Soil and Root problems - Not enough of them!! Roots that is, not problems

I have just finshed a Blue mystic CFL grow, in fairly small 8 litre pots, Biobizz light mix soil, which has Perlite, but I added more, and after Harvest I found the roots weren't running all round the pot like I had hoped, and have been used to. I re-potted them shortly before flip. They were flipped at about 9-10" and ended up about 16-18" (but are described as a "short" plant)

Could this have been due to over watering? Causing the roots to have nothing to "reach" for?

Or do you think that it could be a soil issue? I only use BioGrow and Bloom. My most recent plants have 2" of clay pebbles at the bottom of the 8 litre pots, and slightly more Perlite. I'm hoping that as there is less soil to hold water, this will help, as well as improve airflow.

I have also bought some Top Max for flowering, and been given a tester of "Power Zyme" which I have just started using, in hope that it aids the soil substrate.

Any thoughts, cos by the looks I just got some lovely smoke, but figure better roots = better nute intake and bigger budds.

Thanks in advance

Pics are of 4 plant set up, and one plant prior to harvest to give an idea of size

small plants small roots? sounds about right....do you use any beneficial mycorrhiza? They look healthy don't look like you over watered how long are you veging them for?

Hettyman said:

I have just finshed a Blue mystic CFL grow, in fairly small 8 litre pots, Biobizz light mix soil, which has Perlite, but I added more, and after Harvest I found the roots weren't running all round the pot like I had hoped, and have been used to. I re-potted them shortly before flip. They were flipped at about 9-10" and ended up about 16-18" (but are described as a "short" plant)

Click to expand...

The root mass is usually about the same as the above-ground growth. Did your ladies lose some branches? If not then I think that maybe they just didn't need the space? They don't look like they're exactly taking over the pots in the photos..

I've got several girls on the go at the moment....One of which is in an 8l pot and is also only about 22", but has about 10 main colas (small ones). My other is in a 10l pot, but is a proper bush of a plant, with masses of branches. She's almost 30" (I can't measure them now to check...they're sleeping at the moment).

I think Psycho's question was the most relevant here. How long did you veg for? I vegged almost a month...if you also vegged for that amount of time then it may well be that you didn't have quite enough CFLs...more wattage = more growth. Pot size tends to just limit how big they can get while staying healthy.

Anyway, not sure if that helps you at all. I'm just chatting really...not much on tv tonight!

Oh...I noticed just after posting. It's a bit of myth that putting large stuff at the bottom of your pots is needed to help drainage. You're much better off filling that space with something useful like compost mulch of wormcastings...or your regular soil mix..

2" is actually quite a lot of space to give-up for something with nothing useful to the roots (which can't survive in that bottom 2" because they dry up and die off).