Hey guys, I have a pretty stupid quick question. In a good environment under 1kw MH and with CO2 injection, how long does it take a plant to go from clone to rootbound in a 6" (3/4 gal) pot? I know it's strain and environment dependent and whatnot but can anyone give a rough estimate? Thanks.
Use smart pots. You will never get root bound. My guess is 2X that. I say 60 days. It takes my cuts at least a week to get visible roots under the dome, and more like two weeks before they are vigorous enough to transplant. Then I say at least three weeks to get root bound. That's with a vigorous strain, which all strains are not. Hell, the MH wouldn't even be the light for the first few weeks. I can easily see it taking on average 6-8 weeks to get from cut to root bound in a 6" pot. smart pots. You will never get root bound. :coolbounce:
Yeah I'd say you could do 4 weeks without too much trouble as long as we're not talking about an established plant. When I make clones I root the cuts in rapid rooter plugs that are then placed in Solo cups filled with starter soil. The cups then go in the humidity dome for at least a week. All it takes is a gentle tug on the plug to and you can instantly tell whether or not you've got roots. I've been doing clones this way for the last 4 rounds with 100% of the cuts rooting between 7-10 days depending on the stain. It takes at least another week (in a vented dome) before the now rooted cuts start to show any signs of growth. As soon as they start to show growth they come out of the dome and go under a CFL rig for a few days to harden off before I fire up the MH. I'll leave them in the solo cups while they harden off but. I'll transplant them straight into their final 3 gal pots approximately 3-4 weeks from the time I take the cut. Now last round I had too many cuts and decided to keep on in 6" garden pot under a single cfl in my cloning box just to see how it would do. It's been in that little pot for about 12 weeks now and still looks perfectly healthy. I'm sure the roots are a bit tight but with only one CFL for light the roots and the plant for that matter don't really grow very much. I guess the answer to your question really depends on how much light you give them. If you're vegging in a 6" pot under a 600w MH then I'd say MG's estimate of 30 days is about right. If on the other hand they'll he happy as a clam in the same pot for twice as long if you keep the light to a minimum.. Since you said you're putting them under 1kw I'd say you'll need a bigger pot or a much smaller light :jj: Duc
Thanks guys! I actually am looking at 4" pots now, but your answers helped me guesstimate for those. 4" pots are less than half the volume of 6" pots. Should be 2 weeks or less with T5 lighting and well rooted clones. One follow up question. The final home for these guys will be 1 gallon pots in a SOG, and I've heard different things about flowering in 1 gallon pots. Do they need a few days in veg in their 1g pots before flipping to yield at all? Or should getting them rootbound in 4" pots be sufficient root development for optimal flowering in those space constraints? The flowering SOG will be: monocropped, one strain per table, 4 plants per square foot, roughly 18" minimum 24" maximum headspace (gonna have to dial strains to consistently hit 20), 100% coco with either the Useless or Lucas formula modified as the strains require. Also can't start strain hunting till we get the go ahead on the new space but suggestions are appreciated. Looking for a stabilized, short, single cola strain from seed. Potency is the first priority, weight is the second. Needs to be a 10 week strain at most, 9 weeks is preferable.
I've grown in coco for years. I tried the Useless formula once and it worked, but wasn't optimal. The nutrient ratios in the Useless formula aren't setup for coco. I use a coco nutrient because they account for coco leaching calcium and the breakdown of K in the coco itself. Any questions you have with coco, I've had before and can answer if you need.
Sweet dude! Thanks! I'll totally be taking you up on that. I don't wanna ever touch Sunshine #4 again and I just plain don't like rockwool. My financial backer vetoed the 1 gallon pot SOG idea to start with - too expensive on the scale we need. I'll probably be running 70 coco/30 perlite in 3 gallon nursery pots to start with (doubt straight coco's as good for the bigger pots as it is for small ones). This was still good to know though. The rooms I'm building will be able to switch between 2 sf per 3 gal plant and 4 1 gal plants psf for basically the cost of the pots and drippers, and I can change the rooms over one at a time to cut back on the startup expense. Had to decide if I was going to build the short veg tables specially to handle a 3x plant count increase without remodeling.
