Balcony microgrow pot size / pot in pot question

Basic Growing Info
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#1

Hi. I’m considering a balcony microgrow. It’s really not about yield, just for fun, variety and learning. I’d be happy with a few grams dried and a 30cm-ish plant size. (Surroundings have changed a bit, much more potential eyes on my spot than last year & growing is still illegal here)

I’d stick to sunlight, soil and veganic fertilizer (BioBizz) as I still have it from last year’s grow and was happy with the outcome. I’d use an autoflower.

I know the pot size determines the size of the plant, and I’m thinking about something like 250–500ml. While that works well indoors with automation (as seen on various threads around here), I wonder how I would get it through the summer outdoors.

I used an 11l pot for a regular grow last year, which was a good size to water and then leave alone for a few days. But a plant in a 250ml pot would probably die on its own within a hot day or two. And wind would knock it over.

I’m wondering, if I put the plant in a 250ml pot filled with soil (with holes at the bottom) and put the small pot into the 11l pot filled with soil, the big pot would provide stability and cooling, but

  • would the connection between big and small pot be enough to get water and nutrients from the big to the small pot?
  • would the plant grow small? The roots will grow through the holes at the bottom of the small pot into the big pot eventually, don’t know what that does to plant size?

Any thoughts? I’d also appreciate links if that has been tried before. Thanks for reading!

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#2

You could consider an end-of-season grow so a photo plant would start flowering in just a few weeks when its mature enough or simply growing autoflower plants then either way you could still use a larger pot for stability in watering and in the wind.

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#3

Thanks a lot for your thoughts!

I grew an autoflower in 11l last year and it stretched like crazy in flowering. Went from ~30cm to >90cm. Not an option this year.

A photo end of season won’t work because 1. I don’t want to wait that long :wink: 2. Climate is not great here at that time. I’d like to use the power of the summer sun

#4

Are you going to use light deprivation to make a photoperiod plant flower? Because otherwise it wont flower until end of season anyway you will be waiting just as long just with a bigger plant.

#5

That’s why I’ll be growing an auto, not a photo. :slight_smile:

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#6

Sorry mate, I just re-read the original post and cleared the mud up in my head.
Your plan sounds pretty solid though I would use a litre or so of medium to start with and see how she goes.

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#7

Hi @allotment
Welcome to Overgrow!

I use small and smaller containers almost exclusively nowadays.
32 ounces to 2 gallons ( apx. 1 liter to 7.6 liters)

I have some questions concerning your grow environment.

What is the anticipated temperature range during your grow?
How many hours of direct sunlight will your plant receive?

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#8

Thank you!

Do you grow outdoor?

Temperature range will be ~10–30°C.
Direct sunlight probably 5 to 6 hours per day.

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#9

Yes.

The plant would grow as if in one larger combination of your two containers, so the plant could get proportionately larger.

Yes I grow outdoors whenever feasible.
This is my first grow of autoflowers now underway.
I have grown lots of photo plants in small containers outdoors.
But I never tried autos until this grow. The shorter plant is about 14 inches from soil line.

For your situation I would use no larger than about 2.5 liters, depending on how many times a day you can water/feed. Start/leave the plant in a tiny container until you know sex, then transplant into larger pot. Maybe use a low profile type container, better wind stability. The smaller the container the smaller the plant, so your plan to use the 11 liter would provide too big of a plant if you want to keep it real small.

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#10

I was hoping the smaller container would suppress the growth as I read quite often that autoflowers depend heavily on the container size. Some people even say for autoflowers you should use the final container from the beginning because a smaller container at the start could restrain the grow (can’t say that about my last grow).

That’s a nice grow you got going there, I really like the small one. Thanks for sharing!

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#11

They will do that well, however they would need lots of watering.
So you could use a wick system to keep the plant in very small
container like 200 to 250 ml…that would minimize growth size, as well as the need for watering frequently.

Any variation of this should work for you.

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#12

I decided to try a 250ml container. I am very early this year, I can finish one autoflower plant and then start another about a month earlier than I started my grow last year. I can use whatever I’ll learn in the first run to optimize the second.

I’ll likely use a water container and a small pump i have lying around to keep her happy when I’m gone for a few days.

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