Is transplanting necessary? Is Root Bound over exaggerated??

I see people growing huge plants start to finish in 6" rockwool and even I have 2 mother plants in hydroton that are 6 months old in 8" pots and theyve never been transplanted so im wondering transplanting really necessary in hydro for a regular 4 week veg/flower cycle? is it something more prevalent in soil growing? do square pots help prevent them from being root bound? thanks for any input

Consider the Redwoods. Were they ever transplanted? No. Weed needs to grow naturally. I either killed my plants or put them into shock when I used to transplant. Today, I grow outdoors in at least a 5 gallon or the ground.

danbridge said:

Consider the Redwoods. Were they ever transplanted? No. Weed needs to grow naturally. I either killed my plants or put them into shock when I used to transplant. Today, I grow outdoors in at least a 5 gallon or the ground.

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so are you saying i should be able to use a pot like this (Top width 7.5", bottom width 5.5", 7.5" tall.) completely through 4 week veg and all of flower? also based off what you said im assuming theres basically no difference between using square or round pots?

medical marijuana only grows in round pots. square ones make hermies

Oudoors, the pot decides the size of your plant. Your not getting a 10 ft plant from a 2 gallon pot. I think its gonna do with the size of your reservoir. If your roots can grow, so will the plants.

Just from my experience there is a correlation between root mass and yields.

while I'm amazed at how tall they can get in a little cup I notice over the years that the circumference
of the cup is relative to the circumference of the finished plant. I get nice squat bushes using short wide grow bags/trays, but have settled on five gallon pails for my all around win.

boilingoil said:

Just from my experience there is a correlation between root mass and yields.

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True im just wondering why theres some people who feel the need to transplant like 3 times and some people who grow big ass bushes in 6" rockwool and dont seem to have a problem

chemphlegm said:

while I'm amazed at how tall they can get in a little cup I notice over the years that the circumference
of the cup is relative to the circumference of the finished plant. I get nice squat bushes using short wide grow bags/trays, but have settled on five gallon pails for my all around win.

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Yes, I can grow 4' tall plants in 5"x5" square pots but even with constant drippers running still can only getting an ounce of finished product from them.

jronnn said:

True im just wondering why theres some people who feel the need to transplant like 3 times and some people who grow big ass bushes in 6" rockwool and dont seem to have a problem

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I transplant 3 times in my coir DTW, clones are rooted in 3 ounce dixie cups from there they go to 5" squares pot to 9 lt. square pots.
. This is my progression in 21 days from rooted cuts.

boilingoil said:

Yes, I can grow 4' tall plants in 5"x5" square pots but even with constant drippers running still can only getting an ounce of finished product from them.

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damn thats it?? idk if youve heard of the jungleboyz in cali but they pull 3# per light with about 20 plants using 6" rockwool top feed, i wonder how they pull it off

Unless you are commercial/illegal grower 20 plants is not going to work.
16 oz to a lb. that is well under an oz per/plant. SoG's style growing is the most efficient on flat space. Most people range in the 4-12 plants.
Is transplanting necessary?
I think it does. There have been studies on tomatoes showing increased vigor. Each time they are potted on. Waiting untill they are root-bound is to long.
Let's say you have six legal plants. You want to grow big big plants. fuckin trees. Starting in solo cups, moving on to one gallon, then three gallon, then 20 gallon. You can keep them all under one lite while doing the transplanting thing. If you started with 20 gal pots with one plant in each. You would need more than one light and larger space. Plus you got to drop for 120 gal of soil upfront. Transplantin allows you to buy bale of one week and another bale of the next week. by week 8 you have all you ingredients bought mixed and ready to go.
Transplantin also works well for outdoor growers. Start plants inside a few weeks before it they are ready to go out.

jronnn said:

damn thats it?? idk if youve heard of the jungleboyz in cali but they pull 3# per light with about 20 plants using 6" rockwool top feed, i wonder how they pull it off

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I pull 2 units from a 4x4 with 12 plants in 9 liter pots of coir. with a single 600 watt HPS. 25 day veg.

My feeds are never over 500 ppm (1.0 ec)

jronnn said:

True im just wondering why theres some people who feel the need to transplant like 3 times and some people who grow big ass bushes in 6" rockwool and dont seem to have a problem

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thats hydro right? with roots hanging in the open growing freely ?

Are those the 4" square pots or larger? Very nice SOG

You 'can' grow while restricting the roots into smaller pots, but even in hydro DWC, the more space they have to really spread out (not just lateral but deep/down) they seem to overall do better.

i grow in promix, hand watered, organic ferts. I start in a tiny shot glass with a rooter plug, to a large plastic patio cup, then to a one gallon bag, then to flower in a five gallon bucket.
thats the right way to do it , for me, you dig? it fits with my garden habits, perpetual harvesting, menu selection and maintenance.

for example I could start out in a five pail from seed, but imagine the room and light I'd need to house them....ya dig?

jronnn said:

True im just wondering why theres some people who feel the need to transplant like 3 times and some people who grow big ass bushes in 6" rockwool and dont seem to have a problem

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CannaBruh said:

Are those the 4" square pots or larger? Very nice SOG

You 'can' grow while restricting the roots into smaller pots, but even in hydro DWC, the more space they have to really spread out (not just lateral but deep/down) they seem to overall do better.

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Those are 9 liter pots ( 2 1/2 gallon)

Does depth really matter. I don't think so since I have very limited height with my tent on its side. 2m wide. X 1m across x 1m height.

Have 1 under bed storage container so its very shallow but long. 35L dwc.

Then a few in small 2l containers with 100% perlite that are just my waste plants. Made from cuttings while training dwc scrog. They just get watered with old res nutrients instead of tipping down the drain.

We used to do 16oz cups to 1 gallon pots then to 5 gallon pots. now we go 16oz to whatever the final pot is.

with auto's we do 16oz red solo cups from seed, after popping its 10-12 days under flo lighting. While that's happening, we mix FFOF and FF Happy Frog 50/50, water it well using .60ml Mammoth P and a sprinkle of root organic's Uprising. let it set for 2 days then x-plant those babies into 5 gallon buckets of our soil mix, making sure the bucket is very full to allow root growth. then under 900 watts of cob 3590s slightly dimmed for a few days to allow them time to adjust. .

For PP we follow pretty much the same just different size buckets,same solo cup though.