pot size

[cruseonme]

is one gallon pot enough for a 2ft tree?

 

[howardstern]

is one gallon pot enough for a 2ft tree?

plenty.

 

[Hick]

The general "Rule of Thumb", is 1 gallon of medium, per 1 foot of plant....

 

[manels1111]

What hick said.

 

[Kupunakane]

Yo Ho cruseonme,

Hick is right there, and my suggestion is, when he says it's so, go with it.
I put my ladies right off the git into three gallon containers, but at the end of my flowering I could see that they would certainly have done better with even more room than that. I was always used to growing outdoors so it was never an issue that I really considered, man do I know better now.

Someone in here awhile back was using some rather large containers, I think they were using thirty gallon trash cans if memory isn't too messed up.
Perhaps someone else might remember this better than I do and maybe we can get a useful update if they read this.

smoke in peace
KingKahuuna

 

[massproducer]

No disrespect but for growing for 12 years there sure are a lot of very basic things that you do not know. How have you been growing for the past 12 years? What type of set up?

plenty.

 

[NorCalHal]

Good question.

I wonder if it makes a differance in what medium you use?

I use shreaded rockwool and go no bigger then 2 gal pots. I used 1 gal pots for a long time. I started vegging longer, decreasing the amount of plants I had in flower, so I went to 2 gal pots.
When I grew alot of Jack, the plants would get 4-5 feet in 2 gal pots and produce like noones business.
Yes, I would say that by harvest, the plants were starting to get rootbound, but the way I look at it, all these girls are going to get chopped down within 3 months from the time they rooted as clones.

Just curious of what you guys think?

 

[Barrelhse]

Good question.

I wonder if it makes a differance in what medium you use?

I use shreaded rockwool and go no bigger then 2 gal pots. I used 1 gal pots for a long time. I started vegging longer, decreasing the amount of plants I had in flower, so I went to 2 gal pots.
When I grew alot of Jack, the plants would get 4-5 feet in 2 gal pots and produce like noones business.
Yes, I would say that by harvest, the plants were starting to get rootbound, but the way I look at it, all these girls are going to get chopped down within 3 months from the time they rooted as clones.

Just curious of what you guys think?

Hal- very interesting, and pretty much my approach, i.e., vegging longer and larger pots. I'm in Hempy, strait perlite. Been going from 5 qt to 2.5 gal, vegging 6-8 wks instead of 4. I need a change from a roomful of 20" plants!

 

[howardstern]

The general "Rule of Thumb", is 1 gallon of medium, per 1 foot of plant....

I don't know what planet you guys are all living on...I have some pots that are 8 inches wide at their widest point at top, 8 inches tall (i.e. smaller than an American 1 gallon milk bottle), and they grow plants that are three feet+ tall. Maybe since you guys veg for 2 weeks and then start flowering you are limiting yourself. In the past I have vegged for 4 months and only then started flowering, but even 2 months vegging I have had plants 4 feet tall.

I have ficus trees that I bought in one gallon pots that are 5 feet tall in a small pot.

Have patience and don't be so quick to jump all over me just because I don't do things the exact way you do with 2 weeks veg, then flower 12 / 12 for 8 weeks exactly, no yeast/sugar CO2 set up, etc.

Open and expand your minds to new things, new ideas, and don't request censorship because you don't agree (whoever it was that complained about my signature). Marijuana smokers are supposed to be tolerant and open-minded, easy-going and cool, but more than a few here at MP are exactly the opposite.

 

[howardstern]

+ remember outdoors plants grow from March to October = 7 months and Old Hippie proves they grow tall. All you guys who are growing for 4 months and don't think you can grow more than 1 foot per 1 gallon pot - just let it keep growing and you will see for yourself how big a smaller container can produce.

 

[HippyInEngland]

I have several 4ft plus plants living quite happily in 1/4 gallon pots

I knopw this isnt ideal, and to a degree it wasnt supposed to happen, but happen it has.

 

[thc is good for me]

Ok 1 gallon per foot of growth is the general rule of thumb because if you have smaller pots your plants are going to get rootbound faster and not get as much O2. Your not going to be a conformist if you listen to the general rule of thumb. Obvisously you can have a smaller pot for a bigger plant but at least in my experience when i use 5 gallon pots for 4 foot tall plants by the time i harvest my plants roots are covering the bottem of my pot.

XD nobody ever said you cant use smaller than 1gal/1ft ratio with pots but we want plants to grow to there full potential so unless we are doing SOG or we are limeted on space I would stick with 1gal/1ft. Unless you feel like bieng creative and learning from your own mistakes instead of learning from other peoples. JMHO

 

[canibanol cannonball]

yeah i got 1 gallon pot - 2 foot plant, but im experimenting for a micro sog.
Q. Will bud production stunt or just the height?

 

[TheEnhancementSmoker]

You can grow plants in a shotglass, but I think everyone would have better results in a trashcan.....

The bigger, the better.

 

[howardstern]

You can grow plants in a shotglass, but I think everyone would have better results in a trashcan.....
The bigger, the better.

This is no disagreement that larger space for roots = larger plant. If you grow outdoors where roots can go down 15 or 30ft, then you will have plants that can grow very tall. But the question was if it is enough, and the answer is yes, it is. And then massproducer replies that there are basic things I don't know, etc. Rule of thumb and convention is one thing. If it is enough is entirely different.

Also, the plants will grow FASTER if you use smaller pot because first the root system must form. The quicker the roots get down to the bottom of possible space, the quicker they will then spread out and thicken, and the quicker your plant will grow upwards. If you use larger pots (which I do also), the plant will take longer time to form its root system. So a solution to this is to start in small, let root system fill up, and then transplant later if you want.

Or you can grow in smaller containers for quicker growth and 1 gallon is PLENTY if you want 2 foot plant.

...but you can consider all the factors you need / want and make the decision that is best for you.

 

[rasta]

my girls are about 2 1/2 ft and live nicely in two gallon pots ,,,,p,l,r

 

[SirSmoke-a-Lot]

yup

 

[TheEnhancementSmoker]

There's a big difference between "plenty" and something like "it's possible, but far from ideal."

 

[Hick]

It is becoming obvious, that Howard is going to continue to argue against nearlly all of the commonly accepted practices, recomendations, and facts, presented in grow guides, botany articles, and decades of tried and true techniques.
No one said a 2 foot plant "can't" be grown in a 1 gallon pot.It can probably even be 'happy' for a time, with proper feeding. But what was said, is that a "general" RULE OF THUMB, as recommended by ppl like Ed Rosenthal, Jose Cervantes, ect. ect. is a gallon per foot of plant.
SO.. the correct answer, according to those authors, the ones considered the "guru's" of mj cultivation, would be "no", it is not 'sufficient'.

 

[kasgrow]

I agree with hick that it is how you feed them. I am growing in a sog right now so I am using 1 gallon pots but I put them in the pots from clones to flower. I feed with a compost tea daily using a 2 inch deep bottom flood so the pot size doesn't affect the yield much. Yield per plant is less but yield per square ft. is more. If I was growing by plant count I would use 15 gallon pot minimum with longer veg time.