Seedlings and Containers

[how2banana]

So I see a lot of people when they have seedlings and small plants to go from solo cups to a mid sized pot to the final product, but why? What's the reasoning behind this? I personally want to just put my plants in their forever home right away, but is this a bad idea?

[Green75]

I have always planted right in their death pots...Never an issue.

Just don't over water...meaning water around the plant as big as the plant is and then just a hair more.

Why go through all the trouble and stress the girls out as well.

[Wannabebotanist23]

The idea behind that i believe is to 1 prevent overwartering and 2 prevent slow growth. ive tried putting my seedlings in my final pot (a 5 gallon bucket) and all my plants took forever to grow, it prob took an extra month for me to get it to the right hight i wanted it at. And now same plants (clones) are growing much faster when i had them is smaller pots and i trasfered.

[Green75]

The idea behind that i believe is to 1 prevent overwartering and 2 prevent slow growth. ive tried putting my seedlings in my final pot (a 5 gallon bucket) and all my plants took forever to grow, it prob took an extra month for me to get it to the right hight i wanted it at. And now same plants (clones) are growing much faster when i had them is smaller pots and i trasfered.

Yea never had that problem...idk

[Wannabebotanist23]

Maybe my luck then lol

[Flockshot]

Autoflower plants seem to do best by starting in their final pot. I think it is natural, but a lot of growers talk about 'root training' , and root growth control.

[NebulaHaze]

I think it's a matter of preference. It's easy to give too much or too little water to a very small seedling in a big pot. With a solo cup you just soak the grow medium and the roots get a lot of both oxygen and water at all times because the medium dries out quickly.

The downside is you have to transplant a seedling as soon as the leaves reach the edges of the cup, or its growth starts slowing down. Also, if you're not careful you could possibly shock the plant during transplant.

I've done it both ways and seedlings started in solo cups definitely grow a little faster at first, but just for convenience sake I usually start my seeds in something like a Rapid Rooter, then plant that directly in the final container If you're careful about watering you can get them to grow just about as fast, and like you said you don't have to worry about transplanting!

Another consideration is some growers start a lot of plants at once either so they can transport them safely, figure out their gender before moving them into pots, or just store a lot of seedlings at once in a small space without having to use much soil. If you keep a seedling in a solo cup it won't get very big after it grows its first few sets of leaves, so a solo cup also helps keep plants smaller until you're ready to use them.