Will my pots be big enough to finish with?

NugHeuser

Well-Known Member
I'm currently at about week 6 of veg, my plants were transplanted from 1g pots to 3g about 2 weeks ago. I plan on flipping this coming Friday.
I'm wondering if it would hurt yield noticebly if I left them in their 3g pots since it will end up being closer to a 4 month grow.

They've been stunted the past few weeks because I've been battling broad mites so I don't know if that slowed down root growth a bit, if so that will help me out.

I know they say 1 gallon per month but if I do need to transplant right now then I have to go out and buy around 18-5 gal pots and it's almost winter so it'd look a little strange at the store. Plus I'd have to get a bunch more soil too.

They're only about a foot tall right now but I have them tied down and trained under a trellis otherwise they'd vary from about 1 to 2 feet tall.

So main question, will I be screwing myself by staying in 3 gal pots?
 

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
no, pot size is personal, adapt it to your habits and abilities to supply needed resources in timely manner.
a smaller pot will have less yields than a bigger pot. A bigger pot will need less watering/feeding frequency.
I flower in 2.5 gallon squares and my plants are around 3 feet tall, 24in diameter and yield 2-4 ounces depending on veg duration before flowering.
 

NugHeuser

Well-Known Member
no, pot size is personal, adapt it to your habits and abilities to supply needed resources in timely manner.
a smaller pot will have less yields than a bigger pot. A bigger pot will need less watering/feeding frequency.
I flower in 2.5 gallon squares and my plants are around 3 feet tall, 24in diameter and yield 2-4 ounces depending on veg duration before flowering.
Okay cool. And flowering yours in the 2.5 gal pots, did it get to where you were having to water daily?
 

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
I flower in #3 nursery pots after a week or two rooting after the transplant up from 1 gallon.

#3's are actually about 2.5 gallons of soil.

I have been getting 4-7 oz per plant for a few years now.

I keep my temps in the mid 70's during lights on and humidity at 50-60% and water/ feed to good runoff every 2-3 days at peak flowering.

You can grow a 10-12 week flowering bush in a 3 gallon pot if you can keep up with the plants needs without over doing it like @chemphlegm said above.

This Black Widow Hybrid is 30" tall over the pot and about 24" wide.

IMG_7222.JPG

She looked something like the front right plant right before she went to flower.

IMG_7241.JPG
 

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
Okay cool. And flowering yours in the 2.5 gal pots, did it get to where you were having to water daily?

thats the rub. you'll have to find your sweet spot, what you're comfortable with.
If I vegged longer for more budding sites I would have to water more frequently, for more roots, less dirt space, more demand etc.., and would yield more.
in the summer months I change to five gallon pails with about four gallons of pro mix. This gives me about four days of vacation time at a time as opposed to 2days in my 2.5 gallon pots.
hope that helps
your veg time will determine your final yields, your pot size will correspond to your plant girth. huge tree yields can come from tiny pots if all is provided. bush's are more difficult, @ MichiganMedGrower has mastered the bush for sure
 

NugHeuser

Well-Known Member
Okay cool.
Yeah I'm keeping track of feeding/watering for each and every plant now in a notebook.
Once they began to run out of the nutes in the soil I thought I'd be able to just remember which was being watered and fed last but I found out quickly thats a bad idea. Gotta write that stuff down. Some are only drinking every 4 or 5 days and others are every 2 to 3 days. The notebook makes it much more simple though.
 

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
thats the rub. you'll have to find your sweet spot, what you're comfortable with.
If I vegged longer for more budding sites I would have to water more frequently, for more roots, less dirt space, more demand etc.., and would yield more.
in the summer months I change to five gallon pails with about four gallons of pro mix. This gives me about four days of vacation time at a time as opposed to 2days in my 2.5 gallon pots.
hope that helps
your veg time will determine your final yields, your pot size will correspond to your plant girth. huge tree yields can come from tiny pots if all is provided. bush's are more difficult, @ MichiganMedGrower has mastered the bush for sure

Thank you for the nice compliment. :-)

I'm still learning every time. I am no master of growing.
 

NugHeuser

Well-Known Member
thats the rub. you'll have to find your sweet spot, what you're comfortable with.
If I vegged longer for more budding sites I would have to water more frequently, for more roots, less dirt space, more demand etc.., and would yield more.
in the summer months I change to five gallon pails with about four gallons of pro mix. This gives me about four days of vacation time at a time as opposed to 2days in my 2.5 gallon pots.
hope that helps
your veg time will determine your final yields, your pot size will correspond to your plant girth. huge tree yields can come from tiny pots if all is provided. bush's are more difficult, @ MichiganMedGrower has mastered the bush for sure
Yeah that helps a lot. Appreciate it man.
 

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
Okay cool.
Yeah I'm keeping track of feeding/watering for each and every plant now in a notebook.
Once they began to run out of the nutes in the soil I thought I'd be able to just remember which was being watered and fed last but I found out quickly thats a bad idea. Gotta write that stuff down. Some are only drinking every 4 or 5 days and others are every 2 to 3 days. The notebook makes it much more simple though.

My plants are all different stages as I stagger my plantings and harvests about a week or two apart so it is really important to keep notes on every plant.

I record the ppm (ec) going in and out each watering and exactly what I gave them.

I refer to the last weeks notes before deciding how to care for each plant the best I can.

If problems arise I check ph too. But in a potting soil grow problems are usually caused by salt (ppm) buildup blocking the roots.

When you leach and re fertilize the ph should return to normal from the buffers in the soil.
 

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
Pretty impressive plant too btw @MichiganMedGrower , I'd be pretty tickled pink if I grew a plant of that size so quickly. Badass.

Thank you.

Takes about 6 weeks of veg from seed under t-5's and they are under 2 600w Hortilux super hps air cooled lamps.

The only training is in flower. I bend and tie down the main stem to promote side branching to the top by week 2. Then just bamboo stake and soft wire tie the growing branches as needed.

Important to stay in the Grow lights proper footprint too.
 

NugHeuser

Well-Known Member
My plants are all different stages as I stagger my plantings and harvests about a week or two apart so it is really important to keep notes on every plant.

I record the ppm (ec) going in and out each watering and exactly what I gave them.

I refer to the last weeks notes before deciding how to care for each plant the best I can.

If problems arise I check ph too. But in a potting soil grow problems are usually caused by salt (ppm) buildup blocking the roots.

When you leach and re fertilize the ph should return to normal from the buffers in the soil.
Okay, so what do you mean by leach? Like a light flush?
 

NugHeuser

Well-Known Member
Thank you.

Takes about 6 weeks of veg from seed under t-5's and they are under 2 600w Hortilux super hps air cooled lamps.

The only training is in flower. I bend and tie down the main stem to promote side branching to the top by week 2. Then just bamboo stake and soft wire tie the growing branches as needed.

Important to stay in the Grow lights proper footprint too.
I'll try that with a few of my next plants. These are at about 6 weeks but all have been topped. Most were about 5 nodes up and a couple last ones about a week ago because they wernt wanting to branch out.
I should probably do some reading on plant training.
 

NugHeuser

Well-Known Member
Important to stay in the Grow lights proper footprint too.
Right now I have a, 315-630(double ended)-315 , all in that order, ceramic metal halides of those wattages, over a 3x8.5. I'm keeping the 315s around 21 inchs and the 630 around 25 inches, does that sound about right? Par readings peak in the 700s at that height. Seems kind of low.
 

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
Right now I have a, 315-630(double ended)-315 , all in that order, ceramic metal halides of those wattages, over a 3x8.5. I'm keeping the 315s around 21 inchs and the 630 around 25 inches, does that sound about right? Par readings peak in the 700s at that height. Seems kind of low.

I never used the 630 de but in my sun system open vertical remote reflector I had best results with a Phillips 315 at about 18" over a 2.5'-3' square area.

I also never had a par meter. sorry.
 

NugHeuser

Well-Known Member
Yes. Leaching is the proper term for running fresh water through the pots.

But I only use 1/2 gallon to a gallon and then put back some base nutes if needed.
I've been giving each plant about a 3rd of a gallon each watering. They seem a little droopy today. I don't know if I'm giving them too much water or if I got the lights too close. Yesterday I had dropped them from about where they are now to about 17inches for the 315s and 20 inches for 630. Temps got to about 82 at the tops under the 630. I also watered yesterday though. Pots are still pretty wet and heavy today.
Do you think 1/3 gal is a little too much? I let the soil get fairly dry, if anything too dry because a few went droopy after 3 days and read around 2 on the cheap moisture meter. Pot was light, ect. So I know I'm not watering too frequently but i just watered yesterday and they're droopy today, maybe I'm giving too much water?
 
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