multiple plants in one pot

Hi, a friend of mine has three bagseed plants in their early vegetative state(3" tall) all sharing the one pot.
Is this going to cause issues?
Will the rootballs become entangled? will this cause a problem?

I don't like the idea however he thinks it will be ok. I am just trying to save him a failure, any help will be appreciated.
Thanks.

how big is the pot? and how close together are they? i wouldnt do it...but that doesnt mean it wont work. roots could get tangled together, and one plant may take the supplements from another...but again that doesnt mean it will happen...its just a possibility, and a risk i wouldnt be willing to take.

The pot is about 12" in diameter and the plants are evenly spaced. It's a risk I wouldn't take either.
I just thought of something... if one plant is a male and he wishes to remove it, won't that be diffilcult considering the rootballs will be entangled?

yes...good point...tell him not to do it. lol

I have, but what do I know!

Adz. said:

I have, but what do I know!

Click to expand...

More than your buddy!

LOL Thanks woodydude.

If you were talking about some huge pot, like a 20 gallon one or more, then I'd say yeah you'd probably be able to accomplish this, but not in a 12" in diameter pot. I don't even think I'd think about trying it in something that small.

I have done it succesfully a couple times and i have failed also. its not good common practice but will most likely be ok this time but transplant to a larger pot or a 30 gal tote with holes in it. if you have a male and want to remove it simply cut it off at the base. the other plants will feed off the roots as they die and decompose. happy farming

If your sure all plants are female its ok & wont really hurt anything but if there is a possibility of a male then dont do it,just cutting off the stalk of a male & letting the other plants "feed" off the dying root mass of the others is a bad idea.

First off the death/rott & decay process takes longer than the plants life span before the soil can turn dead veg matter into nutrients that can be used by the plant.

Another reason you dont want rotting root mass in your soil is the ph balance of the soil,the rotting veg matter will reak havok on a stabil ph.

Basically, it's not a good practice to plant that many plants in a small pot. It doesn't mean he won't succeed doing it, but he is running a risk of having the plants become root bound.

Adz. said:

The pot is about 12" in diameter and the plants are evenly spaced. It's a risk I wouldn't take either.
I just thought of something... if one plant is a male and he wishes to remove it, won't that be diffilcult considering the rootballs will be entangled?

Click to expand...

Nah. he can just cut the male down at the stalk. That's not the real problem, LOL. Each plant NEEDS a lot or room for root growth. If the roots are crowded, the plants will be correspondingly small in ratio to their potential size. Sort of like when you put goldfish in an aquarium---they stay small relative to the size of their container. Take the same fish and put em in a pond....and they grow to their genetic potential in size.

There's no point. The 3 plants together cant get any bigger or produce more bud than one plant can in the same pot. In other words, one good sized plant in a pot or 3 skinny, half stunted ones produce the same amount of bud....so, why do it? Especially when EACH plant has the genetic potential to get big and produce a lot? A general rule of thumb is, for however much growth you see above the soil, there's JUST as much root below the soil. If the space below the soil is taken up by 3 plants, no one plant CAN have more than a 1/3 size root ball.....so, it cant be more than 1/3 the size it could and should be.

Im all for pushing the envelope and questioning every "rule" about, well, everything. But SOME things are so long-standing and have been proven true so long that to go against the tide is just plain stupid. The Truth is, every plant needs it's root space to grow to it's potential. Give the plant less room, you will get less growth, period.

Now, if you have a HUGE container where each plant gets all the room it needs, such as when you grow outside and plant directly in the earth, OK. In a 12 " pot? forget about it. Best you can hope for is 3 plants all 1/3 the size and productivity one plant would get.

That being said, however, there's nothing wrong at all with STARTING a bunch of plants in the same container. I often start 15 or more seeds in a windowbox. BUT, once the seedlings are 4-5 inches tall, it's time to replant each seedling into it's own container.


CW

Thanks heaps! Really good information!