how long before I transplant?

Hey all im new to growing and have a couple questions. #1 how long can I keave my plants in those red plastic beer cups? how big should I let them get before putting them in the ground? right now theyre in a homemade greenhouse to protect them. the two biggest ones are barneys blue cheese, they are growing the fastest and i dont want to get them rootbound...thanks for any tips....ps theyre growing outside under the florida sun.

I'd transplant once they are 6 to 8 inches tall. I bet it's warm enough to plant in Florida right now so if you wait till they are about 8" then you should be golden. make sure to water them right before you transplant them to the ground so the soil is firm and gently squeeze the cups to loosen the soil from the inside of the cup. my way of transplanting is to first put the cup or an empty one of the same size in the ground where you are planting to form a perfect size hole for the plant once you take it out of the pot/cup... then place your hand on the top of the cup with the stem in between your ring finger and middle finger then flip it upside down and remove the cup and toss it to the side and very gently place the plant in the hole you prepared.

hope that helps...

thanks guys, so what I should do is wait until i see roots coming out the bottom or the cup and then transplant, another question....when do I start fertilizing my plants and what is a good veg fertilizer and a good flowering fertilizer....also will I get more bud if I put them in the ground as apposed to putting them in bigger contaniers in a homemade greenhouse? im growing barneys farm blue cheese (2) greenhouse seeds "the church" (2) these two strians are supposed to be pretty tough to mess up and are resistaint to mold....also have 4 big buhhda seeds auto white widow going..will they get bigger if I put them in the ground apposed to bigger containers? o I forgot about I got 1 g13 white widow and g13 purple lady...all the seeds were fem seeds....any info will help...thanks

i let my plants use up all the space i can (i wait till i can see roots in the botom not necesaily stickin out) it doesnt have an affect on the plant when a root reaches a barrier it just grow into a dif. direction(i have compared transplantin at various hight and plants gettin a little root bound has no affect on them just dont go a month seein root sticken out only then did it stunt my experiment plants growth(i only tested with males and recorded how long it was in a pot to the next and plant height)

depending on strain, plant age, and height determine amount of buds. a plant in the ground produces as much bud as 1 in a pot as long as they are same stain &age also dont let them get too root bound stunted growth afects bud size and production. keep an eye on them and youll be fine

thanks for the info....so do you think that I should plant them directly in ground or get some containers for them.....If so what size conatiners for maximum potential?

any pot size bigger than they are in now an if you plant in ground you cant move them so a hurricane could devestate it or somethen and from goin from pot to pot transplnt it in stages like from here go to a quart the half gllon and work your way up ya no an also in the ground vs pot depends on if you have to worry about people or not i like pots so they can allways be in full sun but less risk of gettin found cuz i can hide it in medium height grass no 1 sees but me an the sun