OK, Size matters... but depth or girth???

Just on my first grow from seeds, I had a go at some clones earlier in the year, and when I planted one for "mother" I put it in a massive outdoor style pot and noticed the difference in growth big time.

As such, now I am undertaking my first seed grow, I was wondering whether deep or wide pots are beneficial?? I have seen some thick plastic buckets that are about 12" wide and 16" deep. Providing I drill holes in the bottom for drainage, surely these will do the trick....

Thoughts please??

the wider the container is, the wider that the plants in them will be.. this is why you see some monsters coming from wider ass beds.. the limiting factor to how wide a plant can get is how wide the container it's in is, nothing more, nothing less..
not so sure about the importance of depth though tbh, i was super interesting in this as well as i was thinking of using rather narrow pots that were super deep instead, but after reading that plants in that style container would stay skinny, i scrapped that idea..

If it's one or the other I'd say go with depth. You have to think about the tap roots that like to go deep. Girth is important too so I don't want to neglect it. My containers are approximately 16 inches deep by 9 inches long by 7 inches wide. This equals approximately 2 gallons of soil. I'm also growing autos so keep that in mind when choosing a container for your own plants. They are the same containers in my my avatar picture to the left of this post.

Now that's interesting, cos I always thought that height of plant was similarly related to depth of container... which would seem logical. Either way, would a bucket (average household, not larger commercial) be big enough to grow a plant 4-5' above soil level??

rider23 - sorry didn't refresh before posting that last comment. The containers i'm thinking of using are easily 2 gallon, so I recon i'll be ok.. i'm not aiming for a rainforest (yet). Also I like your 1 plant, 1 light style... they look spoilt!!

Hettyman said:

Now that's interesting, cos I always thought that height of plant was similarly related to depth of container... which would seem logical. Either way, would a bucket (average household, not larger commercial) be big enough to grow a plant 4-5' above soil level??

Click to expand...

it's recommended to use one gallon of container size for each month of growth, so if you veg a plant for say two months, and it flowers for 3, you should have a 5 gallon container for it.. this is just rule of thumb, and not written in stone for sure, but it's a rule of thumb for a good reason..

Thanks!! By the looks i think that the containers will hold 4 gallons easy (not getting caught up on UK or US gallons) so they should do the trick... all I need now is a little enthusiasm from my seedlings... grow you short bastards, grow!!!!!

just my 2c, but i think that more depth will hold more moisture if the water is always going downwards... so it becomes more resistive at increasing depth due to compaction, and the sideways thing will be less moisture possibility. this is a hard question though. but personally i think plant roots like to venture deep due to gravity, rather than sideways, but they will seek to wherever there is water and nutrients anyway, so they go all over the place 'in search'. primary (tap root) though, has a tendency to want to go down and down to anchor the root system firmly.

Hettyman, thanks. I just used plastic trash/garbage cans which weren't designed for growing. I made them usable by putting holes in the bottom. Yea, in general the bigger your pot or container the bigger your plant will be. 2 gallons is a a good start. If you can go bigger that would be great, but if you can't, just work with what you have access to. Goodluck.

"I just used plastic trash/garbage cans which weren't designed for growing."

Hahaha... I was gonna joke they look like waste paper bins, but thought I mite cause offence (its the curved front that gives them away). I've decided to go with the buckets... they are thicker plastic, the perfect dimensions, and less then a third of the cost of a similar sized plant pot.... plus they have a convenient handle for when i spread the soil around my flower beds after harvest

Thanks all for your inputs!!