Transplant or just start seeds in 5 gal pots?

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islandhigh

Member
Feminized seeds, so the soil wont be going to waste. Why is it not better to just pop a seed in a 5 gal pot and just let it grow? Seems like there would be less stress from no transplanting. No paper towel germination. Less risk too?

I have FoxFarms Ocean Forest and Light Warrior. I was thinking of just layering some FFOF on the bottom 2/3 and some Light Warrior on the top, so my new seedling wont get burnt. When it grows big enough, it will tap into the FFOF nutes on the bottom.

Thoughts?
 
WattSaver

WattSaver

Well-Known Member
The perfect way to grow would be in the final pot with no transplant. But now you have to remember that in your watering & feeding process that you will have to keep 5 gal of soil at the same moisture level as a cup. At the start using just straight water there is no impact. But once you start feeding (lets say 4 plants) in cups or 1 gal pots (used in the 1st transplant) make up less than a quart/ or 1 gal of feeding water(in 1 gal pot) In 5 gal pots 3 to 5 gal of feeding water increasing as they grow. Cups will need water every 3 days the pots 5 days. So this is strictly a monitory decision.
 
Jogro

Jogro

Well-Known Member
If you have the ability to run your grow from seed to finish in a 5 gallon pot, then sure, plant them right into the big pot. If you're only growing a few plants (especially outdoors), then doing it this way would allow for fastest growth early in the plant's life and avoid the need for later transplanting.

But if you're trying to grow dozens or hundreds of plants, you probably won't have the space to keep them in pots that large. Its simply not efficient to put really small plants into big pots.

The pots themselves take up lots of room, meaning they're not space efficient. If you're running a separate vegetative room (as most commercial growers do) big pots will take up a lot more space than the small plants inside need, requiring a lot more light, and making your vegetative area a lot bigger than it could be. Filled 5 gallon pots also require a lot of soil to fill, a lot of water to maintain, and they're a pain in the butt to move around.
 
Jogro

Jogro

Well-Known Member
islandhigh said:
I guess Im just curious as to why most people start in cups? Is there an advantage?
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Huge advantage.

Cups are cheap, require very little soil to fill, take up very little space, and are easy to move around.

In cups, you could put 10 newly planted seeds in the area the size of a shoebox, move them from place to place with one hand, water all of them with a 1-liter bottle, and run all of them under 1-2 compact fluorescent lights.

You're not going to pull off any of that with even one 5-gallon pot.
 
crazyhazey

crazyhazey

Well-Known Member
planting seeds in a giant pot are like counting your eggs before they hatch. 5 gal buckets take a lot of soil and you might end up overcompensating when it comes to watering. do the sure thing and grow them in party cups, the roots will be able to get more air and flooding helps roots settle into a pot and spread out, and if they become root bound move them to a 2 gallon, and eventually the 5 gallon. you also might want to see if one of the plants is growing right or if the seed even germinates. if your seed doesn't root, your left with 5 gallons of wasted soil.
 
F

frmrboi

Well-Known Member
crazyhazey said:
planting seeds in a giant pot are like counting your eggs before they hatch. 5 gal buckets take a lot of soil and you might end up overcompensating when it comes to watering. do the sure thing and grow them in party cups, the roots will be able to get more air and flooding helps roots settle into a pot and spread out, and if they become root bound move them to a 2 gallon, and eventually the 5 gallon. you also might want to see if one of the plants is growing right or if the seed even germinates. if your seed doesn't root, your left with 5 gallons of wasted soil.
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yeah, what he said, common sense really, that's how comercial nurseries do it.
 
yesum

yesum

Well-Known Member
I have to toss the males and have limited space so I use the cups to start. If I were going clone or female seed I would start in the final pot.
 
greenlikemoney

greenlikemoney

Well-Known Member
Transplant them when you see roots trying to grow out of the drain holes. Once you see that, let the cups dry out really well and then slide the plant/root ball out of the cup and inspect the root ball. If it is pronounced, transplant it. If you transplant into 1 or 2 gal pots, then repeat the above procedure before transplanting into 5 gal pots. As long as the soil is dried out, inspecting the root ball is fairly simple, just don't go doing it every week and stressing your girls.
 
greenogro

greenogro

Member
It has to do with the root ball. Its the believe of some people (I cant confirm or deny) that allowing a root ball to form will help the plant grow stronger n faster once transplanted. I planted straight into 1 gallon pots and went through hell went transplanting into 3 since its damn near impossible to form a root ball that big that soon.
 
mike91sr

mike91sr

Well-Known Member
Aside from the convenience and space factors that have been mentioned several times, I see the waste from leaching out the nutrients in 5gal of soil before the plant ever gets to use them. Transplanting from a cup to a 1-3gal and finally to a 5-7gal lets me veg without having to feed. Not sure if Id be able to say the same about planting into the final pot, the soil doesnt have much, if any, nutrients left after about a month depending on watering level, and thats not as long as I veg.

If you do the 5gal mix, I wouldnt put OF on bottom. I'd recommend filling the whole pot with OF. Make a hole like you would for a transplant, and fill that with LW or a 50/50 mix. I've germed and cloned directly into plain OF mostly without issues, only 2 strains showed any burn, but it wasnt severe and got better after a couple days. So all you need is a week or so worth of something milder, not the majority of the pot.

If you dont want to do that, putting the OF on top would still be a better choice than bottom IMO. The leaching nutrients from the OF will have a buffer zone below instead of being wasted. And youll get a more mild OF, and a slightly hotter LW.

Or you could always just mix 50/50 for the whole pot.

If you go with cups instead, clear ones let you see exactly when to transplant ;)
 
bullSnot

bullSnot

Well-Known Member
islandhigh said:
I guess Im just curious as to why most people start in cups? Is there an advantage?
Click to expand...
Becuase it is easier to manage the soil that the plant will be utilizing with their roots. I have done it both ways and if you go right to the final container, you will have a lot of wet soil that will not be used by the plant. I have found people tend to water too much a small plant in a large pot....even so when you transplant a solo cup 2-3 week plant into a five gallon pot it may be 7-14 days before roots start using the outside part of the soil. Being careful with watering is key. I meter the rooted soil
 
Bugeye

Bugeye

Well-Known Member
Starting a photo seed in a 5 gallon pot makes no sense. Just learn to transplant, it ain't hard. If you are getting transplant shock, you are doing it wrong and need to learn a little technique. Besides the advantages already offered, transplants are the ideal time to hit the root ball with myco fungi inoculations. I transplant up about every two weeks going seedling tray cup to party cup, to 1 gal, to 3 gal, to final pot.

PS - you can increase the "hotness" of your soil at each transplant as well, which reduces stress on young plants.
 
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