Why do plants stop growing when root-bound?

anomolies

anomolies

Well-Known Member
At least mine do.

I have had to transplant several plants that were in early flower over the last few weeks from 3 to 5 gallon because they just stopped growing. I noticed no change for like a week or 2. They are not even 3 ft tall topped. They were really root-bound too.

I don't understand why rootbound plants have affected my grows so much cus I see other people's monster LST plants in party cups or dalaihempy's 10 ft trees in 5 gal buckets,
and I just wonder "what the fuck am I doing wrong?"

Anyone have a scientific explanation?
 
phyzix

phyzix

Well-Known Member
If you feed correctly, a plant can get pretty massive in a 3 gallon container. Easily 4 - 5 feet.
 
PurpleRhinoceros

PurpleRhinoceros

Active Member
Yeah, these plants grow crazy. It's no wonder they would put the timber industry out of business.

Try using a fabric pot. Like the smart pot or roots organics pots.
http://www.aurorainnovations.org/rootpots-pricing.html

They are made from 100% recycled materials. From what i learned at the local fabric and crafts store, the recycled materials are plastic bottles.

You could go to your local fabric and crafts store and buy some stiffened felt and sew yourself up some fabric pots. Its simple as cutting a rectangle and a square and sewing the square to the bottom side of the rectangle.

You could also go a step further and pick up a coco liner from wal-mart. It's a sheet of coco-fabric. Cut a shape out and fit that at the bottom of your pot to increase drainage and air prune some roots up..
 
anomolies

anomolies

Well-Known Member
haha fdd.

here, let me color code it for you guys since on this forum when you ask a question, the chance of having that question answered is less than 10%. Good thing I'm only asking one question this time.

Like i said, I want a scientific explanation and not suggestions on which pots to use.

I do have a solution for not getting root-bound but that involves air-pruning or chemical root pruning.
I can get them to 4-5 feet but I train my plants into bushes. Size isn't the problem.

But that is not what I am asking.


What I'm asking is, why do my plants get root-bound and stop growing while others are able to pull off 2-3 ft tall giant sized cola plants in party cups from start to finish?

is it cus my roots grow faster or something? I grow in coco so the roots do grow super fast, but I was having the same problem in soil.
 
phyzix

phyzix

Well-Known Member
anomolies said:
haha fdd.

here, let me color code it for you guys since on this forum when you ask a question, the chance of having that question answered is less than 10%. Good thing I'm only asking one question this time.

Like i said, I want a scientific explanation and not suggestions on which pots to use.

I do have a solution for not getting root-bound but that involves air-pruning or chemical root pruning.
I can get them to 4-5 feet but I train my plants into bushes. Size isn't the problem.

But that is not what I am asking.


What I'm asking is, why do my plants get root-bound and stop growing while others are able to pull off 2-3 ft tall giant sized cola plants in party cups from start to finish?

is it cus my roots grow faster or something? I grow in coco so the roots do grow super fast, but I was having the same problem in soil.
Click to expand...
I told you in the first post, it's all about feeding correctly. Roots don't need to be massive, they only need to be large enough to facilitate sufficient nutrient and water uptake.
 
Ronjohn7779

Ronjohn7779

Well-Known Member
phyzix said:
I told you in the first post, it's all about feeding correctly. Roots don't need to be massive, they only need to be large enough to facilitate sufficient nutrient and water uptake.
Click to expand...
Yes very true. Someone on here not too long ago had a bunch of pics of his 3-4 foot tall plant growing in a red plastic cup. It was rather unreal. All he claimed he did was properly feed it everyday. I will say it seemed like he was doing a manual hydro system with minimal soil usage.
 
PurpleRhinoceros

PurpleRhinoceros

Active Member
anomolies said:


What I'm asking is, why do my plants get root-bound and stop growing while others are able to pull off 2-3 ft tall giant sized cola plants in party cups from start to finish?

is it cus my roots grow faster or something? I grow in coco so the roots do grow super fast, but I was having the same problem in soil.
Click to expand...
Oh man, i don't know why only your plants get root bound and the people you see here don't have that problem. You know what causes a plant to become "root-bound". The coco probably does allow the roots to grow super fast. Also trichoderma the beneficial root fungus lives in most coco. So you got that going on as well. But if you had the same problem with soil, i have no idea.
 
anomolies

anomolies

Well-Known Member
damn FDD, what's the secret? I bet that pot is actually connected to the ground! When you pull it out is it root-bound? Do you feed it like twice a day or something?

Phyzix, by correctly feeding you mean more frequently when they are rootbound? Or nutrient dosage?
Perhaps that is the answer because the giant plants grown with the hempy bucket method relies on having a constant reservoir for the plants to drink from.

I'm already feeding regularly at 1.5-2 E.C. or whatever E.C. 5 tsp / gal of CNS-17 Bloom is so you're not suggesting increasing dosage right?

Long time ago I had another issue where I had plants that weren't root bound (in air pots), yet the leaves were constantly droopy. Turned out it didn't have enough roots to support all the foliage cus I transplanted them and they began to look better.

I've been feeding the plant regularly for 2 weeks in flower and finally gave up and realized I had to repot cus it just wouldn't grow and it's not a ph problem.
 
phyzix

phyzix

Well-Known Member
anomolies said:
damn FDD, what's the secret? I bet that pot is actually connected to the ground! When you pull it out is it root-bound? Do you feed it like twice a day or something?

Phyzix, by correctly feeding you mean more frequently when they are rootbound? Or nutrient dosage?
Perhaps that is the answer because the giant plants grown with the hempy bucket method relies on having a constant reservoir for the plants to drink from.

I'm already feeding regularly at 1.5-2 E.C. or whatever E.C. 5 tsp / gal of CNS-17 Bloom is so you're not suggesting increasing dosage right?

Long time ago I had another issue where I had plants that weren't root bound (in air pots), yet the leaves were constantly droopy. Turned out it didn't have enough roots to support all the foliage cus I transplanted them and they began to look better.

I've been feeding the plant regularly for 2 weeks in flower and finally gave up and realized I had to repot cus it just wouldn't grow and it's not a ph problem.
Click to expand...
Feed more often (not stronger) if you want to avoid problems with burning.
 
anomolies

anomolies

Well-Known Member
Guess I'll give it a try then.

I'm just waiting for someone to come along and post a picture of two, 5-ft plants in one party cup.
 
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