im starting my grow soon and wondering it its necessary to start them in cups, or small pots. Kinda worried about switching pots and plants going into shock. can i just start the grow in the pots i plan on completing the grow in? or is there a significance to starting them in a small space?
There are a ton of soil growers who start and finish in the same pots. I prefer to start in smaller pots and transplant. I try to sex them in the smaller pots so I am only using hordes of dirt on the FEMALES There is nothing wrong with transplanting, I wouldn't waste your time in party cups. Get some real pots to start in and if you decide to use the same to finish. GREAT and if not GREAT
Yeah I am facing the same dilemma. I would MUCH rather start in the same pot that I intend to finish with. I don't want to worry about having to transplant and all that hubba bubba. From everything I have read it should not be a problem. I did read one guy saying it's better to work your way up thru different sized pots to allow the roots to grow bigger but I really can't figure out how or why that would make any difference. Anyone care to ellaborate? Or was he blowing smoke? (no pun intended)
My first few plants I waited too long and they ended up rootbound. From my short experiences thus far I don't think it's possible to tell sex in a solo cup before the plant would get root bound. I also wonder if being *slightly* rootbound is somehow good for the plant - maybe that's why you're supposed to transplant? ...Transplanting is easy anyhow, so I don't mind.
The main purpose of transplanting is usually so you don't have to use a huge pot. You start with something really small, allow the roots to occupy all that space, then move to a bigger container. Then the roots will grow and occupy all that space, and then usually the third container is the last that you transplant too. This way there are way more roots in the last container, then would have grown if you just started in that one, because the roots tend to shoot out till they hit an obstruction then just wrap around the outside. So if you want to start with a 3 gallon pot, then you'd probably be fine. But lots of people grow decent size plants in pots smaller than a gallon, with NO problems!