Should I Choose A Round Or Square Pot For My Plants?

Curiosity... I just bought square whites because my roots were baking outside all summer in their black pots. White was to reflect the heat... These are very thick with mesh bottoms, and supposedly light fast.
Which is worse white for the root health or black that cooks em more? Does it really matter to a newbie? I see photos of growing gurus using white plastic cups and soil bags.
 
The subject of color of your pots has been discussed several times in the grow classes I attend. The general consensus is, darker colors or black is better for grow pots. I've always used the black plastic 4 gal buckets from the nurseries, and had pretty good luck with them.
 
I just completed my first grow and I grew in translucent white buckets and had no problems. I grew some indoors under LED lights and I grew some outdoors in the sunlight; both did well and when I pulled the soil out of the buckets there were roots growing on all sides in direct contact with plastic sides of the buckets. The roots all looked healthy! Does color really matter? I have started vegetables in clear plastic solo cups until they were root bound and they did fine when I transplanted them. I thought that the only reason that nursery pots were black was to warm the roots when the light is absorbed by them.
 
Also, I forgot to mention for what ever it is worth; earlier in this thread I had said that I was using square and round pots and that the square pots seemed to be performing better. The square pots did indeed perform better. When all was said and done though, I decided that the difference was that the round pots did not have as much drainage/aeration as the square pots. Drainage and aeration seem to be very important so I will be using Smart Pots this time and I have purchased square ones.
 
I hope you didn't get the cloth smart pots! I just cut up and threw 2 of mine out! The roots grew threw the bottom and mine would not flush or drain. The 2 outside in the 90 degree + summer boiled in their pots as the water still had not drained after 5 days. I had to transplant them into some old nursery pots and they recovered. If that wasn't enough, the roots grew through the bottom every time I have used them. I can use a knife to get the ones on the sides, but transplanting has ripped the root ball in half every single time. The root mainly grew on the upper half of the pots, then the long aggressive ones right through the bottom. I even tried to peel the cloth pots off the root ball. The bottom roots still rip away. I just cut the darn pots off this past week and still lost a great deal of lower roots. I've used these insides and out for 7 months. Useless. So far the HTG brand is working better, but too much air. The new white square pots with Mesh bottoms are to replace the smart pots. LOL

So far, most of the things I'm reading say white pots are better... which is why I bought them. Great for the heat here! I don't like to see algae growing on mine, but suppose it grows on the black ones too... just less visible. Perhaps the color matters more between hydro (mostly white?) and soil, indoor and out?

I've never seen a clear pot! Was there a reason that company made them? You could certainly see when it was time to water or transplant. Would work great as an insert in a decorative outer pot. It's hard to imagine it didn't turn the roots green... I'd get one out of curiosity. :))
 
I went away from hard sided pots totally outdoors. They sell a bag of soil made by roots organics. It's their formula 707 bags and they are a 30 gallon bag with just under 20 gallons of soil in each one. $18.00 a bag. The bags are camoflauged and are designed in a round shape. The idea is to poke holes in the bottoms and rip off the top. Plant, water and walk away for a few days. I grew 8 plants and made this decision at the very last to grow outdoors at all. I didn't place a clone into a bag until July 5th and all the clones were under a foot tall each when started. I even lost 4 of the 8 and had to start over with them on july 15th. I harvested 6 lbs. of dense dank bud. 2 of my plants were almost pure sativa and had to be harvested early due to really heavy rains (we got 7 inches in one day, 10 inches for the weekend) I plan on doing the same thing next year...except earlier. lol
Just a idea I'm throwing out there in the container discussion.
 
Hi Lusi,
The clear container was not a planting pot it was a Solo cup, they are disposable drinking cups. The point was that because it was clear the roots were exposed to direct light and it did not seem to hurt them. The insides of the cups did get green with algae, but that didn't seem to hurt the roots either. Maybe you came up with a new idea, a clear pot as a liner inside an opaque decorative outer shell? You could monitor to see when it's root bound and time to transplant.
 
Racefan said:
I went away from hard sided pots totally outdoors. They sell a bag of soil made by roots organics. It's their formula 707 bags and they are a 30 gallon bag with just under 20 gallons of soil in each one. $18.00 a bag. The bags are camoflauged and are designed in a round shape. The idea is to poke holes in the bottoms and rip off the top. Plant, water and walk away for a few days. I grew 8 plants and made this decision at the very last to grow outdoors at all. I didn't place a clone into a bag until July 5th and all the clones were under a foot tall each when started. I even lost 4 of the 8 and had to start over with them on july 15th. I harvested 6 lbs. of dense dank bud. 2 of my plants were almost pure sativa and had to be harvested early due to really heavy rains (we got 7 inches in one day, 10 inches for the weekend) I plan on doing the same thing next year...except earlier. lol
Just a idea I'm throwing out there in the container discussion.
Click to expand...

That setlles it definitely Roots Organic 707 bags for me bra I don't care if they are $50 a bag here in the East. Outside is the best thanks for heads up!
What are you smoking (did you plant)? I know it must be 420% Dank Bud.:blunt::tokin:
 
My 2 cents

Here's my offerings on these subjects...

For color I always prefer black.
Mostly because it's what commercial nurseries use so there are all sorts of sizes available.
I dont like white mostly for security. White stands out when I camoflauge my plants into the landscape.
The algae that can develop is not too bad like another poster wrote but it does bug me to see it the pots

Outdoors the leaves of the plant should shade the pot from heat but if the plant is not big enough yet you can shade the pots with a piece of plywood, tall grass, small shrubbery, etc.
Be sure to lay down some organic pest control when using existing companion plants before setting the potted plant down. Orange oil & gentle oils work great.

For shape I always prefer round now. I did use square for the uniformity but the roots would bunch up in the corners of the pots and restrict growth of my plants.

Round pots would bug me because the roots would coil and restrict growth.

Now my weapon of choice is Air Pots. Soil, hydro, indoor, outdoor, it's air pots for me.
Smart pots or fabric grow bags are great too but like Lusi wrote it's nearly impossible to transplant to a larger bag so you need to cut the bag away from the plant.

For the Roots 707 soil there is no better soil available imo!! I've tried nearly all of the quality soils and the 707 will produce a better plant over all of them. From flavor to potency, 707 will bring out that special something of the particular strain you are growing with little effort.
It's perfect out of the bag or like y'all have seen, the bag is a container so there is no need for added perlite, lime or whatever.

:peace::rollit:
 
I just got some Rootmaker (fist gen) propagation trays and square 1gallon pots. These Rootmaker series pots are designed for air root pruning. If your plant is in, lets say, the plastic 5 gal bucket, theres usually going to be about a 1/5 inch space between the pot and soil, the root tips hit this space and shoot almost straight down and around getting long and stringy. The Rootmakers are injection molded to have diagonal grooves in which, when the first root tips reach through the soil edge, the grooves force them into a small opening at the apex of the grooves. When the root tips reach the air at the opening, they dry up, die off, and the plant, being the amazing organism it is, is forced to create new root tip growth further inside the root mass. This creates a very FIBROUS ROOT SYSTEM, with MORE SURFACE AREA to absorb more good shit! which is optimal for the best production. I saw some pics with some pretty dense root systems that where shaped like an inverted step pyramid, from these pots, and alot of nug was on some little foot and a halfers.
Im planning out my grow still, have my DIY double cabinet built and am still dialing in the PC fans with the most air movement that are the most silent, then ill be ready. Let me know if anyone has used these Rootmaker pots before and how the results were.


Support your local grower...

IMG_20120524_111857.jpg
 
lolz

herbsnbuds said:
I don't think it makes a difference. Round can be beneficial in groups of 3. Square more beneficial in groups of 4. My rule of thumb is 250W per 3 plants so depending on your setup, round may be better.

Example...
IMG00291-20100812-2245.jpg


If I had 3 or 4 square ones, I'd need a bigger light source for this setup.

Square is better for inline lighting. Example...
IMG00090-20100627-0330.jpg


Now obviously no optimized in this case but you can see the soil difference to space required ratio in this photo.
Click to expand...
 

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