want to run 2 gallon pots, but only once I get a fertigation system setup.

You can grow huge plants in small pots in coco. Only difference is the smaller the pot the more you need to water but its also easier to control moisture levels in smaller pots. New coco growers usually make the mistake of going with too big a pot and then soak them continually and wonder why things start to go wrong. I would stick with the 3 gallons. If your running a coco pelite mix it just means you will have more drainage and they will dry out faster but also allow for feeding more often which is good.

westcoast420 said:

You can grow huge plants in small pots in coco. Only difference is the smaller the pot the more you need to water but its also easier to control moisture levels in smaller pots. New coco growers usually make the mistake of going with too big a pot and then soak them continually and wonder why things start to go wrong. I would stick with the 3 gallons. If your running a coco pelite mix it just means you will have more drainage and they will dry out faster but also allow for feeding more often which is good.

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Yeah, I am pretty sure this is the way I will go. Whenever I start to need to feed more than once per day, do I need to decrease the nutrient strength at all or just keep feeding at same strength as long as there are no toxicities or deficiencies?

iShatterBladderz said:

Yeah, I am pretty sure this is the way I will go. Whenever I start to need to feed more than once per day, do I need to decrease the nutrient strength at all or just keep feeding at same strength as long as there are no toxicities or deficiencies?

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It really depends on how strong of feed your giving in the first place, how much runoff you have if any per feed and how root bound the plant in the pot is. When im doing multi feeds i dont drop the ppm but every once and while i would give a couple feeds of very low ppm if i was feeding them heavy. In my high perlite to coco mix i would feed 12x a day.

westcoast420 said:

It really depends on how strong of feed your giving in the first place, how much runoff you have if any per feed and how root bound the plant in the pot is. When im doing multi feeds i dont drop the ppm but every once and while i would give a couple feeds of very low ppm if i was feeding them heavy. In my high perlite to coco mix i would feed 12x a day.

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Yeah buddy, what size is that in? I'm sure the drainage isn't as good, but has anyone tried the coco grow bags? http://www.cocoagro.com/cocopeat-grow-bags.html

Three gallon fabric pots have been the ticket for me with coco. You don't really need anything bigger unless you're growing trees outside or inside if you have the room. For a typical indoor grow in a tent your size three gallon is fine.

xtsho said:

Three gallon fabric pots have been the ticket for me with coco. You don't really need anything bigger unless you're growing trees outside or inside if you have the room. For a typical indoor grow in a tent your size three gallon is fine.

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Sweet. Do you usually dial the nutrient strength down at all when you start feeding more than once a day? Or do you keep it the same as long as the plants aren’t getting toxicities?

iShatterBladderz said:

Sweet. Do you usually dial the nutrient strength down at all when you start feeding more than once a day? Or do you keep it the same as long as the plants aren’t getting toxicities?

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I run probably half of what many people use. I'm using Blumats in 100% coco. No runoff. Mix my own nutes from a variety of dry chemical salts. I do run a few things in soil on occasion.

Less is better.

xtsho said:

I run probably half of what many people use. I'm using Blumats in 100% coco. No runoff. Mix my own nutes from a variety of dry chemical salts. I do run a few things in soil on occasion.

Less is better.

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I run Dynagro-Gro, I run Foliage Pro for Veg, Bloom for Flower, Protekt throughout and Mag-Pro (i use RO water) throughout. I run everything at half what the bottle recommends and then adjust from there usually.

xtsho said:

I run probably half of what many people use. I'm using Blumats in 100% coco. No runoff. Mix my own nutes from a variety of dry chemical salts. I do run a few things in soil on occasion.

Less is better.

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Just curious about how many ppm do you run in that type of setup?