CarlBrutananadilewski
Member
So im going to get a good mother plant she will be living in botanicares coco with a little perilite in it. What size smart pot is good to give her roots enough room to be happy for years to come? Or is that possible?
Mother plant pot sizing
- Thread starter CarlBrutananadilewski
- Start date
Cyrus420
Well-Known Member
I'm not too familiar with mother plants but I don't think people keep them for years, maybe a year or a little more.
As far as pot size if you're going to keep it vegging for a real long time you'll need the biggest you can get. A 40 gallon pot can be filled up by a single plant in one growing season so...you're going to need a HUGE POT.
As far as pot size if you're going to keep it vegging for a real long time you'll need the biggest you can get. A 40 gallon pot can be filled up by a single plant in one growing season so...you're going to need a HUGE POT.
Doo-flop
Active Member
I've never used the fabric smart pots but I've read up on them, because the sides let plenty of air through it "air prunes" the roots so they can't really become root bound, so If it was me, i would go with a minimum 5 gal pot, upto 10 gal, then your mother has got enough room to get a good root network going without the risk of getting root bound and choking itself up. I've found this out for you
http://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-smart-pots-air-pots
http://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-smart-pots-air-pots
CarlBrutananadilewski
Member
Yeah 10 gal sounds good hut this is a learning experience so ill start there and see if it needs to get bigger? How big b4 you can take clones on your mother plant?
somebody1701
Well-Known Member
No matter how big your pot (and I'm a fan of smart pots myself), you're going to have to root-prune your mother at some point. I keep mine in a 1g and just turn a clone into my new mother whenever she gets too big and root bound and throw her into veg.
CarlBrutananadilewski
Member
Thats a good idea!
CarlBrutananadilewski
Member
I plan on treating her like shes in soil. But using the aeration of the coco to my advantage. Watering every three or so days
somebody1701
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't drop the perlite. I've done side-by-side grows 25% perlite and no perlite. Perlite is definitely better.
CarlBrutananadilewski
Member
I like abit a perilite in my mix. Ill be using botanicares coco bagged stuff with the less perilite in it
Richard Drysift
Well-Known Member
You certainly don't need a huge pot; you are obviously going to need to give her nutes in that medium. I would try to go with a 2 or 3 gal or even smaller. It really depends more upon how large your perpetual veg space is and how often you plan to take clones.
I used to keep a few mama plants indefinitely and kept taking clones when they grew out too much. I found it much easier to pop femmed seeds and then clone the hell out of those while they are still vegging. Prefer to have different strains growing all the time but have come across more than a few phenos I wished I kept as mothers.
It's not as easy as it seems to keep a mama plant in veg for a very long time, after say 8 months or so the original main stem becomes woody and hard to train. After a while I always ended up transplanting them to a larger pot and throwing mother plants into the bloom room once they became too unruly for my veg cabinets.
Tip- always take clones from the bottom up if you can and try to wait until you can cut branches 5-8" long.
I used to keep a few mama plants indefinitely and kept taking clones when they grew out too much. I found it much easier to pop femmed seeds and then clone the hell out of those while they are still vegging. Prefer to have different strains growing all the time but have come across more than a few phenos I wished I kept as mothers.
It's not as easy as it seems to keep a mama plant in veg for a very long time, after say 8 months or so the original main stem becomes woody and hard to train. After a while I always ended up transplanting them to a larger pot and throwing mother plants into the bloom room once they became too unruly for my veg cabinets.
Tip- always take clones from the bottom up if you can and try to wait until you can cut branches 5-8" long.
bryan oconner
Well-Known Member
keeping this plant for more then 6 months . then you will need a 20 gallon pot . I use 20 gallon pots and I will tell you in 6 months it starting to get root bound . I have the mothers under weak t5 lighting 1 bulb per plant save the juice bill keep her growing slower when I need her to speed up ill kick on the 1000 watt mh .. I am actually deciding to doing a 30 gallon pot . seriously the roots are coming out of the top of the soil in the 20s and they are totally filled with dirt these plants are about 7 foot tall big as you can put your arms around . every situation is different if your in a tent then space Is limited go with a 5 if your a commercial grow then huge pot size only way to go . wont you get tired of the same strand after a wile ? I have to keep changing it up . and my woman will bitch .