Potting Question

Silky Shagsalot said:

i usually transplant 3 times to end up in my final container. you really have no idea where the roots will end up growing/going in your container. for this reason i start small, and gradually increase container size. i want all of the medium to be wet, and not guess where the roots may be going. if you start in a large container with a small plant, it will take a very long time for the medium to dry up. letting the plants dry up between feedings/watering, is very important. there are many ways to skin a cat, but i prefer to start in smaller pots...

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Hey silky what size pot do you normally start with and then transplant through till finishing pot?

I agree with your not needing to jack the plant with "super" this and "mad" that (synthetic's) during the bulking phase and into finish.
I run 80%+ of all my grows as organic. I can and do, some P&K manipulation by Teas and some top dressing at the bulking in my organics. After growing for as long as I have. I greatly enjoy to experiment with some things. I have been doing some "combo" grows, just to see what I CAN push the plant to, by feeding with synthetics at lower rates and less feedings and use an alternating pattern of AACT tea and plain water between those synthetic feedings. The idea was to see if the Tea will make the synthetic "more" effective by allowing the tea to convert the "unusable" (by the plant) nutrient into "usable". Thus reducing the leftover "salts" and reducing the overall cost of synthetic growing. It works pretty well btw and so I still tinker with it in some strains that responded very well to it still. It is fun and in the end good or bad, it is rewarding to learn.
I still run some DWC during the colder months simply because I enjoy it.
Right now I have invested in a cpl of PAR (730nm range) LED's and am conducting a side by side experiment (1 area with and 1 without as the control). To see if the claims of quality, time and yield improvements are true. It's hard for anyone to simply believe word of mouth,,,,,,,so, I like to prove it for myself.
The bud size increase's I get. I get from the topping, lolly popping and super cropping as I see it.

Grow on Dude!

Dr. Who said:

I have NEVER had a problem this way! I'll bet I've been doing it this way longer then you have been alive young man. Belief is in doing, not in myths or word of mouth. The way I do this creates explosive root growth that gives me shorter veg times and stronger plants. Yes, transplanting is stressful to a point. If done gently and properly, using the right nutrition it greatly reduces any recovery time. Just look at Unicloners post.
The Solo cup phase is to stabilize the plant and start the root growth/expansion. As the roots BEGIN to coil around the bottom of the cup it's transplant time. The 1 gallon is for continued, unrestrained root expansion. The final transplant is done when the roots in the 1 gallon are coiling around the bottom of the pot again. Now in the 3 or 5 gallon final pot. I allow the roots to again coil around the bottom of the pot and flip to flower at the desired plant size. I top, lollypop and super crop and get average yields of 4.5 to 5.5 zips per 3 gallon pot with a 5+ foot tall plant, strain dependent.[/QUOTE

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Well I won't say the way I do it is right or wrong but it defiantly works for me. There are a couple sativa strains that it doesn't effect one way or Another but all the Indica goes crazy. As far as adding anything chemically I don't know because I use only supernaturals bloom terra+boost for flower and very minimally. I also am a true believer in molasses I use grow terra for veg and ph down if needed. I pinch, fim, lollipop, and super crop. I fortunately have the time to experiment as well and I have done many side by side grows and the ones I transplant and add the Mykos to are double the size of the ones without. And I'm not sure the science behind it but when I let the roots cover the bottom of the pot (not root bound) and even if I just lift straight out and place fresh soil at the bottom of the pot , 2 inces at minimum, then after 2 days they shoot and I have had one sativa strain grow 14" in just under 10 days. That's including the 2 days they take to adjust to new soil. Insane results as I also repeated this process just before I switched to flower and they shot Agian during the stretch. They weren't in any way unhealthy and the yeild was very good, I believe about 40 oz from a 5x5 tent under a 1000 hps. I think that the small amount of stress makes the plant even stronger. But this is just my observation from experience, so take it for what it's worth, someone you don't know on the computer who may not even be real. Lol. Peace out cub scouts

I comes down to money why waste money on watering a massive pot when the plants will use far less in smaller pots just don't over water.

I think its best to get them root bound in a smaller pot first then put them in there final home the bigger the pot the bigger the yeild has long has you are useing the right lights.And the room is keyed perfect.

you will know when the plants want re potting from the smaller pots because the roots will start to show through the bottom of the smaller pot.But allow them to dry out and a small tip put a air ring in the bottom of the pot with a fish tank pump sending air to the roots works a treat,try it will make a big diff,the roots love it.

Then just go on the ec if your water is good then i only ph once,nutes have come a long way since when i first started
now there near all ph perfect but i would aim for 6.5 if water is not that good.

As with many other things...to each his own. Obviously one pot or multiple replantings works just fine so experiment and find what works best for you. I think that's the best advice in any debatable situation.