[WaxyTaxi]

Originally Posted by Wendull C.

When you plant straight into big containers, roots go straight to the container wall, then grow down to the bottom and circle. This leaves much soil in the center of the pot un used.

If you up pot, you avoid this problem.

aha, this is very true as well, my buddy will overveg in those big pots sometimes and STILL has loads of soil without roots at the end.

[2011rex87]

Honestly the size of pot and quantity of media as well as type of media is dictated by how often you need to feed your plants. Let me explain...

If you have a 4 INCH tall plant in a 10 gallon pot full of 100% coco, it will take a week to dry down before waterings.. which means you will be watering once a week which means you have 1 opportunity a week to feed.

If you have a 4 FOOT tall plant in a 1 gallon pot full of 100% coco, it will take less than a day to dry down before waterings... which means you will be watering every day or even more often. This gives you multiple opportunities to feed your plant fertilizer.

General rule of thumb is, bigger the pot, bigger the root ball, bigger the plant, bigger the yield. THIS ONLY WORKS if you can dry down your media often enough to be able to feed your plant or flush your plant when needed.

I am a licensed grower in Colorado and I work with thousands of plants in COCO or Rockwool or other hybrid medias. Some large scale production grows will have very large plants growing in very small pots to enable them to feed the plants several times a day on a drip system. This continuous feeding can lead to very large yields even though the size of the root ball is UNCOMMONLY small. This came as a surprise to me when I first encountered this because normally you would never expect such a large yielding plant to grow so well in such a small pot. Again it does work as long as the media is watered properly and the plant is fed as often as needed.

So your biggest concern when putting a small seedling into a large pot is that you will saturate the pot to the point here the media is not drying down fast enough for you to feed the plant as often as the plant would like to be fed. You could adjust the total ppm of the feed up but that risks burning sensitive plants. It is best to use a media and a pot size that allows you to dry down every other day or every few days so that you have those opportunities to feed. As I've said before, plants love a feast and famine cycle of dry down, then soak, then dry down, then soak. Plants will struggle in a media that is constantly wet.

[bigtacofarmer]

I did some side by sides with a chem d x og. I went from 20 oz cup to 1 gal to 7 gallon fabric. And I put others directly in 7 gal fabric. Right off the start it was clear the smaller pot was making a more vigorous healthy plant. But at around 4 to 6 weeks the plants I put directly in 7s took hold and ended up surpassing the others. In stalk size and branching. I am sure all strains are not the same. I think the decision should be based on whats size finished plant you want. If you want a shorter veg and more plants per light start small. If you want monster trees go direct to big pots and veg them til they grow all the way into it.

Like I said. I only did side by with one strain, vegged under 600 mh. I am a bad note taker but im guessing I vegged about 6 weeks.

[Wendull C.]

I have seen this too. When only doing 4 trees a light, i plant straight into fabric 5 or 7 gallon pots.

[h.h.]

Originally Posted by Lester Beans

You will get faster growth up potting. If you have to go straight to large container make sure to just water around the plant, not the whole container.

Exactly. Roots follow water. Don't water the sides and bottom, water the plant.

[ratchy]

Originally Posted by Zeez

I go from clone to big pot. Just saves the hassle of transplanting. Maybe it wastes some nutrient.

same here

[theJointedOne]

Originally Posted by Wendull C.

When you plant straight into big containers, roots go straight to the container wall, then grow down to the bottom and circle. This leaves much soil in the center of the pot un used.

only with non breathable pots

also.."un used"? Thats a pretty big assumption..id beg to differ that even on plastic pots the soil goes 'un used'.

[Wendull C.]

Its not an assumption. I dont mean organic dirt either. I mean short indoor crops i have checked the root ball on. Always seemed there was much in the bottom half of the container in the very center with little roots.