The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

totalnoob said:
Just took my auto seeds out of 5 gal cloth pots and put them into solo cup sized pots. This method makes sense to me, and I will up pot as needed. Thanks Emmie.
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I start my seeds in a rapid rooter plug and go strait to 3 gallon pots. Autos do better going rough into final pot.
 
totalnoob said:
Just took my auto seeds out of 5 gal cloth pots and put them into solo cup sized pots. This method makes sense to me, and I will up pot as needed. Thanks Emmie.
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Give 'em about a week to 10 days and only water sparingly until transplant then, give the autos all they want.
WW_roots.jpg


if all works well the end result should be this
GCF_5_roots.jpg
 
You're an absolute sweetheart for writing this terrific guide, Emilya! I wish I'd stumbled onto it two hours ago before I transplanted 4 little girls out of their Solo Cups. My last Grow, I left them in them a lot longer and today, stupidly went against my instincts (listening to some bad advice) and up-potted.
And the watering tips, I am assuming I can apply the same techniques to Coco?
Thanks again, Emilya.
P.S. I had a beautiful bull-terrier called 'Cinci- Emilia' once, that I adored. Unfortunately, she was bitten by a snake and died but she was my best dog ever. Thanks for reminding me of her with your lovely user-name!
Respect and Regards from Australia.
 
Hello! I'm starting a new grow with 2 autos, and wanted to know everyone's opinions on up potting an auto? I'm definitely going to up pot from my starter pot (450mL I think) to my end pot (7 gallon smart pot).

I'm wondering if I should go to a 3 gal in between?
 
RoyMoss1987 said:
Hello! I'm starting a new grow with 2 autos, and wanted to know everyone's opinions on up potting an auto? I'm definitely going to up pot from my starter pot (450mL I think) to my end pot (7 gallon smart pot).

I'm wondering if I should go to a 3 gal in between?
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Don't worry about a 3 gal pot. understand you are on the clock and need to feed them as much as possible. A 5 gallon would be sufficient as there is not much time for root growth. On one of my auto grows I did the water starve method to promote root growth and I got 1/2 the yield on a previous growth where I monitored them with a meter and fed the heck out of them and the yield was stupendous. If these were photos you could up pot them and YOU control the amount of time in veg stage for proper root growth.
Good luck.:high-five:
 
SHRuuM said:
Don't worry about a 3 gal pot. understand you are on the clock and need to feed them as much as possible. A 5 gallon would be sufficient as there is not much time for root growth. On one of my auto grows I did the water starve method to promote root growth and I got 1/2 the yield on a previous growth where I monitored them with a meter and fed the heck out of them and the yield was stupendous. If these were photos you could up pot them and YOU control the amount of time in veg stage for proper root growth.
Good luck.:high-five:
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Gotcha, so you recommend the 1 single up pot from starter to finishing pot and calling it good?
 
As long as you are aggressively feeding/watering an auto, you could get by with some rapid successive uppotting, but as shruum suggested, you are on a time clock with an auto... and she is going to do what she wants to do, despite you concentrating on roots. There just isn't time with an auto to build a massive rootball... she builds what she needs and then moves on to building buds. I used to be in the camp that a plant is a plant is a plant, and that there was no reason to not use the successive uppotting strategy even with an auto, but after trying it a few times and seeing how anemic the root growth was and how impossible it was to get a solid rootball developed before flowering started automatically, I have changed my mind on this. I now see little use of going much larger than a 3 or 5 gallon for auto plants, and I would do exactly as you are doing now... get them a good start in a smaller container and then transplant them to the final container and call it good.
 
Emilya said:
As long as you are aggressively feeding/watering an auto, you could get by with some rapid successive uppotting, but as shruum suggested, you are on a time clock with an auto... and she is going to do what she wants to do, despite you concentrating on roots. There just isn't time with an auto to build a massive rootball... she builds what she needs and then moves on to building buds. I used to be in the camp that a plant is a plant is a plant, and that there was no reason to not use the successive uppotting strategy even with an auto, but after trying it a few times and seeing how anemic the root growth was and how impossible it was to get a solid rootball developed before flowering started automatically, I have changed my mind on this. I now see little use of going much larger than a 3 or 5 gallon for auto plants, and I would do exactly as you are doing now... get them a good start in a smaller container and then transplant them to the final container and call it good.
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Thanks Emilya! That was exactly what I needed to hear. I will be trying my hand at photos soon enough, so I will revisit your thread then to brush up.

Thanks again!
 
RoyMoss1987 said:
Hello! I'm starting a new grow with 2 autos, and wanted to know everyone's opinions on up potting an auto? I'm definitely going to up pot from my starter pot (450mL I think) to my end pot (7 gallon smart pot).

I'm wondering if I should go to a 3 gal in between?
Click to expand...

I've been told they go into flowering mode a soon as the roots hit bottom, so go for the tallest pot from the beginning, probably the 7 gallon. For a bigger plant, cut the bottom out of your starter pot and stack it on top of your final pot. Give it all the water it can handle.

This is just what I've been told, but folks who've tried uppotting vs tallest big pot say go with the tallest big pot.

Check out this post for stacked pots
DrZiggy's 1st Journal Featuring Doc Buds High Brix Kit - LEDs & Cool Strains
 
Radogast said:
I've been told they go into flowering mode a soon as the roots hit bottom, so go for the tallest pot from the beginning, probably the 7 gallon. For a bigger plant, cut the bottom out of your starter pot and stack it on top of your final pot. Give it all the water it can handle.

This is just what I've been told, but folks who've tried uppotting vs tallest big pot say go with the tallest big pot.

Check out this post for stacked pots
DrZiggy's 1st Journal Featuring Doc Buds High Brix Kit - LEDs & Cool Strains
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So before this grow, I did a very low effort attempt (didn't even get a pinch hitters worth lol) where I planted 1 auto and 1 photo in a tiny pot with crap soil, crap light, and just watering it infrequently. Anyways, those roots definitely hit the bottom of that tiny pot early but it didn't flower for 8 weeks still, so I don't know if I believe that one.

Thanks for the reference though. I'm reading through it now!
 
Since this is a dual rooting plant where one set of roots down as deep as they can go and another set spreads out along the surface, deeper vs wider has always been debated. My advice is that deeper is always better than wider, but if you go wider, go as wide as you can. This is a weed and it will adapt as much as it can to the conditions you put it in.
That being said... within the first week the tap root has hit the bottom. That is its job. Even in an auto, this could not signal the start of flowering at that early age. Once hitting the bottom, the roots start growing laterally. By using a small cup for the first week or even two, you force the beginnings of a root system to start forming, sending out feeder roots laterally from the main root. I am convinced that this first restriction of the roots is beneficial, even with an auto, but then it is important to get her transplanted. In a photo you go to the next size up and keep thickening that root ball. In the auto you move to your final container immediately, and instead of working on developing a root ball, you allow the plant to go to natural mode. The tap root dives to the bottom, and the central mass that you transplanted becomes the top roots. Water aggressively, and she will do the best she can with what you gave her. Dissection after the grow will reveal that she developed 2 distinctly different roots systems in that tall container, with practically no roots in the middle. If she were a photo, you would have filled in that middle part with successive uppotting.
 
I got another question. I picked up a tapwater conditioner made by API. It's for aquariums but it removes chlorine, heavy metals, etc. from tapwater. Has anyone used it before? I figure it can't hurt and tapwater is the easiest thing for me to use, and I already Ph it properly. Does anyone have experience with a product like that?
 
RoyMoss1987 said:
I got another question. I picked up a tapwater conditioner made by API. It's for aquariums but it removes chlorine, heavy metals, etc. from tapwater. Has anyone used it before? I figure it can't hurt and tapwater is the easiest thing for me to use, and I already Ph it properly. Does anyone have experience with a product like that?
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You do realize that there are 17 elements that are needed to grow our plants? That product eliminates a lot of them and is not necessary. Plants are not fish.
Chlorine isn't even a problem if you are using synthetic nutrients... plants actually need a trace amount of chlorine and it helps keep mold and mildew down. If you are trying to grow organically however, and need active microlife in your soil to complete the food cycle, then and only then do you need to eliminate chlorine.
Chlorine gets a very bad rap in the cannabis world... tap water works just fine for a lot of people.
Also, did you know that one vitamin C tablet in a bathtub of water, drops all the chlorine and chloramine right out of the solution? Cheap, easy and too ridiculous not to mention.
 
Emilya said:
You do realize that there are 17 elements that are needed to grow our plants? That product eliminates a lot of them and is not necessary. Plants are not fish.
Chlorine isn't even a problem if you are using synthetic nutrients... plants actually need a trace amount of chlorine and it helps keep mold and mildew down. If you are trying to grow organically however, and need active microlife in your soil to complete the food cycle, then and only then do you need to eliminate chlorine.
Chlorine gets a very bad rap in the cannabis world... tap water works just fine for a lot of people.
Also, did you know that one vitamin C tablet in a bathtub of water, drops all the chlorine and chloramine right out of the solution? Cheap, easy and too ridiculous not to mention.
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A couple of things I should mention: the tapwater where I live is extremely hard and I'm using Espoma Organic nutrients.

I won't even drink the tapwater here because of how bad it is, so I figured cleaning it before giving it to my plant would be best. In light of that information do you still suggest I don't use it?

The vitamin c trick would've been nice to know an hour ago before I bought it lol. Still, I don't figure I'll buy more.
 
RoyMoss1987 said:
A couple of things I should mention: the tapwater where I live is extremely hard and I'm using Espoma Organic nutrients.

I won't even drink the tapwater here because of how bad it is, so I figured cleaning it before giving it to my plant would be best. In light of that information do you still suggest I don't use it?

The vitamin c trick would've been nice to know an hour ago before I bought it lol. Still, I don't figure I'll buy more.
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yep, best to try to keep the microbeasties alive then... get rid of that chlorine. I still wouldnt worry much about the rest of it... you are putting into soil remember... it IS going to get dirty. You might not want to drink it, but the plants wont mind. You should see some of the goopy sludges I add to my plants!
 
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