OttoGrower
New member
I start seeds in RW cubes. Can I go to 4" pots after roots emerge then go directly to 3 gal pot for my final container size, or is it better to go to 1Gal and then to 3gal?
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What's the popular progression in pot size to final container?
- Thread starter OttoGrower
- Start date
Dixie cup to 10 gallon bag for fems.
Switcher56
Comfortably numb!
I do as well 
. My 3gal cloth post are almost (size wise) to a 4gal+. TBS, proper watering becomes critical (by hand).
. My 3gal cloth post are almost (size wise) to a 4gal+. TBS, proper watering becomes critical (by hand). 
Ca++
Well-known member
Auto's you mean?
A lot depends on the substrate. I'm not fond of big jumps. I like to be able to water them once a day. If a pot holds 3 days of moisture, this can stall a plant. Oxygen at the root is very important. It's often the limiting factor in any grow. Hence efforts with aero and foggers to get more available. In many substrates the water holding capacity will basically displace any are pockets. Then you just have oxygen disolved in the water. An amount that's pretty lame, and soon depleted. You need water to of left before this happens, as water leaving, means more air entering. Or, things stall. Anaerobic bacteria can even take over, as we often see in warmer dwc, which simply can't hold enough oxygen. This oxygen at the root business is very real.
If you do a big jump, you often can't water to run-off. This is okay with say coco. However a soil that's been bagged up getting hotter for a while, might not be so forgiving of light watering. If that soil is your only food source, you really must wet it well, to allow things like calcium movement. So a big jump in pot size is not a great idea.
Auto's demand a big pot from the start. Being root bound is a flowering trigger, and they have an itchy trigger finger already.
You may have hit on a good thing for me to ponder. I make a point of getting dissolved oxygen in my SWICK reservoir, and that is the water I top feed with. But when the plants are small I figure they are drinking from the air, so the VPD is wetter. My current run isn’t getting much top feed at all compared to the usual twice a week. They are not drinking much either. I have been thinking it is the soil that I screwed up with home brew amendments.
What about adding some H2O2?
What about adding some H2O2?
Ca++
Well-known member
I have used hydrogen peroxide in soil, many a time. Many don't consider that as 3% it's a disinfectant, and not a weed killer till about 10% (I forget). So at 100ppm the aerobic microherd are not about to all die. They may even like it. I have done full cycles in soil with it. The idea it will kill the herd and leave your soil dead, is just not right.
I go from coco plug to 9 ounce cup to 1 gallon pot to 5 gallon cloth bag. This is in coco coir. I like to transfer the plant so that it is not sitting in a wet pot for more than a day or two.
Every time you water you are flushing out the stale air, resetting nutrient profile and the PH in your media. Watering often helps keep the media in the perfect balance zone for more of the time.
Every time you water you are flushing out the stale air, resetting nutrient profile and the PH in your media. Watering often helps keep the media in the perfect balance zone for more of the time.
Do you think aerating the feed for hand watering coco is useful??? I am using 3 gallon air pots after .7 liter air pots.
Ca++
Well-known member
Simple answer is yes.
If you just made up a bucket, it's likely adequate. However, using a bucket right away isn't normal for pH reasons. So if it's standing about, as I imagine it is, then do something. In a typical room, a bucket will be absolutely useless in about 5 days. Won't grow anything except the oxygen absorbing microlife that's ruined it. You would be seriously wasting your time. You can keep a bucket around a few days, but you can see growth slowing.
On the other end of the scale, even out the tap, h2o2 will make it better. If I'm really on it, I will mix up at 100ppm then add about 30ppm more each day. Just to cover depletion. You couldn't fail to notice a difference.
Often a water logged stalled plant, isn't anything more than oxygen starved. Make up some feed with 100ppm of h2o2 and water it through. It doesn't need drying out to get oxygen in. Just refreshing.
Thanks. I usually start collectng RO water as soon as done feeding so always a day old. Also wondering if RO water has less air since no diffuser. Have a bunch of pumps from DWC days.
I run a air bubbler in my reservoir. I will also use a 1 gallon pitcher and dip in the water then pour it back in, making a lot of splashing and aeration. This is done twice daily when I check and adjust the temp and pH, and before top watering/feeding using that water.
I have never put food grade peroxide in the water, but I am tempted.
I have never put food grade peroxide in the water, but I am tempted.
OttoGrower
New member
I'm inclined to go the 4" pot and then to 2 or 3gal plastic pots depending on the variety. Now I'm contemplating my outdoor season.I like the idea of party cups too.
Lots of good ideas here tho. Thanks to all who contributed!
Thanks for the video @Switcher56 Nice to meet a fellow oldtimer. Not that there aren't other here too.
Lots of good ideas here tho. Thanks to all who contributed!
Thanks for the video @Switcher56 Nice to meet a fellow oldtimer. Not that there aren't other here too.
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I tried it a lot of different ways but I mostly do it the cheapest way. Plant the seed in a dixie cup and when the plant is big enough put it in a one-gallon pot. Wait until you see flowers then up-pot the females into their flowering pots. I use 3-gallon and 5-gallon for flowering. Here are all three container sizes I use. Doing it for years.
Brother a close friend of mine has a saying, ( There's no sense f...ing around when you know where your going) I have used this principle for many years now in my greenhouse.
Sometimes I use a manure cup with the bottom cut out then place the cup in my final grow bags. Sometimes I place ungerminated seeds directly into the grow bags.
This works but can put you behind when you have poor germination rates. I use paper towels a lot and am very careful handling seedlings. The moral of the story is you won't have stunted growth from transplants when you don't mess with transplants to begin with. This in the end gives you bigger stronger plants.
If you are in a tent use one large tub the size of your tent, (calf sleds or make one) the extra root area is so beneficial to your plants. Again staying with the same genetics will be of great importance refining your system.
Peace farmerlion
Ca++
Well-known member
I was just reading the work of a big grow opp, who like me, has found smaller pots hard work, if keeping up with demand after switching to LED. Small pots are less forgiving, and obviously about hydro not organic. What worked under HID, obviously wasn't going to work so well under LEDs higher growth expectations. As yet I have persisted, but they have took quite a leap. They now use 5" cubes, to grow plants like we are not seeing on this forum very often. Under 1800umol using co2.
The more demanding you get, the bigger pot you likely need. However, the tendency to loose sight of reality is seen, much more often than restraint. Considering the work involved with getting stuff in&out, this surprises me.
I was a little surprised, but got half a bar from a 5" pot once. The average was near 3oz though, with plant spacing of 8 per meter. Or 1oz per 1.5sqf per liter of coco. Or 2 USG of coco per meter, for 22oz. This was a rolling yield, not a freak outcome like the 4.5oz plant. Which only shows that 1L of coco in a 5" pot isn't much of a bottleneck, when shooting for seed pack yield numbers of 500-650gpm with 9 plants in a square meter tent (often called a 3x3 when 100x100 is actually 20% bigger, so worth 100g)
While 2 gallons of coco or such can fill a meter, it's going to be wanting 4 or 5 feeds a day. Such wet/dry cycles are intensive work for a novice or KISS grower. Using 8 gallons can be a lot easier. Something like 4 12L pots, with 8L in them. Which will lead to daily watering. Perhaps with 10L in each if it's really hot, so you need more water each day.
I feel going any further is too wet for a nice daily wet/dry cycle, where seed pack numbers can be met. That's what guides me, this daily water use question. Not root space. I'm not in organic soil, so more substrate isn't important to me. I'm looking for more air.
I see how 16 gallons per meter for watering every second day, or simply not doing wet/dry could work. However I feel it's just not efficient. Nor needed to grow enough bud to cram the space full.
I hope this relativity between pot size, plant spacing and watering frequency, adds a dynamic to this conversation that we don't see often enough
The more demanding you get, the bigger pot you likely need. However, the tendency to loose sight of reality is seen, much more often than restraint. Considering the work involved with getting stuff in&out, this surprises me.
I was a little surprised, but got half a bar from a 5" pot once. The average was near 3oz though, with plant spacing of 8 per meter. Or 1oz per 1.5sqf per liter of coco. Or 2 USG of coco per meter, for 22oz. This was a rolling yield, not a freak outcome like the 4.5oz plant. Which only shows that 1L of coco in a 5" pot isn't much of a bottleneck, when shooting for seed pack yield numbers of 500-650gpm with 9 plants in a square meter tent (often called a 3x3 when 100x100 is actually 20% bigger, so worth 100g)
While 2 gallons of coco or such can fill a meter, it's going to be wanting 4 or 5 feeds a day. Such wet/dry cycles are intensive work for a novice or KISS grower. Using 8 gallons can be a lot easier. Something like 4 12L pots, with 8L in them. Which will lead to daily watering. Perhaps with 10L in each if it's really hot, so you need more water each day.
I feel going any further is too wet for a nice daily wet/dry cycle, where seed pack numbers can be met. That's what guides me, this daily water use question. Not root space. I'm not in organic soil, so more substrate isn't important to me. I'm looking for more air.
I see how 16 gallons per meter for watering every second day, or simply not doing wet/dry could work. However I feel it's just not efficient. Nor needed to grow enough bud to cram the space full.
I hope this relativity between pot size, plant spacing and watering frequency, adds a dynamic to this conversation that we don't see often enough
goingrey
Well-known member
Used to do 1 gal to 3 gal (well 3,5l to 10l) but this was more a combination of a smaller veg tent and trying to manage early flowering stretch than keeping the plants at peak health. Worked for me at the time though. Now I have less equipment and a more laid back approach for my little percy grow. And I'm using self watering pots which don't do well for up-potting as the roots go through the cracks into the rez and get all disturbed and damaged when trying, so better to go with the final size from early on.
St. Phatty
Active member
Rockwool cubes into 3 gallon containers.
Unless you can afford bigger containers.
5 gallons is better than 3 gallons.
5 gallon buckets are pretty cheap. Some supermarkets sell their 5 gallon pickle buckets, etc. for $1 each.
Unless you can afford bigger containers.
5 gallons is better than 3 gallons.
5 gallon buckets are pretty cheap. Some supermarkets sell their 5 gallon pickle buckets, etc. for $1 each.
StonedPone
Well-known member
Noobie question, what's the advantage of doing it this way?
