rootbound--help!

[JohninWI]

Hi guys. I had been growing my 12 babies under CFL light in a soil/pearlite mix. The shot up, but the growth leveled off at about 6-7". I had them in foam cups with holes punched in them for drainage.

The stayed at that height even though I was on 18 hours of light. Today I transplanted to 2 gallon gro-bags--but I discovered my problem. The bottom of the cups was a clump of heavy roots!

I "teased" them loose and potted them in nice fresh soil, and watered them good. The roots ought to figure out that they are free to spread now, don't you think? Now they are under my 400W hps in a 2x4' area.

Another thing--should I keep them on the 18 hour light program for another week or 2, then flower? I was hoping to flower at 12" but I'm getting anxious. But I don't want to shock them any worse--I'm sure there roots don't enjoy getting teased.

Thanks guys

 

[Roken]

Wassup JohninWI,
I would give them a good week to settle into there new pots before putting them into flower. Also after transplant its good to give them a dose of some vitamins and hormones to ease the transition into the new soil. A good rule of them is to give them 1gal of soil or grow space for every foot high in length you want them to finish at(make sense?). So a 3gal container could hold a 3 foot plant while still providing enough room for the roots to grow and breath without them becoming rootbound. Although the genetics of the strain you have chosen will play a big role in height of the finished plant. How tall can you grow your plants in your given area?? and what strain have you chosen to grow??. Also you shouldn't flower untill your plant starts showing sex, as soon as they start showing sex, this is a sign that they are sexually mature and ready for flower. Flowering before this could cause the plant to get stressed out and yeild less than if waited for sex to show. Keep us posted with some more info and if you can post a picture, it would speaka thousand word's!. Peace and Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Roken.

 

[JohninWI]

Thanks Roken,
I have 6 Northern lights X Haze and 6 Mangos. I had intended to flower at a foot and let them get to about 2 feet. The guy at the hydro store told me that for anything under 2' a gallon would be ok.

good idea about the hormones. I ran up and got an organic product to ease shock. Apparently it's made with B-vitamins and hormones.

I do know that when I moved them from little cell-packs to cups, growth exploded. Hope it does again.

What do you mean about waiting for them to show there sex? I was under the impression that if you wanted to show the sex, you had to induce flowering with the light cycle? (at least for these strains that don't auto-flower).

I do know that the strains can get quite big. I hear the NLxH can get X-mas tree dimensions outdoors

 

[Roken]

What do you mean about waiting for them to show there sex? I was under the impression that if you wanted to show the sex, you had to induce flowering with the light cycle? (at least for these strains that don't auto-flower).

When a plant becomes sexually mature it starts to show its sex, this is only a sign that its ready to flower, and what gender it is. It does this during the vegitative cycle as it mature's, this has nothing to do with autoflower because on autoflower plants as soon as they show their sex it also starts budding out the tips and producing thousands of little white hairs. Autoflowering plants cannot be controlled by your light regimin. Normal plants are contingent on photoperiod, meaning as long as you keep plants under light of 18/6 they can show sex on and throughout every branch and not go into full flower. Any of that make sense?? I hope it can help you out man. Sometimes you will hear of growers sexing there plants, this means that what they are doing is once the plants have reached a certain desierable height without normaly showing sex, they will place them under 12/12 light period for a couple of days untill they start showing sex. This way the grower can determine how many females there are in his batch, rip out the males and place the female plants back in veg(18/6) knowing that every plant in his veg room are females. This way he wasted no space on unwanted males, and if the grower knows how to clone, he can now take cuttings off his plants in veg knowing every cutting is an exact genetic female copy of the plant he took the cutting off of. Hope you can use some of this information brother, keep us posted. Peace and Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Roken.

 

[HippyInEngland]

When a plant becomes sexually mature it starts to show its sex, this is only a sign that its ready to flower, and what gender it is. It does this during the vegitative cycle as it mature's, this has nothing to do with autoflower because on autoflower plants as soon as they show their sex it also starts budding out the tips and producing thousands of little white hairs. Autoflowering plants cannot be controlled by your light regimin. Normal plants are contingent on photoperiod, meaning as long as you keep plants under light of 18/6 they can show sex on and throughout every branch and not go into full flower. Any of that make sense?? I hope it can help you out man. Sometimes you will hear of growers sexing there plants, this means that what they are doing is once the plants have reached a certain desierable height without normaly showing sex, they will place them under 12/12 light period for a couple of days untill they start showing sex. This way the grower can determine how many females there are in his batch, rip out the males and place the female plants back in veg(18/6) knowing that every plant in his veg room are females. This way he wasted no space on unwanted males, and if the grower knows how to clone, he can now take cuttings off his plants in veg knowing every cutting is an exact genetic female copy of the plant he took the cutting off of. Hope you can use some of this information brother, keep us posted. Peace and Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Roken.

I need to do a lot more reading


18/6 is vegetative lighting, the plant will not show sex, the sex hormone is repressed until 12/12 or 13/11 lighing is attained, strain dependant.

JohninWI

Your doing everything fine, a week or 2 and the roots would have spread out into their new home, in 2 weeks they will be 10-12 inches, when you decide to sex and flower your plants they will treble in size, so work out your max height allowance and devide it by 3 then that is the height you want to flick your lights to 12/12

 

[Hick]

Sorry dude, you need to do a lot more reading


18/6 is vegetative lighting, the plant will not show sex, the sex hormone is repressed until 12/12 or 13/11 lighing is attained, strain dependant.

JohninWI

Your doing everything fine, a week or 2 and the roots would have spread out into their new home, in 2 weeks they will be 10-12 inches, when you decide to sex and flower your plants they will treble in size, so work out your max height allowance and devide it by 3 then that is the height you want to flick your lights to 12/12

MJ will show its sex, by pre-flowering on 24/0, "usually" at between 4 and 8 weeks old. It does not require 12 hours of dark in order to become "sexually mature" and express pre-flowers.

 

[Roken]

Thanks hick,
I was hoping someone else would back me up. Some of these growers just dont want to learn, they want to argue with us instead, i dont get it beacuase were here to help not argue. He said it tho, he needs to do alot more reading and i cant agree more!!
Plants will show sex without changing your lighting to 12/12, some growers dont know this because they dont let there plants become mature before they flower. Growers that dont wait for their plants to show sex, usually end up stressing the plant by putting them into 12/12 and causing their plants to yeild less and take longer than if they had waited for the plant to show its sex naturaly. Peace and Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Roken.

 

[Runbyhemp]

Growers that dont wait for their plants to show sex, usually end up stressing the plant by putting them into 12/12 and causing their plants to yeild less and take longer than if they had waited for the plant to show its sex naturaly.

Complete and utter codswollop ! The plants are not stressed in any way whatsover. And how you can say that it may cause the cycle to take longer just doesn't make any sense to me. I'd really love an explanation.

I grow 12/12 from seed. They show sex between 14 and 21 days above soil. I grow healthy plants. They produce great weed. The only negative is yield but there are numerous advantages. There's a lot of us growing this way. Be very careful about making blanket statements.

Please research your information before posting, otherwise you just end up looking like a dumb a**! Peace and Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's a bit rich isn't it ? I have seen you give some terrible advice around here. And then to sign off with .... "Peace and Love"

 

[Roken]

Hey Runbyhemp,
This site's about helping eacother out man, not hating on people and their opinions. I am sorry you took offense to my literature, but you can find it in many reputable grow books!. I also say that there will be a delay in your flower cycle if they have not shown sex, i have done side by side comparisons on this theory and it is mostly true, however there are exceptions to every rule. If you can Runbyhemp try a side by side comparison, and i will bet money the plant thats showing sex goes into bloom way quicker than the plant thats not even showing its own sex. As far as my opinions Runbyhemp, i make them on experiances and true facts i've whitness'd, you are not forced to accept them. Peace and Love!!!!!!!!!!
Roken.

 

[Runbyhemp]

I don't hate anybody or their opinions. I have been trying to help people out for quite some time here.

I did take offense from your post though Roken, and I would say that others may have done.

You were the one that came across in an aggressive way and felt the need to insult and use bad language. I see that your post has been edited now.

If you thought there was nothing wrong with your post, why change it ?

I am glad that you deemed it appropriate to do so. It shows character.

 

[Roken]

I admit that that line wasnt necessary, so i erased it. Im sorry to anyone who took it wrong as it was based on sarcasim(which is hard to get across typing). Peace and Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Roken.