Why 'pot up' gradually ?

[fredcdobbs]

Came in here to say THIS^

In any pot, plant roots race to the edges. by up-potting, we force them to fill in the entire small pot with roots before they get more room, then they fill that up completely. Otherwise, a plant in a single large pot will only have roots on the outer edges and very little in the middle, hindering uptake by reduced root mass.

unless you use smartpots...

 

[jbyrd]

Came in here to say THIS^

In any pot, plant roots race to the edges. by up-potting, we force them to fill in the entire small pot with roots before they get more room, then they fill that up completely. Otherwise, a plant in a single large pot will only have roots on the outer edges and very little in the middle, hindering uptake by reduced root mass.

Exactly! Up potting in stages helps the plant build a more complete root system which leads to a healthier plant and better ability to uptake nutrients (more root mass).

unless you use smartpots...

You would still want to do this with smart pots as well, I believe even more so, start in regular pots, build yoru root mass and then transplant to your smart pots, you would still get a larger root mass and actually make better use of the smart pot.

 

[seanseanhen]

Try a simple side by side and you’ll notice that the plant that was potted up gradually has a larger root mass. Also with long flowering sativas you can re-pot even during flowering and I find it beneficial to control height by starting them off in small containers and then gradually increasing size, sometime re-potting up to 6 times, most indicas and hybrids get re-potted 3-4 times max. Albeit this adds to your overall grow time. Judicious watering by paying fastidious attention to the plant will ensure you have no problems whatever the pot size.

 

[007.]

You would still want to do this with smart pots as well, I believe even more so, start in regular pots, build yoru root mass and then transplant to your smart pots, you would still get a larger root mass and actually make better use of the smart pot.

Smart pots air prune. So as roots get to the end, they stop growing instead of circling and binding. Instead the plant diverts its energy elsewhere in the medium.

This makes sense if you think about the adaptiveness of this trait in a natural setting. A plant would touch root to a solid object and it is likely a rock, a system of rocks, or a much larger root. All of these things the plant would "want" to find a way around, so it starts running its roots along the "wall" to find where it gives. This is adaptive when the object in question isn't a hard plastic pot, which the plant has not evolved to respond appropriately to.

When the root happens upon air, in nature this would be the surface of the soil. It would be dangerous to run root right along the surface of the soil, so it doesn't do it. Instead it focuses its root growing energy elsewhere.

Thus rootmass is not limited by the circling and binding phenomenon and successive transplanting is not needed with an air pruning pot.

 

[AKDrifter]

I am a lazy repotter. I use the large solo cups, 2 weeks veg, flip 12/12 then once the boys show themselves I pot up the girls into their final 3 gal square pots. thats it.

By the time I transplant they are usually 4-4 1/2 weeks from seed. They don't miss a beat after repotting, I am careful not to disturb anything, repot dry followed by a good watering once done. They really take off a few days after transplant.

 

[Rednick]

AKD
Try this one.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=207699

"Treat 'em rough, you get the muff." Ali G.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWAngmctWWU

 

[mg75]

if you place a clone in a large pot, the roots tend to shoot DOWN to where the water is (gravity). this usually only applies to newly rooted clones and very young plants. if your plants are fully rooted and mature enough, then any size pot will be ok.
one of the reasons raised beds work so well...

 

[fredcdobbs]

Exactly! Up potting in stages helps the plant build a more complete root system which leads to a healthier plant and better ability to uptake nutrients (more root mass).



You would still want to do this with smart pots as well, I believe even more so, start in regular pots, build yoru root mass and then transplant to your smart pots, you would still get a larger root mass and actually make better use of the smart pot.

that is not my exerience with smartpots.

 

[DocLeaf]

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peace dLeaf

 

[mad librettist]

I now install my cuts directly into 15 gallon smart pots with a clover groundcover. The clover takes care of any issues from the pot not having roots in it. I have noticed as someone else pointed out that the plant tends to get wider faster. In my case that is preferable - a fat plant with a fat stem is going to give me big buds if I select the right branches to keep. However I have not noticed the plants being any shorter than before. Is it a waste of light? well I have other stuff in the soil, and I like to veg big plants. It's my hobby, I can do what I want!

Transplanting is almost always a shock. I like to have just one shock, and then let the plant naturally fill the pot, hopefully sharing mycorrhizal infection with the clover. By avoiding transplants, I feel I get fatter branches tied to my screen.

If you need to save space, it's a good idea. If you are trying to get faster maturity, transplanting over and over is not going to help. All you are doing is creating a problem, then solving it. It seems like progress but really you'd be better off letting the plant grow.


a note on root formation: drying out does not cause roots to "flex". Roots grow because the leaves made enough sugar to power root formation. The new part of the root is very fine and has root hairs. That is where the action is. After a while, the root hair dies back, the root thickens, and that area in no longer "tapped". Roots grow in search for more resources whether you are starving the plant, binding its roots, or whatever else.