2 liter bottles big enough?

[ganjababe1]

I noticed today that the roots of two of my plants were peaking out of their drainage holes. I measured the plants, and they're both basically the same height they've been for a week and was wondering if a 2 liter bottle was too small for them? Should I transfer them?

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

How tall are they now? I plan to SOG 2 liter bottles Dec 1, all the way through flower. They're no more than 18 to 20 inches at chop.

 

[foomar]

Have been useing two litre milk containers in tight sogs with good results , a weeks veg once rooted and finish around twenty inches , they are not quite rootbound at the end , easily the best yield/space ratio i have found if numbers are not a concern , the plants also seem to prefer deep and narrow to shallow and wide in pots by comparison but not much in it.

Drainage holes only in the sides allow for a sump holding 100 mill of water with a layer of old hydroton in the bottom , this was found by experiment to be a good idea , esp if you forget to water like i sometimes do.

 

[Suby]

Plants poking out of the drainage holes doesn't mean they are rootbound.
Pop the plant out if you can and check for real.
Plants typically will root a pot before putting out a growth spurt.
How big are the plants?
SOG in 2 Litre bottles is a great way to grow but you can't veg them for very long.
One of the advantages od using a clear bottle is you can see the root situation first hand.
Typically you can use aluminum foil to protect the rootzone from light.

PS nice pics/plants foomar (love the hydroclay in the bottoms)

 

[bluethumb]

I noticed today that the roots of two of my plants were peaking out of their drainage holes. I measured the plants, and they're both basically the same height they've been for a week and was wondering if a 2 liter bottle was too small for them? Should I transfer them?

A grower i know uses a rough estimate of 1 gallon of soil per foot of plant. It is a very generous estimate.

How tall are they exactly? It depends how big you're trying to grow. The bigger the plant the bigger the pot.

 

[FreezerBoy]

As others have said, it depends on style and length of grow. For a 20 week ScrOG it would be bad. For an 8 week SOG it may be perfect.

There's actually a method know as air pruning where pots are designed to make roots poke outside the pot causing those tips to wither and die. The good news is, the portions of those roots left inside explode in all directions like a bottle brush. Don't know if that will happen here as we're talking drain holes where moisture collects, esp if an E&F, just wanted to throw it out there.

 

[ganjababe1]

As others have said, it depends on style and length of grow. For a 20 week ScrOG it would be bad. For an 8 week SOG it may be perfect.

We have 11 plants and are doing SOG. What do we do for 8 weeks? Veg? They aren't preflowering yet at a month, so when do you all advise we flip to 12/12?

 

[bendoslendo]

SOG typically veg from 0-7 days. FB was referring to the flowering period of 20 or 8 weeks.

I'd say if they've been in 2 liter pots for a month and have stopped growing, they are likely rootbound. I would give up on a sog, transplant to bigger pots and flower them out. Hopefully you will have enough room.

For advice on when to flip we would need more info on plant size, room size and lighting?

 

[FreezerBoy]

SOG typically veg from 0-7 days. FB was referring to the flowering period of 20 or 8 weeks.

Thanks, bendo.

The reason SOG is used for high production is speed of turnaround and high numbers in small spaces. As such, growers typically go to flower ASAP with quick flowering plants.

I happen to prefer sativas which can take 20 weeks and more of 12/12. As such, all I can fit is a single plant as sativas strech out for the entire flower period. With 8 week SOGs I could do 24-36 plants in the same space, meaning 72-108 smaller plants in the same time period.

 

[ganjababe1]

I'd say if they've been in 2 liter pots for a month and have stopped growing, they are likely rootbound. I would give up on a sog, transplant to bigger pots and flower them out. Hopefully you will have enough room.

For advice on when to flip we would need more info on plant size, room size and lighting?

Okay, so we will transplant them to bigger containers. The closet we're growing in is about 6 ft tall and I would say we have about 8 square feet of floor space. 400 HPS lighting about 3 feet above the tops of our plants. They've been vegging for about 5 weeks at this point, and still no signs of preflowering. So when do you advise the 12/12 flip. They're still really short so I might hold off until they grow a little bit in their big containers. Right now they're about 6 inches and 4 inches tall. We also have a second round of about 8 week-old plants, so ideally we could flower them all at once.

 

[bu11dog]

Old School rule of thumb: 1 US gallon of medium space per finished foot of plant.

Peace

 

[bendoslendo]

Okay, so we will transplant them to bigger containers. The closet we're growing in is about 6 ft tall and I would say we have about 8 square feet of floor space. 400 HPS lighting about 3 feet above the tops of our plants. They've been vegging for about 5 weeks at this point, and still no signs of preflowering. So when do you advise the 12/12 flip. They're still really short so I might hold off until they grow a little bit in their big containers. Right now they're about 6 inches and 4 inches tall. We also have a second round of about 8 week-old plants, so ideally we could flower them all at once.

I would check your environmental variables if they are only 4-6inches at 5 weeks. 75F 50%RH, medium-fast draining soil with some kind of nutrition. If your in a closet make sure you have some way to get fresh air in there.

Drop your light to at least 16" above tops, 3ft is way too high for 400w. This is likely the cause of the sluggish growth. Make sure you have a fan blowing over the tops to prevent burn. They likely aren't root-bound yet if they are this size.

8 sqft is a good canopy size. You could easily fit 4 plants topped once or twice, or 6 plants un-topped. That should work out with a 50/50 sex ratio.

I would switch to 12/12 when they are about 16". Figure they will at least double in size, finishing around 32". The stretch and finishing height varies greatly between strains and even phenos. But this should put a fair amount of plant material in the area of usable light under your hood.

Good luck and keep us updated!

 

[_Dude]

Bendo's right, you just have your light WAAAAAY too high. If it's air-cooled I wouldn't go with any further than 10 inches with a 400. That's my upper limit for my MH 400s anyway, you might want to be a bit further away than that if 400w HPS are more intense, or if you don't have air-cooling.

If your girls are as well rooted as you say you should see explosive growth once you lower the light.

 

[bendoslendo]

Did you drop the light gangababe? explosive growth?

 

[B. Friendly]

I prefer smaller pots and more girls personally.
packing side by side in stadiums has always been the best yeilds for moi

 

[kcbudz31]

i do a sort of perpetual thing in 2 liters and a 2x2 foot box, plant counts go anywhere from 8-16 depending on plant size. currently have some retarded swamp monster sativa camping out in the back fourth of it, right now, for example, so count is a little down
i do 2wk 24/7 clone in a dixie, 1 week in the veg room in the same dixie, transplant to a 2L and veg 1 week then flower. as stated earlier if you ahve a strain that finishes just shy of rootbound you've done it perfect

 

[Anti]

2 liters is a LOT! I use 20oz to 32oz containers.