Ideal plant pot sizes

u need at least 1 gal for every month the plant will b alive

 

o by the way i never transplant, i plant my clones in a 5 gal as soon as i bring em home

 

3 gal pots will pretty much cover all bases, unless you veg a super long time. Its all about the rootball of your plant. I germ with rapid rooters then after sprout...about 3-4 days I plant the plug in a 2.22qt panterra pot...very cheap and reusable. I have found that a healthy plant will have the perfect transplant rootball in 21 days, give or take. Then into 3 gal for life.

Stop by my thread, I have recent pics of the process. You might have to look through last 2 or 3 pages. Holler if ya have any questions. GL

 

Any disadvantages with this over transplanting? You'd avoid potentially shocking the plant by not transplanting, but would it cause any other problems?

 

If your skilled in xplanting its realy not a worry. You dont want to go overboard though. It is actually good for root systems to grow into an environment and then xplant to a larger environment. Creates an excellent strong root system. My opinion

 

For seedlings I start them out in little peat pots then when ready transplant them to a .8 liter Super Root air pot then when ready they go into a 3 gallon or so Super Root air pot to finish out in. There really easy to transplant when in the Air Pots.

 

I start germed seeds in a grow cube or plastic party cup then from there right into a 3 gal pot. With the grow cubes its easy to see the roots popping out the bottom and with the cups after a week or two you can gently squeeze the cup turn it upside down and pop the whole thing out quick and check the root growth. I transplant mine when they are starting to wrap around the bottom of the cup. I have heard of guys transplanting 3 or 4 times from seed to harvest for indoor growing. I have never tried it so its hard to comment too much, but it seems like alot of extra work.

 

I have started in the little nursery pots, the small plastic ones, then into a 1 gal for vegg and then into a 3 or 5 gal a week prior to flowering. I like doing it this way simply because a smaller pot dries out quicker allowing for more watering, feeding. Putting a seedling into a 3 gallon pot takes a long time to need more water from my experience, but I live in a chilly wet place ;-)

 

Ditto.

 

I always start out with 1 gallons. Be sure to keep the soil real light and airy, not compacted. Water them as little as possible until the soil completely dries out. This will mak sure the roots spread out in search of water. in a few weeks +/- when they are dry turn the pot over and let it fall out o see what your roots have done. Than to 7's or tens.

If your going to bud em I would than go 7 gallon (keep your soil light and airy) for mothers I'd say 10 gal+

just my opinion.. still livin and learnin

 

7 to 10 gal. wow how long u vegin 4?

 

I transplant the babies when they're about 2-3 nodes into a 1 gallon.. wait about another 2 weeks till the roots are "all over" (under a T5) than transplant into 7's and vegg em for another week. So roughly 6-8 weeks

 

If you prep the pots correctly, and you handle the plant with care and don't rip off a bunch of roots you shouldn't have any issues with shocking/stressing the plant. In fact, I really never see any stunted growth. I've heard people say that a plant might grow slowly for a few days after transplant as it focuses on root growth. But I've absolutely never witnessed this.

I'd say, transplant 2-3 times in your plants life, there are benefits of transplanting rather than just throwing it in one pot for it's entire life.

 

Have you seen those Super Root Air pots? They make transplanting quick and easy, improves oxygen to the roots and helps prevent rootbound. I transplant on average about 2-3 times per plant`s lifetime and have yet to see a get plant stressed from it. I also use a little bit of Super Thrive and some Root 66 that came with the Technaflora nutrient starter kit.

 

For starters a decent digital PH tester, some PH Up & Down solutions and whatever nutrients you pick. For soil grows you want to shoot for a PH reading between 6.2-6.8 with a PH of 6.5 being the medium number and the best PH level at which plants take up the most nutrients. When you water PH adjust your water and or nutrient mix to 6.5 then water your plants then test the PH of the water run off from the bottom of the plants catch trays thats where you want a PH reading of 6.5. If the run off PH tests to high then you adjust the PH of whats going in a little lower and vice versa if its low on your next watering or feed day. Dont expect or try to hard to get a perfect run off PH reading of 6.5 as long as its close to 6.5 your good. Dont waste your money on cheap PH dropper solution kits or PH soil testers as they are not very accurate, this I learned myself. When you water a plant you want about 20% of the water going in to be run off in the plants catch trays, this helps reduce salt build up in the soil from the nutrients and water. Some people also do whats called flush their plants about every two weeks for salt build up and if problems arrise, this flushes out the salts and other stuff that builds up in the soil. That is done by taking the size of your container say like a 3 gallon pot and flush it with 9 gallons of water and only need to PH adjust the last gallon or so of water. When it comes to PH meters a good meter can make a big difference between having a healthy plant and a plant with problems. The two most reccomended brands are Hanna and Bluelab.