Need advice ASAP!! What size pots?

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Greentreesplease12

Member
So i'm in a 5x5x6.5 tent I have 1 1000 watter air cooled hood and the temps average about 74-85
I just ordered not too long ago 6 20 gallon 20"w by 14"h smart pots and now am not quite sure about how it will turn out after doing some looking around of pot sizes in threads but theres not much about 20 gals.
I was planning on trying a SCROG along with topping and pruning and such, hoping for nice filled wide medium hight plants. So I don't know if 20 gallons is too big or what.. I really don't to have to veg for suuper long or anything and want to stay legal with not having lots of plants but want to fill up the whole room also. So please your advice/ inputs/thoughts/anything would be amazing and hopefully soon so maybe I could change the order for some more efficent pots. bongsmilie
 
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bigsteve

Well-Known Member
For a sog or scrog grow inside a tent you should be looking at 3 gallon pots, I believe. Bigger pots mean larger plants and you already realize you are going to have height issues before you harvest. If you veg 4-5 weeks you can figure your plant will pretty much stretch to double it's size while flowering.

I would use smaller pots and top them as soon as they show a crown, at maybe 3 weeks vegging. Early topping will keep the plants shorter and bushier as they continue to veg and flower.

Good luck, BigSteve.
 
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Greentreesplease12

Member
Yeah I realized 20 gallons is way to big.. I changed the order to 10, how do you think thoes will do? Also, i'm only going 6 plants, keepin it legal, so I can't really do the lots of plants in small containers technique. How big of a difference does pot size make indoor though? If I have ten gallon pots couldent I potentially just grow them up to as big (or small) as I wan't then flower them before there to big, or do they grow faster in big pots or something
 
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bigsteve

Well-Known Member
If you insist on using 10 or 20 gallon pots in a tent you will be wasting quite a bit of time. When seedlings first go into dirt they spend most all their energy growing a rootball large enough to fill the pot. There will be little growth above ground until the roots do hit the inside of the pot. So, you will be sitting there composing a "why is it taking my plants so long..." post because you are growing much more root mass than you need. Put them into an 8-12 ounce solo cup for the first couple weeks. The roots will soon fill the cup and start growing greenery. The plant will continue to add greenery along with more roots when you transplant to the next pot. Don't wait those extra weeks while roots grow out to fill a way too big pot. General rule is that one gallon of pot size should support a plant for one month. So I generally transplant into a 3 gallon pot to flower. With a 5 week veg and a 7 week flower my ladies don't need more than a 3 gallon pot to finish at the height I want them to be.

Good luck, BigSteve.
 
akmatanuska

akmatanuska

Well-Known Member
3-5 gallon pots are perfect for indoor tent grows bigsteve is absolutely correct about what he said I've had great outcome with 5 gallon pots.
 
beograd011

beograd011

Well-Known Member
bigsteve said:
If you insist on using 10 or 20 gallon pots in a tent you will be wasting quite a bit of time. When seedlings first go into dirt they spend most all their energy growing a rootball large enough to fill the pot. There will be little growth above ground until the roots do hit the inside of the pot. So, you will be sitting there composing a "why is it taking my plants so long..." post because you are growing much more root mass than you need. Put them into an 8-12 ounce solo cup for the first couple weeks. The roots will soon fill the cup and start growing greenery. The plant will continue to add greenery along with more roots when you transplant to the next pot. Don't wait those extra weeks while roots grow out to fill a way too big pot. General rule is that one gallon of pot size should support a plant for one month. So I generally transplant into a 3 gallon pot to flower. With a 5 week veg and a 7 week flower my ladies don't need more than a 3 gallon pot to finish at the height I want them to be.

Good luck, BigSteve.
Click to expand...

Question about the plants growing roots large enough to fill the container: what about outdoor conditions then? i.e. where no pots are used. Or in wild cannabis. Wouldn't it then be trying to extend the roots indefinitely? Not arguing with you, just genuinely curious how that works.
 
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bigsteve

Well-Known Member
" Not arguing with you, just genuinely curious how that works."

Plants have a genetic makeup that cycles them through their seedling, vegetative and flowering stages. A plant in the wild, or potless, will naturally start to flower after the days get shorter. By switching light schedules from 18/6 or 20/4 to 12/12 we are signaling the plant to start flowering. Without any artificial light manipulation plants will jump from stage to stage all on their own. Nature wouldn't produce a plant that didn't get a chance to mature and reproduce. All we are doing with light changes is to make the plant adopt our schedule and not rely on Natures. Good question, hope that helps.

BigSteve.
 
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Greentreesplease12

Member
Well sheit.. My 10 gallons are on their way.. Either I could try to trade them back in for 5 gallons or could it maybe be remidied by just putting less soil in the pot and folding the edges down or something? Because the rootball needing more time to grow before the plant grows theory seems logical.
 
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Greentreesplease12

Member
Also what kind of yeild are you getting in the 3 gallon pots? I'm also planning to scrog would that affect pot size?If so, how so? I want to get a sufficent yeild as well, what are your thoughts on yeildage with 6 plants in whatever pot size you think is best with scrog and a 1000 watter... I'm so used to being around outdoor ladies :shock:
 
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bigsteve

Well-Known Member
"Also what kind of yeild are you getting in the 3 gallon pots?"

I grow hot and fast. Means a short veg period, short plants with daily watering. With a 5 week veg and 7 weeks flowering I expect to cure 35-40 grams per plant. I run a perpetual grow and harvest 2 plants a week. So I can sacrifice big plants for more plants.

BigSteve.
 
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Greentreesplease12

Member
Oh okay I see, maybe I could try getting into something like that later on but this is just my first time :3 what do you think about the 2 plants in 1 10 gallon each?
 
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Bacala

Well-Known Member
bigsteve said:
Plants have a genetic makeup that cycles them through their seedling, vegetative and flowering stages. A plant in the wild, or potless, will naturally start to flower after the days get shorter....
Click to expand...
I think the question was about the process of repotting, rather than light cycles. He was asking how repotting benefits growth when in the wild a plants roots can spread freely?
 
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