Running out of root space in 4g buckets ..?

legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
I have been vegging for about 5 weeks and have another 2 before I flip. Looking at the buckets, there damn near full of roots already. I could build some kind Of extensions on my 4 gallon square buckets to give them a little more room.

Is 4 gallons not enough to run big plants? This is my first DWC but by no means my first grow. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
hellraizer30

hellraizer30

Rebel From The North
Well in my style of bucket 2gal and with three weeks veg the from the eye , they look root bound!
But in hydro it seems its ok and wont cause a issue down the road. Some of the inner buckets on
The ebb system get so stuck i almost cant get them out!, to sume it up I think your ok legal, but im
Shure theres more to it. Just what ive noticed
 
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echlectica

Well-Known Member
4 gals is a little small for a large plant but its not going to kill it. One of the hallmarks of hydroponics in general is the ability for the roots of a very large plant to be in very small container. That said I use ten gallon rubbermaid totes, in a home built Recirculating DWC . For a large plant like a clone mother its One plant per tote. I flower large plants, 6 at a time one plant per tote. For Early veg and if I'm doing the occasional SOG style I'll put upto 4 per tote. As long as your plant is healthy though it should not be a problem. Try a root enzyme product like Hygrazyme or something and the enzymes will eat up old dead root matter which will help.
 
VoidObject

VoidObject

DWC/Bubbleponics Mod
Root binding is when the roots hit the bottom of the container.. So you want to flower before that happens.

If it already happened.. don't veg any longer than you already or, because you're stunting growth whether you like it or not. Sure, it will still get bigger.. slowly.. but later on you'll have worse problems.
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
Hmmm, well the roots are already at the bottom of the bucket. I pulled one plant up and it ripped the airstones out of the bottom of the bucket :(

There is still some room between the net pot and the larger root mass but it seems like I need to flower those puppies soon or fabricate a 6" rim to get the net pots right abve the bucket so they have the whole 4 gallons too grow in.

Thanks for the tips.
 
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echlectica

Well-Known Member
Just thought about this: back years ago I know some people would trim some of the roots off the bottom of the mass and I don't think it hurt the plant much but I haven't heard anyone talk about doing that in a while.
 
VoidObject

VoidObject

DWC/Bubbleponics Mod
echlectica said:
Just thought about this: back years ago I know some people would trim some of the roots off the bottom of the mass and I don't think it hurt the plant much but I haven't heard anyone talk about doing that in a while.
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This will stunt the growth of the plant.. Almost stopping vertical growth.
 
Afrogrow

Afrogrow

Well-Known Member
i have used 5gal buckets before you just gta watch the veg time. any more than like 6wks your asking for a huuuge root ball. veg for 4-6 weeks and you should be fine
 
thunderjack

thunderjack

Member
Afrogrow said:
i have used 5gal buckets before you just gta watch the veg time. any more than like 6wks your asking for a huuuge root ball. veg for 4-6 weeks and you should be fine
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You are so right on that! I went too long in veg so had to change over to 12 gallon buckets. Live and learn!!
 
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Dicotyledon

Member
If you could get bigger buckets, cut a whole in the lid of the bigger bucket just smaller than your old lid and put your old lid on top that, that would be ideal. No stress.
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the advice guys. Although I REALLY don't want to to it as I am about 3 days from 12/12 it appears that I HAVE TO get some bigger containers. I inspected some of the buckets last night and many are completely full of roots. I couldnt even lift the plants all the way out of the buckets because the roots are soo jammed up in there. Going to pick up some 10 gallon totes from target today..cut new net pot holes in the lids and run the tubing. Ugggh.

It just seems like I have read of people growing monsters in 5 galllon buckets..? I mean, I grew monsters in these 4 gallon buckets before when they were full of hydroton... is this just a function of DWC and rapid root growth. Do you REALLY think I should get bigger buckets?
 
journey1111

journey1111

Well-Known Member
I veg my plants in a 5g for 3-4 weeks before I flower. It creates some monster plants for sure. In order to keep the roots from over taking the bucket I keep the water level quite high(the net pot submerged 3-4 inches) throughout veg and into the first 3 weeks of flower. The roots create a mass around the bottom of the net pot. If you keep your water level low, the roots will stretch and then create a mass near the middle/bottom of the bucket thus taking up too much space. As your roots are already filling the bucket you may need bigger containers for this go around.
 
VoidObject

VoidObject

DWC/Bubbleponics Mod
legallyflying said:
Thanks for the advice guys. Although I REALLY don't want to to it as I am about 3 days from 12/12 it appears that I HAVE TO get some bigger containers. I inspected some of the buckets last night and many are completely full of roots. I couldnt even lift the plants all the way out of the buckets because the roots are soo jammed up in there. Going to pick up some 10 gallon totes from target today..cut new net pot holes in the lids and run the tubing. Ugggh.

It just seems like I have read of people growing monsters in 5 galllon buckets..? I mean, I grew monsters in these 4 gallon buckets before when they were full of hydroton... is this just a function of DWC and rapid root growth. Do you REALLY think I should get bigger buckets?
Click to expand...
You don't have to get bigger buckets.. if you want to experience root binding ;)
 
Afrogrow

Afrogrow

Well-Known Member
in order to grow monsters in 4g or 5g buckets it takes some good LST'ing but its possible. And a lot of factors come into play for monsters; i.e nutes, intensity of the light(250w,400w,600w,1000w), distance, CO2, strain! all types of things. some strains are just low yielders so no matter what you do you wont get monsters 8/
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
Well. You will be happy to know that I bought, set up, and put all the plants in 10 gallon totes. They are fucking swimming now but there were 3-4 plants that were absolutely crammed in the buckets. Was a little hostile with the plants as I had to rip the airstones out of the root balls. But no biggie, they will get over it. Some plants like having their roots banged up.

Anyways, thanks for the advice. I really want to pull 7 lbs off of 12 SCROD'd plants this run. Would hate to see things collapse at the very end just because I was lazy.
 
Mineralz

Mineralz

Well-Known Member
legallyflying said:
Well. You will be happy to know that I bought, set up, and put all the plants in 10 gallon totes. They are fucking swimming now but there were 3-4 plants that were absolutely crammed in the buckets. Was a little hostile with the plants as I had to rip the airstones out of the root balls. But no biggie, they will get over it. Some plants like having their roots banged up.

Anyways, thanks for the advice. I really want to pull 7 lbs off of 12 SCROD'd plants this run. Would hate to see things collapse at the very end just because I was lazy.
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Good thing you did that man....I have a Wonder Woman bout 7 weeks into flowering now that "ate" her airstone.....definately lost some growth over those few days but after I removed it she perked back up. Every bit helpz ;)
 
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