One big soil container for all plants

[Crispyfried]

So I was reading Soma's organic growing book, and he grows a bunch of plants in one big container. This seems like a really good idea, especially if you are growing something that will be harvested. He uses a regular organic soil with some other stuff, but I wonder how this would be if you used a mix of soiless mediums, you could keep reusing it for a long time and just keep adding fertilizer. And of course the primary benefit for indoor growers is that you could grow more in a smaller space. I was thinking of a mix of coco coir, perlite, worm castings, and a variety of soil amendments like volcanite, rock phosphate, trace mineral rock, pumice, some slow release organic fertilizer, some bat guano, and such. Does this sound like a good idea?

[Jdog7000]

I say try it. We'll never know until then. But I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's the same idea,just a different medium.

[notanotherteensmoker]

I'm a novice, but I would guess that if they end up being different sexes or if they grow bushy that crowding could become an issue. I had two to 3-gallon containers in soil for a while trying to save space, but put them back in separate containers within a week after I saw how fast they were growing. Plus I didn't want to risk accidental seeding.

At first transplant I tried worm castings mixed with Supersoil, Perlite and a scant amount of charcoal chips and switched from HPS to a MH conversion bulb. Within a few hours I noticed an improvement. I used Peters 20-20-20 mixed at household strength. I once had a roomate who used guano for her houseplants and the whole place smelled like landfill that was eaten, puked up, re-eaten then defocated onto a rotting corpse.

[busteruk7]

the one other downfall with that idea is when they start rooting they could get all tangled up and if it gets too bad it could stunt growth and the other problem with it is if one of ya plants turn male you would want to remove it ya would have to cut the stem and not pull it up incase of root tangles below the soil
the problem with this is if ya cut the male out at the bottom of the stem the roots beneath it would get very hard as they will no longer be in use
and would be hard for other roots to get thru
cheers all

[Crispyfried]

That's a really good point about not being able to pull up a plant that might be tangled with another plant.

[Garden Knowm]

Unless you have no choice... or you are growing short
sea of green/screen of green plants... then it makes no sense to me, to put all your plants in one basket...

it seems like an unneccessary risk...

But a the bugs may thank you.....

On the other hand, I have seen many people grow 2 to 5 plants in 1-5 gallon containers with decent results from less than dedicated gardners..

LOL

I FEEL VERY VERY HAPPY today

[notanotherteensmoker]

excellent point about tangled roots. nothing worse than hearing that horrible (yet affirming) crunching sound of roots being torn apart. I'd hate to imagine that happening to two or more plants at the same time.

also...if sharing containers, even if you rotate the containers for even light distribution, it would seem that the inside of each should theoretically suffer from light loss.

I would love to see a picture from a grower who has pulled off growing two or more to a container, either by training, bending, or whatever...

[turtle420]

I would love to see a picture from a grower who has pulled off growing two or more to a container, either by training, bending, or whatever...
Hey Non-Teen-Smoker,

You can check out my thread, over at
http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?t=34726&page=14
There are some interesting pics there...

I grew two plants per pot... each pot was about 10" diameter, 8" tall.

I LSTed them. They fought for water... but, all in all, all is well.

[notanotherteensmoker]

Nice,
thanks for the link to the pictures

you've given me something to consider for my next grow. I'm finishing my first now, and may shell out for feminized seeds. That way I can double up and not worry about breeding.

[notanotherteensmoker]

Crispyfried & turtle420,
Here are a few of pics of my short-lived experience in 2-to-a-container growing. Forgive me, I'm a newbie, so hopefully this upload will work.

I freaked when I saw how fast they were growing and new nothing about trianing, so I separated them out soon afterward.

[busteruk7]

Hey Non-Teen-Smoker,

You can check out my thread, over at
http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?t=34726&page=14
There are some interesting pics there...

I grew two plants per pot... each pot was about 10" diameter, 8" tall.

I LSTed them. They fought for water... but, all in all, all is well.
thats a good grow ya had there with 2 in a pot what was the end result like
and did ya get any probs with them
cheers turtle :)

[notanotherteensmoker]

Turtle,

I ended up putting all the plants back into separate containers.
The grow is still growing in 1/2 a closet space. Here are a few pics taken today and yesterday...any thoughts on how far out from harvest I am?

[notanotherteensmoker]

sorry, my last reply was intended for busteruk 7

[Crispyfried]

I set up a big rectangular container, it's 19"x14" by 9" deep. Even though the surface area isn't that big, this thing holds a ton of soil. The soil is a mix of coco coir, perlite and wormcastings, plus some bat guano and minerals rock soil amendments. So I think there's only enough surface area for four plants, maybe six if I tie them down, but they're going to have a lot of root space.

[postmandave]

sounds interesting cryspyfeids can we see any pics. thanks the postman.

[Jdog7000]

The idea is not to grow huge plants with this method of building Gardening containers. I'm sure Soma never grew big gaint plants in those .Just small sized or SOG.

[Crispyfried]

I'll try to get a picture.

[Villui]

go for it! :D

[Crispyfried]

I've put the picture in attachments, I'm not sure how to upload pictures on these forums yet, let's see what happens.

[Crispyfried]

And sorry that nothing is growing in it yet. The plant that's in the corner of the photo has a bunch of spider mites that I just discovered, so I've got to get those under control before I put anything else in my box.

[LIP]

Damn it