Plant may be rootbound! Help!

Hey RIU

I'm currently on my first grow right now and my NL auto is 51 days from seed. It's in a one gallon smart pot, and I have reason to believe it's about to be rootbound pretty soon. A lot of the lower leaves have turned yellow and I've had to trim well into flowering. (I wanted to avoid it =( but they were dead anyways). At first, I suspected it might be a calmag problem b/c of reddish brown dots. So I got some lime, and waited about two weeks for it to kick in, but it seemed like the leaves were still getting yellowish brown and getting crispy then falling off. So I went ahead and flushed with just a gallon of water, and the runoff came out 6.8-7~. I'm currently in a scrog right now, and it's a really cramped space to re organize everything, so I just want to make sure I can even transplant this late into flower before checking or doing anything... So what do you guys think? It started to show pistils around 6/28, after a week I think it started to actually flower. (During that week, bud sites kept popping up). Too late to transplant? Thanks in advance!

How many day till shes done?

I wouldn't transplant if it's in flower, youre just going to stress it out. It would be pretty hard to do in scrog anyway. Next time go with at least a 3 gal pot. Just my 2c. Good Luck.

Its very possible to transplant with a minimum of stress. Even if flower. After all, id prefer a little stress instead of a rootbound plant.
Not that I think you are imbecile but here is how I would do it.
Prepare your new pot by filling in some dirt. Put your smaller pot into the bigger pot and fill dirt around it and press the dirt together. Take up the smaller pot again and you should now have the perfect fit for your current rootball.
Now, your smaller pot should be moist. Carefully turn the smaller pot upside down to free the rootball and gently transfer it to the new pot. Water
Ive done this a few times and had no stress or stunted grow. Good luck.

crush a ton of vitamin b1 and spray your roots down with it when you take it out of the pot for switch. don't listen to anyoone who tells you not to transplant. i followed just that advice and my plant died. tall dp had to have been 2 zips easy if not more. came to RIU for advice and the plant never returned. transplant asap!

Thanks for the replies everyone... I wanna say there's around three weeks left? My loupe isn't strong enough to check the trichs... lol. And for people in the states, if I do choose to transplant, is there any department store that actually shows the size of the pots? Any way to tell? Every nursery, walmart, HD, it doesnt say the size, and I'm super size restricted, so it might be a tad bit harder to find a 2g~ pot that's not very tall...

If its 51 days from seed and in a 1 gallon smart pot, then its definitely root bound. Be careful if you transplant her with only 3 weeks left. If you do you wanna do it as careful as possible , not to shock your plant for its remaining life time. Might be better to just leave her. Atleast you know for next time.

Dibbsey said:

If its 51 days from seed and in a 1 gallon smart pot, then its definitely root bound. Be careful if you transplant her with only 3 weeks left. If you do you wanna do it as careful as possible , not to shock your plant for its remaining life time. Might be better to just leave her. Atleast you know for next time.

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Thanks for the reply dibbsey. Yeah It's been flowering since early july I think. So it's def at least 20 days flowering now... So I'm kinda not sure how much trouble it would be to try to transplant and cause any shock or stress. Will it die if I don't transplant before harvest? Which I'd say around three more weeks or so... Lol I feel like a doctor in er or something... Thanks again.

And when I say three weeks, I'm taking that by the main cola JUST starting to swell, and every bud now has some bit of frost to them... Plus it's an auto lol. So that's what I'm hoping, three more weeks and it'll be about 72~ days from seed.

Yeah that sounds about right 3 or 4 weeks left. It could die depending how root bound it is. Just go out and get a pot that's bigger then yours doesn't have to be specifically 2gallons. Make sure its double or more then one you have. search your area for a hydroponic store, they carry good size pots and grow bags. You could even buy a small grabage can and cut holes in it. Just find one bigger. And when you transplant into your new pot, have new soil in the pot your trans planting to before you put your plant into your new pot so it doesn't go really low in the pot. And to transplant squeeze the pot your plant is currently in to break up the soil a bit. Put your hands down the sides to the bottom and pull her out and put her in new pot.

there is no root bound.... just the need to water more often and balance your plants nute intake

colonuggs said:

there is no root bound.... just the need to water more often and balance your plants nute intake

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Holy crap nice job. My plants had grew so many roots there wasn't hardly any soil anymore and it couldn't hold water at all was just a big root ball in a pot. I have a guerrilla
grow outdoors and cannot water them everyday so I could not do that. Had to transplant so they could hold water and self feed.

colonuggs said:

there is no root bound.... just the need to water more often and balance your plants nute intake

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Wth lol. That's huge for that small ass pot. How often do you water it? I usually only water after it's pretty dried out. Do you recommend watering it like twice a day? 1/2 the amount of water each time I suppose?

Dibs, do you think I could just water more frequently and it'll be ok to finish till harvest?

colonuggs said:

there is no root bound.... just the need to water more often and balance your plants nute intake

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Yeah was going to say, i think rootbound is a myth. Or at least that a rootbound plant stops growing, as ive personally witnessed plants growing in tiny cups and still grow to a few metres high

it's a total myth, great excuse to use when you haven't properly cared for your plants.

GreenSummit said:

it's a total myth, great excuse to use when you haven't properly cared for your plants.

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mmm.. I have about an inch of room left in my one gallon smart pot... was thinking about just repotting it but now I'm not so sure. Leaves are starting to turn yellow and die. At first I thought it was b/c of the flush, but I fed 1/2 str nutes. Tips of the leaves are turning yellow ish brown. Don't really think it's a nute burn issue though... Never fed above 1/2 str. And I actually haven't fed it all that often... Any idea what it could be?