repotting plants in the flowering stage that are root bound

[Geno333]

hey guys...my plants are in the 4th week of flowering and i noticed the pots are very heavy...they dont seem to be growing very well at all like all my previous grows...it does appear also that the plants are root bound...is it worth me repotting these plants at this stage??....they are already in 50L pots.......the flowering process is pretty much at a stand still.....any advice would be appreciated....cheers.....

[DaGreenBlazer]

Yo dude, just to double check first of all, is it right that you're already using 50 litre pots?? Like a whole 50L sack of soil into 1 pot type size?? Not being funny whatsoever tho only reason i ask is cause if so then that's very big pots already, and more just due to the cumbersome nature of trying to re-pot something that size, it would be easy to accidentally damage it at what is a relatively delicate stage. I'm talking for indoor grows btw - If you're an outdoor grower, then that's possibly a different equation to solve and outdoor people may have different ideas.

Otherwise, if you meant it just in 5L normal, small-ish pots, then that's a different question - in general, most advice is not to re-pot anytime past 2nd week flowering at very latest - ideally you want it into final pot end of veg/just before switch. If you're not comfortable with re-potting, then this advice definitely applies. Certainly if it had to seriously be done, then it is possible if done delicately, but if it's any sort of height it's gonna be a pain & a risk. This may just have to be one of those annoying ones where you learn for next time!

Yet there's a whole host of other things could be causing slow down and you may not need to re-pot anyhow - being pot bound doesn't mean they can't still be fed by you and it maybe something else they need anyway - any pics would be cool cheers if you want the more knowledgeable people here to give some more accurate info! Only 1 thing I'd suggest is being rootbound means more chance of drainage issues, and if pots consistently feel heavy then could be waters sitting there and roots are drowning rather than drinking.

[Geno333]

yea thats right 50 Litre pots...ive since had a chat to some other growers locally and they reckon that I have definitely over feed / watered my plants...and due to the over feeding there is probably a build up of salts in the soil, hence the reason why they are not up taking the feed / water...there advice was to flush the salts from the soil using a product called Final Flush...then wait for a few days until pots dry out then resume my feeding schedule but cut down on the frequency of feeding them...eg every 2 or 3 days instead of every day...sounds like reasonable advice....what are your thoughts?....

[CaptainWiese91]

Well 50 Liter is much. I’m using 40 L pots and I maybe think I have one or two which maybe already have filled out the pot.
but I couldn’t agree more with above.

[dilvish]

50 liter pots? what are you growing, trees? If your plants are in such large containers and they are already root bound, you are doing something right!!!

holy shit, those plants must be huge!!!

send us some pics of those monsters!!!

[bboyfromwayback]

Holy hell! I did the conversion. And you said plants 😂😂😂 yea man, we need pics of these monsters

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/316142-time-to-show-your-grow

[dphipps1020]

What makes you think they're root bound in that big of a pot? In your original post you said the pots were very heavy which got me thinking over watering. Reading further down you mention that you feed them every day, that confirms my thought. When feeding, you usually want to alternate between nutrient feeds and plain water, giving a few days in between to dry. If you don't let them dry, you're essentially drowning your plant. I believe that is the issue you're having with the slow/stopped growth. Let your pots dry for a few days until the pot gets fairly light when you lift it (yes I mean actually pick up the pot and feel the weight). Do not water again until it's dry. You should see a change in a few days to a couple weeks, depending on how badly damaged they are.

[DaGreenBlazer]

Yo Geno - thanks for confirming and wow i thought maybe 50L was just a typo, but fair play if they are as no harm in going big!

Firstly then, if they're in any sort of general, average soil, I'd be surprised if the plant has finished off all the nutes already present, so potentially your soil hasn't needed a feed top-up yet anyway, and therefore yes, adding more nutes can potentially cause soil to get hot and cause nute lockout. Yet, again, in a 50L pot, you'd have to be really pumping feed nutes in tip ph balance of a pot that size, so i suspect overfeeding itself isn't the problem at this stage, and like DPhipps says above, it's just the over-watering on it's own which is causing problems.

Another potential factor is, depending how you potted up & what rootball is like determines food & water uptake - if they got good, solid rootball then it'll be feeding from most of the 50L pot which is good and so yes, potentially could've used up food already. But if rootball wasn't big before going in 50L then you could have ended up with tap roots going straight to bottom and essentially all food above them is ignored - watering will trickle nutes down to them eventually, but development of good rootballs is the key to using any size pot and getting plant to eat & drink effectively.

I would agree too about leaving to dry out for few days and once pots feel lighter should help and atm flushing with anything will probably compound your problem. Certainly if a flush is needed, some people would just flush through now on the basis wet is wet, but me personally I'd prefer to let dry for few days, get the soil abit more aerated and then flush properly, accepting the sacrifice of a weeks growth delay. Have a search on here for more expert flushing tips first if you are intending to do it, though i honestly think over-watering is the only issue here.

And once you resume normally, space out watering days abit more as a 50L pot should retain enough that every other day is not needed - i would guess even once a week is fine with pot that size. Feed wise, it's totally dependent on what the plant looks like it needs, so I can't offer any advice beyond go lightly if not sure. Only other tip to give is weed doesn't like constantly moist soil like you would expect with other plants; weed prefers going through wet and dry periods so don't be scared it's gonna wilt and die the second you don't water it - they can tolerate dry periods ok and it actually helps with root development (though week 4 flowering is bit late to be worried about root development, so just bear in mind for next time!)

Feel free to post any pics if you can, as i am only guessing from afar! Good luck anyway bro and hopefully once they dry out you'll see them soon bounce back!

[Geno333]

hey sorry for the belated reply...I had few dramas so have been off line for a bit...but yea you guys were right I really had been feeding them too often the pots were heavy as!!...as for the size they really wernt that big only about 1 metre tall...I got about 4 ozs from each plant...still learning the trade obviously!...but the smoke was good though...I did have some pics of them but they were in my old cell phone which has since been replaced...which is a real shame cause I had pics of a previous grow which was the Sour Diesel Auto by Dinafem and those babies were fuckn huge!...I got 9 ozs from 1 plant...they were grow in 50L smart pots, grown in coco coir 70/30 % mix with perlite...I had to tie the branches up because they wouldnt support themselves......currently the seedbank where I bought them has run out!...dont suppose anyone here can tell me of another seedbank who may have them in stock??....