Root size

[Gingerbeard]

I'm currently growing in soil in a 2'x2'x4.5' tent in two, two gallon pots with a dimmable, 350w LED. The (dual chamber, perpetual harvest) tent can be opened to 2'x3'. I'm considering putting together a one pot hydro system. With an interior tent height of 4.5' I have to keep my plants short. The two gallon pots I use are 9" tall. My total grow height can't go higher than 24" if I keep my light at 100%.
Considering the root ball I get in soil vs the ball I would get in hydro, how small of a pot can I hydro in? Do hydro plants get rootbound like soil plants?

[gbauto]

I've grown auto-flowers in 3.5 gal DWC buckets that are under 2' tall and usually net about 5-6 oz of dried flower. If you choose hydro, it's a bit more forgiving to have as much solution volume as you can fit into your space. A 10 gal tote will fit that nicely and will be plenty for what you want to do,

[Obi-Wan]

I use 3.5 gal. buckets(12” tall x 12” round) in my Veg tent. My plants are currently 10” tall but I could have been more aggressive with my training if I had the height restrictions that you have.

[Toker1]

Good thing about hydro is you don’t need to go taller if you can go wider.
Yes, roots can become root bound no matter how they are grown. Another good thing about hydro is the root volume can be larger in a smaller amount of space. The roots have more room available because the container space isn’t shared with any medium.

[Gingerbeard]

Thanks for the input!
I'm going to keep working with the bag seeds I have to get a good feel of growing in my space. When I go hydro I'm going to look for a square container since I have a square tent. 3.5 gallon pots that are only 10" tall really aren't a jump from my 9" 2 gallon.

[oldjarhead100]

I use 7 gallon grow bags they hold 5 gallons of dirt .as far as height restrictions I would flux my plants , when the plant has 6 nodes cut to 3 or 4th node and then everything from the coy leafs up so you only have 2 branches tie them down flat as the side branches grow tie them down to then let the side branches on the side branches to grow up ,Thats where I'm at and it looks like the grow up branches will only go up about 2 feet ,I know its a shitty description ,but if I had height restrictions thats what I would do,in your space youll probably get a sea of green from one plant lol so this plant should be 2 to 3 feet wide and up to 36 inches tall (That is a guess) hope this helped

[Gingerbeard]

When I get to my fifth set of leaves I top down to the third. The set below is allowed to grow to give me four main colas. The lowest set of leaves are removed when I get new leaf nodes growing at the top cut. Then I have only the four mains growing. Everything is kept twistied to the pot and viola! We have what you see in the picture taken April 17, just after a defoliating, after 10 weeks of vegging. The plant has since filled in the open space after two and a half weeks in flowering. I'm doing my third week trimming on Sunday but am really wanting to do some now because it looks like it could use some. Just a few leaves that are growing into the center. I was also thinking that a few now and a few more on Sunday would be better than a bunch on Sunday.
And if you would look to the picture on your right... your other right... that's how the two I have growing, fit. I will always have at least two plants flowering at a time. If one turns out to be a dude, I still have my honey.
An upside of bag seed for a beginner is I've been able to grow in one, two, and three gallon pots. I've grown a spiral. Done improper, terrible, horrible, defoliatory violence to them . Harvested too early. Grown different genetics. Pretty much everything except harvest a total of an ounce.
Again, the pictures were taken two weeks ago. I'll post a couple more tonight when they wake up.

[Canuck147]

I use fabric pots - with the right ventilation, no root balls.

[Toker1]

Correct me if I am wrong, but by root balls I imagine that being the entire volume of roots. Not necessarily root bound, but justvthe general shape of the root system.

[Toker1]

Agreed. Hate how the roots bind and get woven into the fabric when you transplant. But hate root binding circles in plastic containers even more.

[Gingerbeard]

I'm going with mass. Ball is relative. Roots in a plastic pot are conical.

[Toker1]

Mass is a particles resistance to acceleration. I would describe it as a volume. Roots behave like water and take the shape of their container. My square plastic pots made me some box shaped root sculptures.

[Gingerbeard]

What th'... A different text editor and my last pictures didn't post...

[Gingerbeard]

There we go.

Some plants grow deep roots, some keep them shallow. Is pot more of a deep root plant or is it okay spreading out? If I could figure out a way to grow in a 2'x2'x4" container, would the plant be okay? Maybe have a solid bottom net pot that is set an inch above the bottom of the pot?

Hold on. 2'x2'x4" pot sitting on another container of the same size that is the reservoir.

[Canuck147]

Well, they like to grow down and out. That's why lots of growers use DWC in smaller tents, plant thinks it's growing long roots in all that water.