Looking ahead for my first grow... I have 9 seedlings in solo cups, once they get big enough I'll be transplanting them into 1 gallon pots (have 6, and a few others) I've heard you want ~1 gal per foot of height, so a 1 gal pot is good for a 1' plant. Is this assumed at veg or ultimate flowered height? (since a 1' plant will get to 2-3' after flowering) Basically, I'd like to ultimately have 4 females flowered, size/room isn't really a concern. Will I be okay with 1 gal pots, or should I plan to move up again into a 2 gal (or bigger?) at that point? About how long from sprouting should a 1' plant take? Another question... as far as yield goes, would you get more from one big plant, or a few small plants? Say, one big 5 gal, or 5 1-gal plants? Same light etc... obviously smaller plants would be younger, maybe 8 week veg vs 16 week or whatever Thanks!
If you want to maximize each plant, go for 5-gallon buckets. You can get about the same yield from one plant in a 5-gallon pot as from 5 plants in 1-gallon pots, assuming the area of the canopy for each option ends up the same.
Hmm... I mean, if I can just run 2 plants in 5 gal pots, instead of say 8 1-gal... that just seems way easier. Am I missing any obvious downsides? (besides the extra couple months of veg obviously, and putting all your eggs in one or two proverbial baskets) a few little plants would be easier to move around for watering I guess
If your growing feminized seeds I would just do two 5 gallon pots, if ur using normal seeds then sprout 6 in 1 gallon pots then wait for ur preflowers. They will tell u what ur plants are then u can kill the males and mOve the females into bigger 3-5 gallon pots and finish them.
This is what I'm doing, but I sprouted bag seed in dixie cups, and will transplant to 1 gal soon. Once they show sex, I'll kill males, and transplant females to 2 gal I guess. Still need to figure out what lighting I'm going to use for flower. Running sunlight during the day and 4 x 26w 18" 6000k t5 at night right now (well, 20/4 between the two), I have second identical t5 setup for when these get too big for a single lamp.
Height is also determined by strain. Being that you have bag seed you wont know till you grow. So that 1 gallon per foot may or may not apply. Case in point. Grew 2 Auto Afghan Kush's both got about 28-30 inches by 24 inches wide. Same time was growing some Paradise Seeds Wappa 2 gallon airpot veged 1 foot both got to 2 feet. The strain dictates alot.