pot size for autos outdoors?

[cork144]

i want to get the biggest pots i can, but not overdo it, autos obviously will only get so big, so what would your recommendations be on pot sizes?

i dont want to plant directly into the ground because theyre going to be well hidden and in a safe place,


soo, anyone care to chime in?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

1 gallon per plant is perfect..... anything more is a waste.

i normally put 10 sprouts in a 7 gallon pot and hope to get 7 females.

 

[JimmyWie]

I use 12.5 liters pots for outside, a little big.
But better to big then to small

I got Auto blueberry. i believe hindu kush ( if i dint kill the seedling by accident 2day.. )
Auto AK, easy ryder and Whiterussian. For a Non autoflower whitewidow ill use 22 liter bucket. I heard for my seedsupplier that there will be a autowhite widow release soon ill put her in a 12.5 liter pot to.

 

[Zendo]

1 gallon per plant is perfect..... anything more is a waste.

i normally put 10 sprouts in a 7 gallon pot and hope to get 7 females.

Not sure I 100% agree with that statement...

Just pulled easy ryders from 5 gallon smart pots, and on a few of them, the root system went from top to bottom, and side to side.
There wasn't a huge amount of air pruning on the sides, but there was some.

I would rather have a little too much space, than too little.

To the OP- I would recommend 5 gallon smart pots.

 

[Muddy]

I grew 8 different strains in 3 gallon pots last year and found them to be a little bigger than needed for all except Mi5. Three gallon was perfect for it. I just ordered some 2 gallon bags that I'm planning on trying this year. I think they will be the perfect size.

 

[dread]

an old bucket will do just fine
grtz
D.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

i'll say it again. from my experience.....anything more than a gallon is a waste of soil. granted i do use 1 gallon square pots. that are more deep than wide.

 

[phillowlacoste]

Not sure I 100% agree with that statement...

Just pulled easy ryders from 5 gallon smart pots, and on a few of them, the root system went from top to bottom, and side to side.
There wasn't a huge amount of air pruning on the sides, but there was some.

I would rather have a little too much space, than too little.

To the OP- I would recommend 5 gallon smart pots.

I would have to agree with Zendo....5 gallons would be optimum,but....if space is the issue(which it sometimes is with autos) use at LEAST 3 gallon containers outside...that way you get yield without sacrificing space......IMO I believe 1 gallon pots are too small unless your doing an extremely small grow and have very little space,or are doing SCOG or SOG..then you are plugging twice the amount of plants in the usual space to make up for lost yield because of smaller pots.....anyways...just my opinion...I know lots of ppl who use 1 gallon pots and are happy as well...but outside I would definetely go bigger....

 

[lowrydergrower]

mmm I have always used three gallon pots, but I don't think I can agree with anything over a gallon of soil is a waste on auto's. There is a huge difference between an auto planted in a three gallon container and an auto planted in just one gallon of soil.

 

[Muddy]

Last year was my first growing autos outdoors in pots. I grew 8 different strains and after harvesting checked each pot to see how much space the roots had taken up. The Mi5 were the only ones that came close to filling the 3 gallon pots. Indica based like Hindu Kush and Pakistani Ryder which only got around 8" tall barely used half the pot. Even some of the larger phenos of Diesel Ryder, HBD and White Russian didn't come close to filling them. That's what I'm basing my 2 gallon recommendation on. True dwarfs, like the Hindu Kush and Paki Ryder, would probably be fine in a gallon or gallon and a half size.

 

[dargo]

If you have any road works going on near you go and see the gaffer and ask if you can have some off cuts from the plastic pipes they put under the ground, I got a massive collection all ready to cut to whatever size I need. some are to wide for autos, but I got about 4m of this purple pipe the other day that is perfect size.

 

[Cali_Boss]

id think 1 gal pots would be too small, it would probably be ok in an indoor grow but i wouldnt do it for outdoor. of course it all depends on what you want though. if you want a super stealthy grow maybe 1gal pots might be prefered. your plants will grow fine and provided a good nute schedule, they'll be healthy. but they'll be much smaller, hence stunting them and making them less noticeable. if you got a good spot and want to grow some big plants, go with the 5 gal bucket.

plants will grow as large as their environment will allow them to. this includes light availability, water availability, nutrient availability and root space. the better the situation you provide for your plants for these (the first is covered outdoors), the healthier your plants are (and subsequently more yield and danker bud). if you just want some buds to smoke it probably doesnt matter too much. if you want to grow some big plants and get lots of buds, then go with the 5 gal bucket.

Limited root space from a pot isnt found in nature. these plants are use to growing in their natural setting where their roots in soil can stretch as far as nutrients are available for them to take in. therefor by mimiking the natural environment and giving the plant more soil (i.e. a 5 gal pot is a sufficient volume) to work with, it has the ability to stretch its roots and soak in more nutrient. space in general is just good when dealing with all plants - space for roots to expand and space for fan leaves to expand. thats why outdoor grown plants are always so much larger than indoor. space. its better to have too much than too little.

it just goes back to giving the plant optimal conditions for it to grow. the plants goal is to create flowers to get pollinated by the male and then make seeds to reproduce its genetics. the plant will make as many flowers (buds) as it can given the resources it has to work with, therefore more resources/nutrients = increased quantity and increased quality of buds

im doing AF outdoor in a few months for the first time, so i dont have any personal experience. but from what ive read 5gal is best, even for AF.

hope this helps, i probably didnt tell you anything shocking but i had fun writing it.
peace

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

that's fine. you guys keep wasting your money. i just pulled 10-13 grams per plant in 16oz cups. do some more testing and then try to argue this matter. the only plants i could see needing more than 1 gallon would be low life ak-47 and short stuff mI5......maybe??? sour 60....maybe and that would be a hard sell for me.

 

[cork144]

the spot isnt too big and the plants will have to be kept small,



im probably going with 1gal, but thanks everyone else for your infomation, sombody else could use it if their spots will allow it,


edit; i might do a comparasen grow, some 1l gal some 2gal, maybe a 3gal,

 

[lowrydergrower]

Last year was my first growing autos outdoors in pots. I grew 8 different strains and after harvesting checked each pot to see how much space the roots had taken up. The Mi5 were the only ones that came close to filling the 3 gallon pots. Indica based like Hindu Kush and Pakistani Ryder which only got around 8" tall barely used half the pot. Even some of the larger phenos of Diesel Ryder, HBD and White Russian didn't come close to filling them. That's what I'm basing my 2 gallon recommendation on. True dwarfs, like the Hindu Kush and Paki Ryder, would probably be fine in a gallon or gallon and a half size.

mmm maybe it was the growing conditions? this is original lowryder

 

[phillowlacoste]

Last year was my first growing autos outdoors in pots. I grew 8 different strains and after harvesting checked each pot to see how much space the roots had taken up. The Mi5 were the only ones that came close to filling the 3 gallon pots. Indica based like Hindu Kush and Pakistani Ryder which only got around 8" tall barely used half the pot. Even some of the larger phenos of Diesel Ryder, HBD and White Russian didn't come close to filling them. That's what I'm basing my 2 gallon recommendation on. True dwarfs, like the Hindu Kush and Paki Ryder, would probably be fine in a gallon or gallon and a half size.

ok...I am just giving my 2 cents here and not criticizing anyones technique...but here it is.....roots are THE most essential part of an autoflowering plant....some people just treat an AF as they would a regular strain....regular strains can continue to make new roots or as long as they are kepped in veg...but once the plant starts to flower,new root development halts as all of the energy is put into flowering and reproductive.Keeping that in mind,one must realize just how short an AF plant has to make roots....about the first 3 weeks of its life.........some can go a little longer making new roots but that is about average for a true AF....what I can tell you from my experience is that there are many things one can do to make sure that the root ball of your plant fills itself with main roots as well as feeder roots...even with only 3 weeks of veg growth...and to be honest...mycorrizae fungi(along with a certain rooting tonic) can completely fill a 3 gallon pot with roots by the end of the second week....I said second not 3rd......after the 3rd week,root growth has more than filled the container.....this is consistant with any AF plant I have seen..(including regular strains but then we just transplant before flower)...hope some of this helps.....

 

[Muddy]

Could have been. It was very rainy here last year.

I just transplanted some Diesel Ryders into 3 gallon pots last weekend. Next batch will be going into 2 gallon bags. I'll be checking them all again and comparing to see what works better.

mmm maybe it was the growing conditions? this is original lowryder

 

[lowrydergrower]

Good to hear muddy, maybe that has just been the case with me but ever since I started growing auto flowering strains the more room i give them the bigger they get.

 

[ACBract]

Could have been. It was very rainy here last year.

I just transplanted some Diesel Ryders into 3 gallon pots last weekend. Next batch will be going into 2 gallon bags. I'll be checking them all again and comparing to see what works better.

Muddy - when its all done maybe we can show pics of root balls to show how crowded roots get in 1 or 2 gal and how big things get in 3 or 5 gal?

My Mi5 in a 5 gal bag produced 74 grams. Theres no way she would have done that in a 1 gal pot/bag. Forget wasting soil, lets talk about wasting plants/wasting yield by not using enough soil.

If what you want is super discrete and super small yield, then keep them in 16 oz cups. If you want enough bud to last more than a day or two, then use at least 2 gal.

 

[ACBract]

This is my only outdoor AF at the moment. She is Auto Himalayan Blue Kush from Short Stuff seeds. She is about six and a half weeks old. She is in a 2 galon grow bag. She is 27 inch tall and still has about 4 weeks to go. I seriously doubt she would have gotten this big in one gallon or less.