What's the best pot size for soil or coco?

[eatyourhartout]

I wanted to hear all your thoughts on ideal pot size for indoor cannabis plants.

Here's what I've learned so far on growweedeasy.com and these forums. I'm still a beginner with just a few grows under my belt.

Small pots (2-3 gallons)

• Plants stay smaller and grow slower vegetatively after leaves reach the edges of the pot.
• Use very small pots like a 1-gallon or even smaller to keep plants mini, for space-limited growing
• Can fit more plants in a space, and fill up a space faster in the vegetative stage
• Can grow more strains at once with more plants, but more complexity since each plant may have different nutrient needs or harvest timing.
• Water more often since pots don't hold much water, prone to under watering if plants get bigger than pots are meant for
• More work and complication since you have more plants, and each one can be different
• Less weed per plant since plants are smaller

Bigger pots (5-7+ gallons)

• Plants can get much bigger
• Fit fewer plants in a space
• Can grow fewer strains at once
• Simpler daily care, with fewer plants to care for, and less chance of complications between different strains
• Takes longer to fill the space under the light. For example, 3 vegetative plants fill in the entire canopy slower than 8 plants. But that is mainly only a factor in the vegetative stage right at the beginning.
• Water less often since pots hold a lot of water, but easier to overwater especially when plants are seedlings
• Much bigger potential yields per plant

Auto-watering bases

I want to try these on my next grow. I've heard using auto-watering pot bases gives you bigger plants for the pot size, but since they take up a lot of room you can't fit more plants, losing some of the benefits. I'm not sure if there's much advantage to using small pots with auto-watering bases.

Total Yields

I've heard some growers say to go bigger with pot size to increase yields. With fewer but larger pots, you get bigger yields per plant. I've heard some growers say you also get bigger, denser buds.

Others suggest growing lots of plants in smaller pots to increase overall yields per harvest, ie "sea of green" style. With smaller pots you get less yields per plant, but potentially bigger yields for the space/light, and potentially faster harvests since it's quicker in the vegetative stage to fill up the space under the grow light.

Still others say that pot size doesn't matter to yields. It's more about your setup and grow light as far as potential yields, and whether you fill up the space under the light with bud sites before initiating budding with 12/12. "Coverage is king."

What about you? What pot size do you use for your indoor cannabis plants and why? Do you grow autos or photos?

Any other tips for a newbie?

 

[Chipmunk]

Many growers with many ideas and ways of growing. I suggest you pick a style and stay with it till you get it mastered then adjust from there. And have patience, jumping all over the place will most likely cause you grief. Your grow tent size will be a factor for sure. With that being said, I mostly use 3 gal fab or air pots for my autos and 5 gal for my photo period grows. Since autos grow fast, I like the 3 gal so the roots get established quick and then the foliage can get busy with it! I am currently trying my first small pot auto grow just for fun. Growing in an estimated 1-1.5 gal DIY air pot. In my opinion growing in small pots should just be for fun! And a flat canopy is King no matter how you get there. In my opinion a 7gal is a little large especially not knowing what your tent size is. That's enough typing points for me! All the verbiage makes me tired!

 

[Ckbrew]

That is one of those questions where you ask 100 people, get 100 different answers. It all depends on the details of your grow setup and what you are trying to achieve. I have used between 5 gallon plastic to solo cups. What I settled on is 3 gallon fabric. Four plants in a 5x5 tent. The plants fill the tent, so why go bigger? Smaller pots = less moisture in the tent = lower risk of bud rot and healthier plants. I started using a semi-auto bottom watering system and found it worked well. My first indoor grow I used 1 gallon windshield wash bottles with the top cut off and holes in the bottom. When I first started, not knowing what I was doing, I tried everything then chose what worked the next year. Maye not the best way to do it, but it worked for me. Get the basics down first, then fine tune the grow.

 

[eatyourhartout]

The plants fill the tent, so why go bigger? Smaller pots = less moisture in the tent = lower risk of bud rot and healthier plants.

That actually makes a lot of sense to me. I struggle with humidity and just less water evaporating into the tent seems better as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Beeman]

chipmunk and ckbrew say it best.many paths one destination …for beginners I would recommend 5 gal bags and photos gives you plenty of room for the plant to grow out,up and root development.I’ve tried 2,3,5,7 10,12,15 and 30 gallon pots. The 10-30 for outdoor 5-7 for indoor photo.. 2,3 and 5 usually autos.5 goes either for indoor photo or auto… my 10 cents worth.my last indoor grow I used3 gallon on photo in a 4x4 with 450 led light. Nice yield at 3 plants each about 3.5-4 oz per plant.

 

[Chipmunk]

My mentality for growing the photo period is to grow larger/older plants. I get great yields on fewer beans. Fewer beans is the key word for me!

 

[Chipmunk]

I have never had a mold problem w/my inside grows, knock on wood!! I imagine it's because I do have a large amount of air circulating in my tents

 

[Chipmunk]

That is one of those questions where you ask 100 people, get 100 different answers. It all depends on the details of your grow setup and what you are trying to achieve. I have used between 5 gallon plastic to solo cups. What I settled on is 3 gallon fabric. Four plants in a 5x5 tent. The plants fill the tent, so why go bigger? Smaller pots = less moisture in the tent = lower risk of bud rot and healthier plants. I started using a semi-auto bottom watering system and found it worked well. My first indoor grow I used 1 gallon windshield wash bottles with the top cut off and holes in the bottom. When I first started, not knowing what I was doing, I tried everything then chose what worked the next year. Maye not the best way to do it, but it worked for me. Get the basics down first, then fine tune the grow.

I use windshield washer bottles to water my ganja plants. If O'Rielly's only knew!!

 

[Ckbrew]

I have never had a mold problem w/my inside grows, knock on wood!! I imagine it's because I do have a large amount of air circulating in my tents

This is the first year in 7 that I did not have to deal with bud rot in the grow. lots of ventilation and circ fans. Last year only one small incidence. The difference this year was the bottom watering semi-auto system. The top of the coco stayed drier than top watering and I think that contributed to the outcome. Also the grow was later in the year to avoid high humidity and temp in the end bloom stage.