Re-Potting

[Adwarrior]

Hi there,
I'm a new grower, growing to produce oil for a family member who has cancer. I'm growing in soil, as for a new grower it's most likely the most forgiving method. I have a question regarding re-potting of my vegged clones. The clones have been under 18/6 lighting for about 2 weeks now and are coming along nicely. They have been topped in order to produce 4 Kolas. They are currently in small starter pots and I am now thinking about moving to larger pots. I have been taking the advice of a local grower plus plenty of my own research. My local grower has suggested I gradually move up to 2 gallon pots. He suggests moving from the starter pots, to half gallon, then to 1 gallon and then to 2 gallon pots. He tells me I will get the best yields that way. I don't understand this and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me for several reasons:

Firstly: the more times I re-pot the more that can go wrong: i.e. stressing plants or outright killing them.

Secondly: what can the downside be of moving them directly to 2 gallon pots, as in "nature" plants generally have an infinite amount of soil to grow in.

Thirdly: it's a lot of work and a lot of mess (I don't mind the work, but it seems unnecessary).

Lastly: I'm growing 2 cycles of 35 plants, so that's a whole lot of pots, which aren't cheap.

Any advice on this would be most appreciated.

 

[paulycali]

Absolutely! For the inexperienced grower transplanting multiple times can be a disaster. Find out what size pot you wanna use and put them in their final resting place. Enough is enough. Transplant away

 

[wildgrow]

I only want to transplant twice.

Once the roots are running down the inside of the starter pot, I transplant to 1 g for vegging. Like this:


I transplant close to the time when I flip to 12/12. I only go up to a 2-3 g pot.

The size plant you want will determine your final pot size. Im not looking for trees so I keep my pots just big enough.

If you want trees, maybe go with 1 g for your starter pots. Then go up from there.

 

[Avinash.miles]

ya, if you are finishing in 2 gal pots "stepping up" isnt nessecary..... if u were goin into 30s to finish outtside, stepping from 1gal to 5 gal to 30gal finishing pot, that would make more sense.

as far as chance of plant dying & stress: sure, minimize chances of things goin wrong, but transplanting is simple and plants love it if they are ready for it, and cannabis is a tough motha so ur prolly not gon killem if your are gentle and careful, mindful.

& workload, no need to put yourself thru that, if i were finishing in 2 gal pots, i would go clone to cup (i really want to upgrade from stupid tip over and spill party cups to some lil 16oz nursery containers, worth every cent) then from cup to 2 gal, veg untill you are happy (dont over veg in that small of a container, dont wana go into flowering w rootbound plants)
my2c

if you are concerned w the cost of pots, try plastic grow bags, i like the black on one side white on the other ones, they are a lil higher quality than the single ply black ones, either way its alot cheaper than pots. the advantage of the just getting the pots is you can wash & reuse them, dont have to go buy more grow bags perpetually.

hope that helps

 

[Granger2]

Ad,
So many steps to arrive in 2 gal seems unnecessary. Just be sure the plants are well rooted enough that the roots hold the root ball/medium together. I have been going from 9 oz. cups to 3 gal AeroBags. Watering can be a bit tricky but it works for me. I'm not recommending that, but I do highly recommend AeroBags or something like them, at least for the final container, over plastic pots or bags. Also, use Roots Excelurator. Good luck. -granger