Wanted folks’ feedback on how often plants should be transferred between different-sized pots.
Is it OK to transfer an adequately vegged seedling from solo cups right into the 3 gallon or 5 gallon, whatever the largest pot will be for the grow cycle, or is that too extreme a change for them in terms of root growth and general health? Others advocate more than once, like say transferring from solo cup, to one gallon then to the final 5 gallon or whatever size.
First grow here for me and already here I’ve been told keep it simple. Buying fewer pots is obviously more cost effective too. Not sure if doing just a single transfer going into a 3 gallon instead of a 5 gallon would facilitate a single transfer but interested in hearing from the OG community.
The idea of potting up more than once is that you allow the plant to fill out the current container with roots. I would suggest going to a 1 gallon, letting it fill in with roots and than going to a 3 or 5 gallon. IMO it is much better for root formation. Roots will go straight down and than start filling in. Giving them too much room right off seems to leave a large space between the top and bottom of a large pot that is much more difficult for the plant to fill in. That’s what I have found anyway. Pots are cheap so buying a number of 1 gallon pots really is not expensive and up potting does no harm but does have benefits. Just my opinion.
If you are growing in soil it gives you an opportunity to tweak their nutriments.
Currently I’m going solo cup, 1.5L & 3 Gallon.
The 1.5 L gets some 4-4-4 added for veg and the 3 Gallon (at the switch to 12/12 flower) gets 2-8-4 for flower. With a couple teas and maybe some top dress along the way.
Have a read of BOG’s Bonanza of Green, he lays out a flexible up-potting scheme and explains what he was doing, great read.
oh man, i wish i could say my transplants are silky smooth, but i feel like i’m manhandling my plants during transplant. after my first round from solo cups to 1 gallons, it looked like my plants were pretty unhappy (yellowing leaves and delayed growth). do you have any tips for happy smooth transplants?
A few tips that helps me when transplanting is Make sure the roots are well developed inside the current container to prevent tearing of the roots and to keep a solid mass rather then loose dirt/roots also making sure there watered thoroughly I lightly press around the sides of the solo or nursery pot to loosen it then give a few hard slaps on the bottom to release from container have the holes already dug out to fit the container size so there is as little movement and chances for mistakes have had pretty good success without having transplant shock when uppotting @highminwin
I’ve read it’s best not to impede roots in any way. Some plants will tend to flower when stressed. It’s cheaper to not have any intermediate pots. A small container to sprout a seedling, and transfer to the final container as soon as possible. I wouldn’t count on it making a measurable difference though, unless you let a plant get stunted and overgrown in an excessively small container.
There was a post recently about having a hydro reservoir that was too small and stunted a plant. It depends on how you grow!
First thing I recommend is using grow bags instead of cups. I use them and won’t got back. I did a side by side and the plants in the bags grew much faster and healthier. Than the bags go straight into the new pot when the time comes without having to remove them. When you go from the 1 gallon to your 3 or 5 gallon the plant will be much more developed and should take the move better. Also you want to create the same environment in the new pot as the old one ie. same nutes and such. If done right there should be no negative inpact on the plants. These are the last ones I bought.
I had no problem with starting seeds in five gallon cloth pots. Just have to water properly. Maybe others strains would be different. Everyone always commented that’s a small plant for such a huge pot.
Lots of folks start in large pots and do fine. There are some down sides potentially such as pots taking much longer to dry out and such. I guess to each their own comes into play.
Again, there are as many styles of growing as there are growers.
My own method that has served me well, is germinate in paper towel. Place popped seeds in a clear solo cup that has been prepped with drain holes in the bottom. Place clear solo cup in regular solo cup. Keep them watered (moist). Couple days they break ground. Water a tiny bit at a time. After about 2 weeks seperate the solo cups to see root development. When the roots start coming out the drain holes i transplant to their final home. Usually I use 2 gal plastic or 3 gal cloth pots for autos or 5 gal or bigger for regs. When i transplant I use Mycos for the roots.
I’ve always gone from germed seed to a seedling tray/cup to the final pot and end up with solid 5 gallon rootballs. Probably cause I’m lazy, but also to avoid the risk of transplant shock and the plant focusing on recovery instead of growth if I goof up during the process.
No harm in trying both and see what works best for you.
When possible it is best to have daily wet dry cycles.
Meaning water everyday.
But you need good/full dry back too.
Hard to achieve in a big pot.
Now if you go away for days a big pot may be exactly what you need.
But to achieve optimum growth rates, you should use smaller pots.
I surely do, like @DougDawson said…
I let my 1 gallon pots get filled with roots.
Then when they come out and into a bigger pot, I will cut the shit out of the roots.
Up and down with a knife or razor, what ever I have handy at the time.
In the 1G pot they are a bit rootbound, so cutting the roots will cause new root growth filling the next size pot with roots pretty fast compared with leaving them rootbound.
I have just stuck em in the next size pot, only to find later the roots did not grow much.
So a bit of abuse in the right direction can be a good thing.
This is true, intersex issues too.
But I have not experienced theses issues myself.
I have heard of a ton of big facilities using these too.
I may have to try them out, thanks.
I found this contaminated my rez ect.
Also seemed to hold too much moisture against the stem in DWC for myself anyway.
I agree. Hard to achieve in a big pot, Especially as a new grower. Going into a big pot may have some advantages but it can get tricky watering properly as a new grower. Also, @3rd_i a couple up pottings will give you an opportunity to correct any mistakes. Say for example you somehow get your ph out of whack or find that your soil has run out of nutrients too quick. Time to transplant. As a new grower you will pull your hair out trying to fix any mistake by adding unnecessary things and will often make it worse . Transplants make it easier imo. Mistake fixed and try not to do it again lol. If you go this route, make sure to Water before a transplant and it will help hold the rootball together. You don’t want to water heavily, but the soil should be moist. Not dry. Also you should see Roots growing out of the drainage holes on the bottom of your container before dumping a plant out of a cup or 1 gal or whatever, while holding it upside down to take a look at the roots briefly. Rightside up, Place your hand on top of the root ball with the stem in between your index and middle fingers, turn the container upside down and give a little jerking motion to pop it out of the container into your hand. Sometimes lightly squeezing the outside of the container in a couple spots first will help a stuck root ball pop out but careful not to squeeze so much the rootball comes apart. When you check the rootball What you are looking for is roots that encase the soil like a web. These Roots will hold your soil together during a transplant. Watering will help but you need roots or you can damage the plant if the root ball falls apart. If the plant is not ready simply place the pot back over the roots before turning it back right side up. You don’t want to just check Roots all the time or anything. The goal is to learn when a plant is ready to transplant and after checking a couple times you won’t have to do it anymore very often. Sometimes I think it’s time for a transplant but the roots haven’t gone as far as I think they did. I just pop it back in the container for a week and transplant then.
If you are confident in your watering skills you would sure save a few bucks going into big containers but I’m with @DougDawson. Couple transplants don’t hurt if done right. My transplants are usually followed by a growth spurt.
Sorry for the novel!
I typically go from starting seeds in Solo cups → 1G then to 3G and then to 7G
Same process for clones but depending on how big they are / how big the root ball is they go from my aero cloner → 1 or 3G → 7G
*Some plants I will flower out in a 3G depending on space available and other factors.
I bought the grow bags on Doug’s recommendation, and I picked up several 1 gallon airpots to, so I never have to extract a root ball again! I successfully stunted all 8 of my current autoflowers, and I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m not a smooth transplanter.
