Pot-In-Pot Idea - Why wouldn't this work?

[jojajico]

sorry i dont buy the "im disabled and unable to transplant" comment, if your able to lift your plant in the first place, then your able to place the plant into a bigger pot.
you do realise the ONLY difference between double potting and transplanting is that you dont remove the old and smaller pot.
common sense should tell you that its not the best thing you can do with a plant.




the roots will fill the pots by themselves, but they will struggle to fill the bigger pot if you double pot.
and tbh if you want your roots to have the best time possible, then you plant your seed into your final pot size, bad side to that is it will take along time for the soil to dry out.
so i say again, just remove the old pot and transplant normally and stop thinking of daft ways to repot.

no offense but thats got to be one of the stupidest things ive ever heard. just casue you can lift a pot doenst mean you can coordinate your limbs to gently remove a plant and meduim form a pot. some people cant do it and they have no physical problems at all. transplanting isnt yanking a plant out of a pot and throwing it into another if so, yea sure anyone could do it, its takes coordination and skill to do it right as to no disturb the very very very sensitive roots hairs and any damage to these hairs would constitute shock and slow growth. ever met someone with MS.

 

[smokeymacpot]

no offense but thats got to be one of the stupidest things ive ever heard. just casue you can lift a pot doenst mean you can coordinate your limbs to gently remove a plant and meduim form a pot. some people cant do it and they have no physical problems at all. transplanting isnt yanking a plant out of a pot and throwing it into another if so, yea sure anyone could do it, its takes coordination and skill to do it right as to no disturb the very very very sensitive roots hairs and any damage to these hairs would constitute shock and slow growth. ever met someone with MS.

cmon man, transplanting is NOT hard. and yes it is just pulling a plant out of its pot and dropping it into a new one then putting soil round the sides.
yes i have met someone with MS and other disabled people and they would have no problem to lift a plant into a new pot.
if a person is unable to do that, then they are also unable to: double pot a plant, hang grow lights and lift a little bottle of water. someone else would have to be doing it for them.. like a full time carer.

btw im not bashing disabled people at all

 

[Dan42nepa]

I had my plants in 5 gallon trash cans. I did numerous transplants and used 5 gallon as my final size. After my harvest the roots had taken up the circumferance of the whole pot. I know people do the double potting thing but I dont think i would want anything to hinder the side growth of my roots. Otherwise you are restricting the growth to those holes..

 

[Grat3fulh3ad]

no offense but thats got to be one of the stupidest things ive ever heard. just casue you can lift a pot doenst mean you can coordinate your limbs to gently remove a plant and meduim form a pot. some people cant do it and they have no physical problems at all. transplanting isnt yanking a plant out of a pot and throwing it into another if so, yea sure anyone could do it, its takes coordination and skill to do it right as to no disturb the very very very sensitive roots hairs and any damage to these hairs would constitute shock and slow growth. ever met someone with MS.

Damaging the roots during transplant actually encourages more root growth.
In fact, if you don't break up the rootball on a rootbound plant, then you haven't transplanted properly... You've merely put a rootbound plant into a larger container, or in the case of the 'double pot' on top of another container.

Double potting is not a good idea, if you have alternatives.

 

[jojajico]

Damaging the roots during transplant actually encourages more root growth.
In fact, if you don't break up the rootball on a rootbound plant, then you haven't transplanted properly... You've merely put a rootbound plant into a larger container, or in the case of the 'double pot' on top of another container.

Double potting is not a good idea, if you have alternatives.

gunna have to disagree with you on that one. damamging roots causes stress which slows growth. yes the damaged roots will heal and grow but at the cost of positive growth of the plant overall. you dont want to damage a plant or stress it more than you need to and unstressed plant will grow unincumbered and reach its full potential.

 

[Grat3fulh3ad]

gunna have to disagree with you on that one. damamging roots causes stress which slows growth. yes the damaged roots will heal and grow but at the cost of positive growth of the plant overall. you dont want to damage a plant or stress it more than you need to and unstressed plant will grow unincumbered and reach its full potential.

You can disagree, but I'm right.
From a horticulture site on transplanting...

When the roots grew out and reached the pot, they turned and began growing back into the ball. Once they are part of the mass it is hard for them to reverse direction again. It is necessary to give them a little help to get going on the right track again. Use your finger tips to carefully loosen the roots at the base and along the side of the root ball to allow them to grow into the new soil. If the root ball is extremely knotted and tight, it may be advisable to use a sharp knife and cut some of the entangled roots to separate them by making a 1/8 to 1/4 slice down the side of the root ball or gently, but forcibly separate the base of the ball. Use care not to damage any main 'tap' roots. Before repotting, prune off any dead or damaged roots.

Double potting is BAD advice...
Transplanting, and breaking up the rootball is the proper way to transplant.

Improper transplanting gives you a rootbound plant sitting in new dirt.
So does double potting.

 

[Guest]

You can disagree,but I'm right lol.This place is turned into a egoridden pile of shit .If you disturb the soil around the roots during transplant,you arent doing the plant any justice mr. I'm right lol.Break up your rootball,your just doing it differentlynot really harming anything.And like jojoco or whatever said,I wish a few handicapped buds from treatingyourself.com would hear you say that big man.""You dont buy it huh"Who the fuck cares what you buy not everyone can transplant so easily,another with half a brain and a quarter of a heart would understand that.Its definately time to find a forum with people that actually not only know how to grow,but enjoy doing it without trying to oneup everyone and their fuckin brother

 

[smokeymacpot]

You can disagree,but I'm right lol.This place is turned into a egoridden pile of shit .If you disturb the soil around the roots during transplant,you arent doing the plant any justice mr. I'm right lol.Break up your rootball,your just delaying things not really harming anything.And like jojoco or whatever said,I wish a few handicapped buds from treatingyourself.com would hear you say that big man.""You dont buy it huh"Who the fuck cares what you buy not everyone can transplant so easily,another with half a brain and a quarter of a heart would understand that.Its definately time to find a forum with people that actually not only know how to grow,but enjoy doing it without trying to oneup everyone and their fuckin brother

now whos the one being an arse? i simply said, if your able to double pot a plant your able to remove the pot and do it properly in the first place.
should we all say yes its a great idea when we know it isnt just to make people happy? cmon... this site is about helping people grow in the best ways possible. not giving bad advice and making plants rootbound or whatever.
sometimes posts can seem harsh, but its easy to not see the good intentions and good advice because one sentance out of a paragraph irks you.

 

[Grat3fulh3ad]

Ego has little to do with it, ballastman. Education has much more to do with it.

I'm not putting anyone down. I'm stating fact. In a rootbound situation, where the roots have turned back into the rootball, unless you break up the rootmass a bit and do some small damage to the roots, your plants will not be as healthy as they could have.

If any disabled people reading this think that cutting the bottom out of a pot and setting it on fresh dirt is a solution for a rootbound plant, then I am sorry and you are mistaken. If someone were to utilize the double potting method out of physical necessity, I would suggest doing it well before the plant is rootbound.

 

[Pops]

I have to agree with H3ad that rootbound plants need to have the roots disturbed or else they just keep circling. I start seeds in beer cups and transplant into 1 gal. nursery pots when I see the roots at the bottom. With clones, i start them in one gal. pots as soon as the root is developed. I trasplant from 1 gal. into 5 gal and from 5 gal into 15 gal. nursery pots. I try to grow plants to 4' plus before flowering.

On plants that are root bound, if i don't loosen the roots, after harvest I will empty a 15 gal. pot and find most of the roots in the shape of the 5 gal. pot, with a few that have gone into the bigger area. A waste of a 15 gal pot if I don't break up the roots.

I have harvested smaller plants that were grown in a 5 gal. pot and were rootbound when I put them in there from the 1 gal. After harvest, I found all the roots in the shape of a 1 gal. pot. I gained nothing by the transplant by leaving the rootmass undisturbed.

I am 62 and have arthritis. It is not easy to transplant a 3' tall plant from a 5 gal. pot to a 15 gal. pot, but I manage.

 

[JJScorpio]

Head is correct. It is important to let the plant dry out to do a good job transplanting. When it is dry, you can tickle and tap the rootball and the soil will fall away easily and leave you with just a healthy ball of roots. If not loosened, they can take a long period to revert back to growing outward. If the soil is wet, it is heavy and will tear chunks of root away just from the weight of the soil. If done properly, your plant will show you results immediately....I always wait 24 hrs before watering and then just lightly. This will get the roots searching for water....

 

[marx2k]

So... how about my original idea but also with a flexible but impermeable piece of plastic that spans the circumfrence of the (unbeveled) pot. When it would normally be time for you to transplant into the next size, you just slide out the plastic?

According to discussion this would also make a very good tool for those that DO have a hard time transplanting from one pot to the next.

Basically each pot would have a sheet plastic lining the sides but not the bottom. When the plastic is removed, the roots can go into the next stage of soil. This can easily be done with non-beveled netpots that are typically used for hydro. But then again, you CAN just drill your own holes if you like.

 

[Guest]

I've never disturbed the soil around the roots when transplanting,then again I dont let my plants become rootbound before transplant,I dont know where rootboundedness entered the picture I must have missed something.Of course people mistakenly think when the rootball has filled the container,its become rootbound.Couldnt be farther from the truth a rootbopund plant will not grow,not even another inch and will slowly start to die.I suggest transplanting long before the plant becomes rootbound.Its nice to know that breaking up the rootball is the "right" way to do it and for all these years me and people like jojoco have been doing it incorrectly.Thanks so much for straightening me out

 

[jojajico]

yea i always thought that a plant becoming rootbound was a sign of poor technique not a sign to transplant.

 

[Maj.PotHead]

rootbound plants havent had 1 of them yet and im 42 days 12/12 in a top cut off 2 liter soda bottle. ive growen in 1 gal grow bags 2 gal bags 3 gal square trash cans 5 gal bags 6 gal square container for outside plants. all the containers are full of roots but none was every rootbound. now if i have a very solid full rootball apon transplant i'll tickel/gently break up the bottom of the rootmass, this dose loosen up the rootmass and allows the roots to grow faster leaving a short to no recovery time for transplant and yes i do this every time i transplant. i also dont water untill day after transplant ive been doing this since ive started growing only messed up 1 rootball it was to wet for transplanting. theres nothing wrong with soma/bogs dbld pot method your only burrying the bottom 2-3 inch of the smaller container the roots will grow out from the bottom reach the new pots sides then grow down not missing a growth beat!

 

[marx2k]

The only problem I see with the double-potting method is you're not utilizing all the soil on the sides of the larger pot! All that yummy soil is going to waste

That's why in my idea I have holes for the roots to go through when it is time.

I agree that repotting isn't a nightmare, but it's also not the most fun thing to do when you have lots of plants to repot!

You'd have to try really hard and not care much about your plant to have it go rootbound, though.

 

[Maj.PotHead]

i dont see much soil wasting your only placing 2-3 inch of the smaller pot into the larger pot dont see much soil wasted there 1/2 gal maybe ???. your idea could work also best thing is try and document it here if it works ya could be the talk of the forum for awhile . personally i would try 1-2 plants see if it works fine if it dont ya wont hurt a bunch of plants then. if a few do great then impliment it in the next grow round

 

[smokeymacpot]

The only problem I see with the double-potting method is you're not utilizing all the soil on the sides of the larger pot! All that yummy soil is going to waste

That's why in my idea I have holes for the roots to go through when it is time.

I agree that repotting isn't a nightmare, but it's also not the most fun thing to do when you have lots of plants to repot!

You'd have to try really hard and not care much about your plant to have it go rootbound, though.

dude seriously whats so hard about giving the pot a gentle squeeze and letting it drop off and then put the rootball into your new pot.
you keep going on and on like its some crazy new idea that will help the plant in someway. it wont help you in the slightest and there is no benefit to doing it and cutting holes in the smaller pot takes MORE effort than to drop the pot off in the first place!!

 

[Grat3fulh3ad]

Look... I've double potted before, and know how well it works.
I'll stand by my original statement, that a properly executed transplant is vastly superior to double potting...

Also, I say that a pot completely full of rootmass is rootbound... I've never had or seen a plant so rootbound as to kill it... I have double potted, I have transplanted without disturbing the rootmass at all, and I have transplanted and loosened the rootmass significantly... All many times over many years...

 

[Maj.PotHead]

marx honestly document it here if it works nicely you'll have helped some ppl for sure.

i'm an old Dog and can be tought new tricks lol this place is here for the whole world to use as a learning tool. i try new things alot if his idea works great personally i still remove from old containers before placing into new containers