what size pot to grow in???

we have been growing a few diff varieties of plants ...some diff chems,kushes/etc- we veg in small cups for a couple/few weeks, then into 1 gallon pots for a couple weeks, finally when we are ready to move into our flower room, we transplant into 3gallon pots- so the question is ... is a 3gallong pot big enough??? when we cut there still seems tobe ample soil for root expansion.. thanks

I would stay with 3 gallon but a lot of people go to 5 gallon but I wouldn't

zachrockbadenof said:

we have been growing a few diff varieties of plants ...some diff chems,kushes/etc- we veg in small cups for a couple/few weeks, then into 1 gallon pots for a couple weeks, finally when we are ready to move into our flower room, we transplant into 3gallon pots- so the question is ... is a 3gallong pot big enough??? when we cut there still seems tobe ample soil for root expansion.. thanks

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A 5 gallon container is usually the minimum size that you want to work with. The old rule of thumb is one gallon of medium per foot of growth, but if you're flipping them earlier (as it sounds) you'll get away with a smaller container - albeit a smaller yield as well.. What kind of yields are you obtaining with each strain?

5 gallon fabric pots, the wide and short ones.
Will give your plants what they want. Everyone should be using fabric pots imo. Rice hulls if they dry out too fast. Won't float like perlite. Roots love to breathe.

Depends on the medium your using, & style of grow. My

I used 3 gallon containers for years. Then switched to 5 gallons. Yield went up a lot when I switched. Watering frequency also goes down as well. But you go thru alot more soil. You can get by just fine with 3 gallons. But to get the most outta growing in soil, bigger seems to be better. You just gotta find a size that fits your needs and goals. I'm sure I would do even better in 7 gallons but the extra soil, weight of container, and use of more water in a watering session doesnt sound worth it to me. There are plenty here that would tell me to go to 7's anyways. Lol

Dro Smoe said:

A 5 gallon container is usually the minimum size that you want to work with. The old rule of thumb is one gallon of medium per foot of growth, but if you're flipping them earlier (as it sounds) you'll get away with a smaller container - albeit a smaller yield as well.. What kind of yields are you obtaining with each strain?

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our yields r LOW... at best 1 1/2oz's per plant- we normally veg for at least 40days under 16 4ft fluor's in our tent, then into a flower room with 3x1000t hps... the 3 gallon pots at the end of the grow appear to still have plenty of space left... we do have 5gallon pots, but it seems like if they aint filling up 3gallon pots, 5 is overkill... but maybe we are wrong??

Whats your environment like? Temp? Humidity? Distance from 1000 lamp? How tall are the plants when you flower them?

My yields used to be low too. Ever since I got my envoronment down and a good nute schedule, I was getting an average of 5.5oz off of a 3 gallon. And I average 7oz off of a 5 gallon. Your strain does play alot in that role. You should shoot for an ounce a gallon in soil.

Vanilla Phoenix said:

Whats your environment like? Temp? Humidity? Distance from 1000 lamp? How tall are the plants when you flower them?

My yields used to be low too. Ever since I got my envoronment down and a good nute schedule, I was getting an average of 5.5oz off of a 3 gallon. And I average 7oz off of a 5 gallon. Your strain does play alot in that role. You should shoot for an ounce a gallon in soil.

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our environment is pretty good- temps are normally in the high 70's to low 80's during the day- at nite in the summer, they drop to high 60's, in the winter to the low 60's.. humidity is in the mid 60's, low 70 range- and we keep the lamps about 2feet from the tops, with fans blowing... as said we veg for a good 50/60 days under fluro's, then flower under hps- the plants depending on the type are between 2-3ft tall when we start to flower, and finish 5-6feet tall...

I think part of the lousy production may be the soil- we were using promix hp, adding a bit of perlite , maybe 5% worm castings, and a bit of bone and blood meal... this time around we are doing about 40% promix , 20% each fox farm salamander and ocean forrest, 10% worm castings, and the balance blood/bone/kelp meal... maybe this will help production..

as to the size pots, as said after harvest in 3 gallon pots, there is still plenty of space left- maybe by using a better soil, the plants will grow better...and need the extra room of a 5gallon pot...

zachrockbadenof said:

our yields r LOW... at best 1 1/2oz's per plant- we normally veg for at least 40days under 16 4ft fluor's in our tent, then into a flower room with 3x1000t hps... the 3 gallon pots at the end of the grow appear to still have plenty of space left... we do have 5gallon pots, but it seems like if they aint filling up 3gallon pots, 5 is overkill... but maybe we are wrong??

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Pot size is key for overall growth and yield in a soil setup.. The more soil the plant has available, the more nutrients it has access to. From what you're feeding now it sounds like they're underfed and will benefit from a more diverse approach; that's very likely why they're not filling the 3 gallon pot. Take a look at the "organic soil" sub-forum for some alternative amendments and feed rates.

I've been growing dwc for the past 7 years or so and with 5 gallon buckets I'm yielding 10-12 oz per plant with THC Bomb (Bomb Seeds). I veg until they're about 2.5-3' tall and finish off around 4.5-5' or so. Of course yield is directly related to genetics so it will vary by strain and phenotype even. With the other strains I've grown I'm usually some where between 6-10 oz per plant.

I'm actually switching back to organics this season myself and just finished building a no-till soil that looks extremely promising. Rather than discarding the soil every grow you merely amend (slightly), and replant. It's a setup that is basically a micro-environment with worms, naturally attracted arthropods, a cover crop and plenty of mulch. If you want more info on it just pm me.

I dont think its your pot's fault. I can routinely yield 4-6oz per plant using my 3 gallons w/ 14 week total grow.

I would suggest either skipping your 1 gallon phase and go straight from cups to 3 gallon, or spend less time in cups so you can transition to 3 gallons a week to ten days before transitioning to the flower room.

Once your plant starts flowering, it focuses the majority of growth on buds, not roots, so you only get root growth the first few weeks of flower and they dont fill your new pot.

Im a basic guy, but i believe that both options will help your problem

w3rds said:

I dont think its your pot's fault. I can routinely yield 4-6oz per plant using my 3 gallons w/ 14 week total grow.

I would suggest either skipping your 1 gallon phase and go straight from cups to 3 gallon, or spend less time in cups so you can transition to 3 gallons a week to ten days before transitioning to the flower room.

Once your plant starts flowering, it focuses the majority of growth on buds, not roots, so you only get root growth the first few weeks of flower and they dont fill your new pot.

Im a basic guy, but i believe that both options will help your problem

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I have always had the best root balls when potting up incrementally. So cup, then gallon, then 3G and so on. I find if given too large a container early roots shoot to the bottom leaving lots of "empty" space. I think 5 gallons is overkill. But I am a SOG guy so I am biased.
The best yields I got in a small room was in 2 gallon square pots. 1-2 oz plants. #2 per light consistently. Close lighting w/light rail. But watering frequency is obviously higher. And so are plant numbers if that's a concern in your area.
These were typical plants in that setup


Not sure if you do; but give transplanted plants a good week before you flip them. Like w3rds said above.

I just recently tried organic soil and my yield dropped way off. Finally gave up and went back to just straight FF Happy Frog and PBP. The smoke was outta this world but to me, it didnt equal out on the above average yield loss.

So underfed might be sounding more like it to me...

Nurseries always replant in a pot twice it's size. If you are pouring nutrients into the pot, then the plant does not need to search for food with it's roots unlike what is seen outdoors where roots get their nutrients naturally from the soil.

Those 16 four foot fluoros aren't enough, man. You need to have one of those 1,000s burning during veg.

That's why your return is SO low. The plants are going from low light levels to very high ones and it's frying the fuck outta them.

A plant in a nursery is acclimated to full sun gradually. And furthermore if a lotta growth's desired you gotta give em more light for the chloroplasts to work with.

Then - when you put em under the 1,000s, it's just kicking their asses.

Give them the four fluoros for - oh not long, till you see a couple of sets of leaves I guess - then TURN on some real POWER to them and let them BUILD in this MODE.

That's what's happening to them, they're under-developed to start out - and then, compounding it, they're placed under that real bright light and it's just k.i.c.k.i.n.g. their asses.

zachrockbadenof said:

our yields r LOW... at best 1 1/2oz's per plant- we normally veg for at least 40days under 16 4ft fluor's in our tent, then into a flower room with 3x1000t hps... the 3 gallon pots at the end of the grow appear to still have plenty of space left... we do have 5gallon pots, but it seems like if they aint filling up 3gallon pots, 5 is overkill... but maybe we are wrong??

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Also those lights can't be too far from the plants, when the real action DOES start.

You wanna make sure you have a soil that can really breathe: and isn't overheating.

You want there to be sufficient intensity of HPS light that it's actually kind harsh on your eyes. 3,000 watts is a SHITLOAD of power to be putting to plants that are making that little weed, something's off.

You can't let the roots get real hot. I assume you're kinda -you know - aware of the general purpose stuff of growing but - when you gotta do a lotta guerrilla growing you can get a thing or two out of plant-world-better/best and into 'oh I forgot about that...' and make those babies, make less.

16 fluoros does seem like a high number so - I might need to kinda lean back on that claim the fluoros aren't enough but - really - are they getting a lotta light? If the fluoros are way off, remember in all light and force transmission through open, free space, each time distance DOUBLES
intensity falls off FOUR times.
Bear that in mind, at all times, dealing with light.

Roots - that are allowed to get too hot - will kill growth, too.

Plants kept too wet or too dry - problems.

I'm not to tell a man his entire choice of ride is bad but listen man - you need to hear about something called a Hempy Bucket. You can use buckets that are about half perlite, half coco, weigh one fourth of that soil, and - all you gotta have is a jug uh maxi-bloom or something like that - and you're on and- you can hardly fuck those things up man.

I know, ya know - what it means about ''if I'm fuckin' up this dirt farmin' then how the??''

Well- here's the deal on that. Soil, fuckes up silently and doesn't really tell you what's up, fast. And - once it's mixed, all the wishing and praying and thowing shit (my favorite way to spread blame for what I do wrong) - you know, it just doesn't fix, a bad batch of soil because the soil's not impossible but - DIFFICULT to wash out - and if the plants are kinda sick - not give em some root rot that YOU'LL never know about cause it'll only be in those locales where things are worst, and it won't kill the plants cause you'll mess around and suppress most of that root fungus...

With a bottled hydro fert though - it all boils down to ''you pour a cough syrup measuring cup of this stuff into five or ten gallons of water, stir with whatever you got - your cat, a giant d*ldo - and the General Hydroponics corporation's got all that other stuff by the scruffa the neck pal.

I grew up with a mom who ran a plant shop for some years, and - I'm not the kinda guy who buys commercial ferts too much but - when I popped back into the pot growing field some years ago I had to check my hack ferts against something real, ya know what I mean? So I got a jug, a quart of that General Hydroponics Flora-Nova and was pouring that in between my own hacked ferts (calcium nitrate and a specific orchid fert I'm not into mentioning cause this isn't about that) and some epsom salts:

and that general hydroponics was holding it's own with my hand mixed ferts. Oh - and this is a good thing about doin that shit hydroponically too, - i kinda veered off my story about soil being hard to fix problems in - with a hempy bucket - you can't CATCH root rot.

And furthermore if you mess up - oH - I have - I've come in from a long trip, been tired poured the just plain wrong ferts into the jugs, mixed, and poisoned the SHIT out of some hempy buckets JUST this summer -

the FANTASTIC thing about these basta*ds is that - you just see the plants are kinda kicked in the ovaries a little - and go pour out the rest of that five gallon bucket of ferts - you just lost like - 50 cents for a bunch of it - instead of losing two weeks' growth - and - you can POUR that out in the GARDEN and dilute it, and it'll be ok - SOMEPLACE in the yard, ya know - and then - you dont do any scooping and all this bullshoot - you just - POUR in FRESH NUTES and - PROBLEM SOLVED by MORNING pal.

Hempy buckets are really the easiest ones and don't use all coco either. Put a buncha perlite in there and it'll weigh half as much and perform better overall: different strains, etc - they do GREAT in about a .. I dunno I mix it kinda according to how my watering situation will be, I mix in bout 30 coco and 70 perlite for 100%, and - I actually just go get about a big tablespoon or two of whatcha call 'river silt' - it's super-fine, flour-like rock dust that settles out of flood waters each winter up where the water overflows and sits, it's micronutrients - and I throw that in there - on some newspaper or whatever - right at the water line so that - no matter what my micronutrients are RIGHT there with what nature delivers ya know - and bang: it's on.

They're just so fuglin easy. Bugs CAN'T live in em. NOTHING goes and lays eggs in em. Root rot: that's a thing of the past. Slow turnarounds with problems that feel like somebody oiled my clock with fuglin syrup - problem's gone: TOMORROW yO if you pull one like I pull once in awhile.

They're just ease and simplicity itself and the growth's a little FASTER - than with soil.

Just something to consider, those low yields are really something wrong in the fundamentals and - this is just the problem with soil: the problem can be anywhere, - maybe not from your back door but certainly if you'r troubleshooting blind, you could have too thick soil, to rich soil, to alkaline soil, too little water, too much water, you could have some kind of grub cutting stuff off at the roots, you could have root gnats: the list just goes on, and ON.

Not with that Hempy Bucket, baby: it's got two modes: there's no plant in that one cause I just harvested/haven't planted and there's "there's a plant in it SO it'S FINE.''

pH problems? For practical intent: thing of the past. I manage mine, cause I can, and I know how to mix up shit so stuff falls out with the right guys winning and the right guys losing - when you're old and slick that's the deal.

But - if you're having some problems - hey man adjusted pH isn't a sin, it's just extra work if you're using rain water or purified water with those hydroponic ferts. Because the owner of General Hydroponics doesn't have that Porche and extra girlfriend in an apartment across town cause their shit doesn't fly. Oh, no my friend and - really - seriously - with the advent of the Hempy Bucket becoming famous about 9 years ago or so - it's easier to start with hydroponics cause there's no pumps, no aeration, no power usage, no noise, no extra heat, no fire risks and temperatures to manage in that sense- there's 'BOTTLE o NUTES and GREAT growing WEED PLANTS' and that's all there is.

It's like a 'beginner's kit' you know? It's SO fuglin bullet proof.

There's a thread here on those things called ''The Official Hempy Bucket Thread'' I highly recommend reading because you really have nothing to lose and - no exaggeration: everything to gain.

You'll lose problems, is what you'll lose, and low yields.

poorly edited sorry about that it's realllly late here the sun's already up and I haven't been to bed and I was trying to type silently so I don't wake up the wife