James' Money-Pit Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Octopot!

Indoor Growing Growroom Diaries
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Hey Guys!

Just getting ready for my First REAL Octopot grow. Third grow ever. Dropping seeds this weekend!

I had just finished an Octopot grow first of this month, but kind of a trial run and very lazy. I’m considering this my first real Octogrow and my official Octopot grow journal! Yee-haw!

Gonna have two plants going. One is Blue Dream, the other hasnt been finalized yet.
Going to start from seed and drop right into Octopot. Let it germinate right there.

Rig Rundown:
2x4 Gorilla grow tent at 7’11"
AC Infinity fans and 6" exhaust. Dual Controller 69 Pros.
Either HLG350R or Grow Light Science ProGrow 320 - Easier to keep ProGrow320 in there.
Athena Blended nutrients
Fox Farms Coco-Loco - Has nutrients in it, so I wont be using anything like Clonex or Mycorrhizae because its already in there.

My last grow taught me a few basics about the Octopot:

Less is more,but my plant took full-strength feedings during flower with no ill-effects.
Blackstrap Molasses is no-bueno. At least in the 1tlbs per gallon I fed in my water. Great in soil grow, not so much for Octopot reservior system. Stunted my plant and terrible reservior smell.
Have a plan. Be ready. When roots hit reservior, thats it. You need to either be in front of it all, keep up, or just try and play catch-up.

This grow Im comitted to at least NOT playing catch-up! lol. Last grow was VERY lazy. Death in family and hit with flu, pneumonia, then Covid. I call last grow (2nd ever grow) a dry-run.

So, Im hoping for the best during this grow. Using seeds purchased from ILGM.

If anyone has hints on Germination using Octopot, please chime in! Im dropping seeds either Saturday or Sunday this coming weekend.

Bit of background on my prior grows:

Started growing April of 23. First grow was in this 2x4. Plants given to me in 1 gallon pots late seedlings/early veg. 4 strains, 5 plants. Each in 5-gallon pot. Pulled just over 16oz after dry.

Second grow in September 23 2x4 was single Octopot plant. Started from small cutting in Octopot with Octodome. Grew great until week 6 flower. Introduced Molasses. Got stunted, pulled a week early, still got over 10oz after dry. Good stuff.

So, this will be my first time growing from seeds. I’m not really planning on taking clones or anything like that. Trying to keep it simple.

Going to grow and dry in same tent. Seemed to work well the past two times.

I will start another grow in my 2x2.5 in the next month or two. The 2x4 will be a regular thing, and I may introduce the smaller tent regularly. Or not. :upside_down_face:

If you guys (I say “guys” non-gender specifically,lol) have any thoughts or opinions, please dont be shy! Im fairly new to this and welcome all constructive feedback.

I’ll be using the Gorilla 2x4 to the right for this grow. Side grow will be in 2x2.5 on the left.

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Using dual ACI Controller 69 Pro. Needed additional ports to control stuff,but didnt want to spend $$$ for ACI’s 8 port version. This way, I can track Temp & RH in two tent areas.

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I like to place plants into the Octopot from a Dixie cup rather than as a young seedling .
About two weeks from sprouting in a Dixie cup I find is about the best time to place them

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Very cool, Jetdro!

Have you done from seed straight to Octopot?

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I appreciate you @supersecretjim !!

:metal: :grin:

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yes , when you get it right it produces a incredibly huge plant trouble is only about 20% of them will take properly that way so I no longer do it. The OCTO will grow the plant so huge it doesn’t really matter. I run cuts so this is how I do it.

take my cut put them under the dome typically around 14 days or so I place them in Dixie cups. takes them a week to 10 days before they establish really well and around that time I keep pulling them out of the cup looking at the roots. I want them all the way down to the bottom but I don’t really want them circling the bottom more than maybe one time. when I see them hit the bottom and start the circle that’s when I place them in the Octopot and use the turbo method to water.

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Good info, Jetdro! I wonder why the high failure rate? I wonder, is that the normal “seed in pot” germination failure rate compared to paper towel or other methods, whether its Octogrow or not.

Regardless, I’m going for it this grow. Ive been watching more videos the past week or so, Octopot has no decent vids regarding seed germination and planting. I went back to Octogrower videos. He’s got some good ones about germination, etc. Looks pretty easy, so I’d like to at least try and see how well it works for me.

If no germination, Robert with ILGM will be hearing from me, lol.

BTW, has anyone heard from Youtube Octogrower? No vids in the past two years, but so much great info!

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:grimacing:

ILGM doesn’t have a terribly good track record as a seed company, so you might have to start typing out that message now and save it to your drafts. If you end up not sending it, no harm no foul. Besides, they only block you after you complain about their seeds.

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Nice to know. Hopefully Roberts seeds dont suck

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Another option is to do water or paper towel method for the taproot to show, then move seed to Octopot to finish and go thru to seedling stage and foward, or no?

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Nice setup and plan. I saw the posts from your last run which was great. Curious how yields will improve overall with more proactive management and planning. Good luck and enjoy the trip! :beers:

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I also use octos and I think the issue with starting seeds straight in the pot is that you want more roots in the res than in the grow bag. starting from seed there more likely to establish in the sleeve and not in the res. They faster you get to the res the better. That where you will find the true power of octopot is in the res

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I sprout seeds in paper towel. Move them into a red solo cup until they get a bit bigger. Then, once they have 2 or 3 sets of leaves, they go into the octopot.

The plant on the right in the picture below is when I’d move it to its final octo-home

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I will take a stab at an answer albeit from a limited Noob MicroOcto level.

@Jetdro is the expert here.

You need the plant roots to reach the reservoir before they run out of juice. If you start top watering them, the roots are now searching in the wong direction. It is easier for an established root system developed in the solo cup to find the source (res).

I’ve started seedlings in the microocto fabric pot and 50% never reached the res. Noob mistake, but they were only getting water if they found it themselves.

I also believe this is what spurred the @Jetdro “Turbo method” . Promote the roots to the res ASAP.

Anyone please chime in. Just giving my $0.02

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I said it simpler haha messing with ya

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Cool! I like your custom “Solo Air” cup with all the holes, lol.

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This grow I used 4 inch square 11 inch tall tree pots. And basically did jet turbo cup method just with a taller pot.

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@Mr.greenbee , what about a simple tube , same diameter as net pot , same height as fabric pot

Then when roots hit Rez , slide tube out ?

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I think the fastest you get into the water the better. That when you start seeing explosive growth and great plant health. But a tube would work idk why it wouldn’t

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Lol. I was working my draft for a bit. I didn’t even see your response before posting :wink:

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Would save doing a risky repot
Just slide tube out of octo leaving plant in situ and exposing already established roots to the rest of pot

Also all of growing is bottom feeding from very start

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