How big of a bucket can i get?

[jlt1202]

I have been reading that you dont need to transplant untill the plant is root bound, and in doing so the plant will continue growth, but is their a size that is too big for a area?? right know i have two plants that are in 5 gallon buckets and are about 4-5 ft tall, i was wanting to increase yeild by making bushier as well as tall, like in the picture i found to explain better lol

I was wondering if i were to put plants in a 20-30 gal container and gave it enuff light, would it be more benifical then having 5-7 plants that are fighting for light. i was just wondering if it would be more benificial to have two large plants or many medium size plants....

btw i have lot of room to work with have a 8x10x8 size room. currently tho they are still in my veg room, when i move them into my flower room idk if i should transplant into a bigger pot just to increase area and space.

 

[KarlJay]

Your room is very close to the same size as mine. Mine is 11x9x8 and I'm running a clone closet and 11 plants that just started flowering about 1 week ago.

I have 1 window and it has a 5000 BTU A/C unit. I started off on the floor, on a small shelf, on a 30" x 6' table, on a 4'x7' table and now I'm on the floor!

When I started, it was in the corner, VERY hard to get to the back plants. I moved the lights towards the center of the room so I can access 3 sides of the grow.

The clone closet will handle 2 clone machines and a shelf of about 50 teens...

If you look at my grow journal [link is in my signature] you'll see how it's setup. I've got good access to 3 sides, the air flows from one side [a/c side] to the other.

One of my current issues is the width of the plants, they are setup as 2 rows of 4 and 1 row of 3 larger ones. My lights are 4' wide and I really need about 1' more. I'm having trouble getting an HPS light going.

I really think if these plants double in size, I'm going to be challenged for space! I don't expect some of the smaller plants in the back to grow large, but most of these plants should grow pretty large.

In order to get light to all the plants, I'm using 1 or 2 600W HPS for the tops and all the rest of my lights for the sides and/or middle.

Having access to three sides of the grow is important, I'll probably end up with 1' on the sides!

I still plan on a PVC frame to hold the netting to keep the buds supported.

I can't speak to much about bucket size. I'm using 5 gallon grow bags and they are working well for now. I have some pics showing how much soil the plants gained by going from 3 gallon buckets to 5 gallon bags [see the grow journal]. I've seen HUGE plants in 5 gallon buckets, but I have NO CLUE if they would do better on a 10 gallon bucket.

Based on the size of the grow bags, I'm probably going with 10 gallon grow bags next time. I can't see larger doing any harm, except maybe wasting/costing soil.

Note: this is my 1st grow and I had no clue what to expect. The space requirements are much larger than I thought. As far as yield is concerned, I've seen shorter plants with buds all over, I've seen tall plants with fewer buds. Too many factors for me to give insight into what works and what doesn't, but as a general rule, wide, LST'd, well light plants seem to produce the most. Many have said you can double the yield by using topping, LST, lights, nutes, etc...

I'm kinda doing all, I've done some LST but I don't think I've been aggressive lately as width is a problem for me and my lights right now.

You can 'hedge your bet' by doing it all, number of plants, LST, Lights, Nutes, size, etc...

You're welcome to view my grow journal, it should give you a size perspective. It's 11' long, 9' wide, the window is about center of the wall and the clone closet is about 40" wide, just enough for 2 clone machines.

Another option is to have a backup plan. I have a shed that is ready for lights then it's good to go. If I have a huge space problem, I can move some in there, or move the clone closet out of that room.

 

[jlt1202]

Yah this is my first grow myself, i have been playing with small plants for years but never geting them to bud stage because of lack of space, now i have whole frickin room to work with! im just cut some clones and thinking of making a grow journal for them, the plants i have i didnt grow from begining so i wanted to start the journal off fresh.

Thanks for thos tips, let me know if you find any info that talks about using buckets bigger then 5 gal, (which im also useing atm). iv seen some gardeners take there ocean forest bags and cut a circle in center while its layed flat and stick there plant in. The roots just fill the whole bag but idk if its worth the cost in nuts and soil. because i figure the more soil you have the more nuritents u can (or have to) use to benifit the plant.

 

[KarlJay]

Yah this is my first grow myself, i have been playing with small plants for years but never geting them to bud stage because of lack of space, now i have whole frickin room to work with! im just cut some clones and thinking of making a grow journal for them, the plants i have i didnt grow from begining so i wanted to start the journal off fresh.

Thanks for thos tips, let me know if you find any info that talks about using buckets bigger then 5 gal, (which im also useing atm). iv seen some gardeners take there ocean forest bags and cut a circle in center while its layed flat and stick there plant in. The roots just fill the whole bag but idk if its worth the cost in nuts and soil. because i figure the more soil you have the more nuritents u can (or have to) use to benifit the plant.

I too was thinking about just using the FFOF bag!

I think the other way on the nutes/soil ... the plants get nutes from the soil, the more soil they have, the less nutes they need. Most say the plants need NO NUTES for about 30 days if you're in soil. When I moved from coffee cans to 3 gallon buckets, I stopped nutes, same when I went to the 5 gallon bags.

Got to be careful about over-nutes, they can cause a plant to lockout and you may end up killing them.

As far as number of plants, you can start with maybe 8, then start another 4, by the time the 8 are larger, the 4 will be med size, then near the time the 8 are done, start another group.

It'd take some playing to get the timing right, and you'd have to split the room so the 12/12 light cycle doesn't effect the 18/6 cycle. This is why I have a light tight clone/teen closet, keeps the light cycles from effecting each other. Panda sheets are light proof, and I'm looking at getting some of those.

 

[jlt1202]

yha i have a seperate closet that is attacted to room and i have thick black tarp that lets NO light through and i put a zipper on it so that i could seal it all around. im allso looking at adding a T5 fixture to the veg room to increase the light in the room.

UGH i have so much shit to do and no time to do it ahhaha, once this picks up ill be able to take more time off work so that i can focus on working on the room haha

 

[jlt1202]

Recently found product called Root Builder by Green Planet Nutrients (probly other companys make) but basicly is is ton of micro-organisms that promote the plants nutient uptake, and reduces disease. The product also will rapidly grow your roots, hence the name, was speeking to a gentelman that had used the product in the past and had well success.

If you have ever uses Root Builder or product, let me know your thoughts on the product please and thanks lol