When To Pot Up When You Can't See Roots

[MidgeSmith]

I have a slight dilemma as to when to pot up.

 

TL;DR

I can't see the roots and think the roots wont easily escape the bottom of the pot, but I need to figure out when I can pot up.

 

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I went from germinating in a plug to 500ml pot then about 10 days ago to to 2L pots and I want to move them on to the final 12.5L pots as soon as possible, because at around 4 weeks now, 2 of the plants are getting quite tall (the other 2 are afghans and short enough not to be an issue). I've topped the 2 tallest plants (Ketama and Cindy 99) 2 times each and the Afghans 1 time.It sounds like a huge jump in terms of volume, but due to the shape of the pots I have them in, I think it is fine. I am assuming close to doubling in height upon flowering, to be on the safe side.

 

Time is of the essence because I want to get them SCROGged up as soon as I can to make sure their height doesn't become problematic and their spread is maximised.  They are also starting to get hungrier and the new pot will contain Ecolife soil which has far more nutrients in it than the All-mix they are currently in.  I have started giving them Fishmix in the interim, but will be pleased to h ave the reassurance of the richer soil around them. If I have to wait a whole lot longer to pot-up the largest two (which are about a week ahead of the Afghans) then I guess I will have to do some temporary LST in the post or even super-crop them, so I know I have options, but there is a fly in the ointment.

 

I bought the pots they are in just before I went on holiday, potting them up to ensure they had enough water while I was away and they are very much loving life, however, the drainage holes in the bottom of the pots are tubes, rising up an inch into the pot - allowing water to sit in the bottom 2cm.  I should have cut the posts out before potting really, but I didn't.

 

The upshot of this is that it won't be as easy to see when roots are coming out of the pot - which is how I planned to determine the right time to pot up.

 

So, I am asking, what would be a safe time to pot up to the final pot or a way to determine the root spread without risking problems? Any recommendations and help gratefully received

 

[p.s. There are 2 Afghans as I was hoping to get 1 male and hoping furthermore that they would indicate sex before being put to flower.  The plan being to leave the male in the smaller pot as it would be culled earlier leaving more space.  However there has been no indication yet other than one of the 2 being a lot more squat than the other, which may or may not be an indication.  Just saying, they are going to be cramped if both Afghans are female, but I wont top them again and will strip out extraneous vegetation and branching as required to try to make them fill their slot well if they are both females.]

 

[KC]

Well I've never seen those sort ofpots. The normal thing would be to just pop the rootball out and have a look but I'm not sure if that's possible with your pots? 

If you can do it you want it when it's not really wet but not too dry. 

If the roots have been kept warm and your watering regime is OK, i'd imagine they'd have rooted that pot but obviously strain and environment will dictate that. 

[MidgeSmith]

Just now, KC said:

Well I've never seen those sort ofpots. The normal thing would be to just pop the rootball out and have a look but I'm not sure if that's possible with your pots? 

If you can do it you want it when it's not really wet but not too dry. 

If the roots have been kept warm and your watering regime is OK, i'd imagine they'd have rooted that pot but obviously strain and environment will dictate that. 

Hi KC, thanks for your reply.

 

I've seen them once before, I just bought them because they were there when I needed some and seemed to be the right size.  I think the idea might actually be to stop the plant sitting in the water in the saucer, but it would depend on not overwatering, because obviously water WOULD sit in the bottom of the pot before overflowing down the columns.  I could try to tap the plant from the pot to look, I'm just concerned that if I am too early I'll tear the minor roots and disrupt the development in the pot.

 

I don't see that I have much choice though, so maybe that's what I will do.  The current plan is that I'll give them the weekend to get over the topping and then take a peek

Edited November 4, 2023 by MidgeSmith

[KC]

Don't be too worried about disturbing the roots, I don't know much about horticulture but cannabis plants are really hardy. When I used to keep long term mother plants I'd take them out of the pot chop an inch of each side then pot them back into a pot, they absolutely loved it. 

I do wonder where this transplant shock thing comes from 

[5Lip]

Hope you don't mind me asking for some related advice .....

I had roots coming from the bottom of the pot but when removed felt they weren't quite rooted out so wasnt sure to pot up or not

Edited November 4, 2023 by 5Lip

[BodhiBaby]

Think I know the pots you mean, those tubes are usually on outdoor flowerpots. I'd highly recommend cutting those tubes off otherwise the wet dry cycle is gonna be hard to judge. I've got experience of growing tomatoes in similar pots and can say without a doubt they were stunted and just hated always having the bottom of the pot wet, but that was outside where watering is hard to control if there's weeks of rain. 

[MidgeSmith]

32 minutes ago, BodhiBaby said:

Think I know the pots you mean, those tubes are usually on outdoor flowerpots. I'd highly recommend cutting those tubes off otherwise the wet dry cycle is gonna be hard to judge. I've got experience of growing tomatoes in similar pots and can say without a doubt they were stunted and just hated always having the bottom of the pot wet, but that was outside where watering is hard to control if there's weeks of rain. 

I totally will cut them off as soon as I have potted up. It was kind of an emergency re-pot as I say, but it's a bad idea with cannabis plants I totally agree!!  It would make sense that it is for outdoor plants, I bought them from a builders warehouse I often go to - they have a load of gardening stuff and they were cheap and required.  I just didn't have the time to cut them off before I went out, especially as the kids were around. I don't like having to answer too many awkward questions on the fly - like "Why do you need plant-pots when it is autumn and you don't have any plants in your room?"

@KC yes, thanks for the advice, I know you are right as I already have that process in mind for the mother plant clones I have taken from my current crop (advice I read on here from ages ago ).  I just figured it would slow the plants down and with energy costs being what they are, I am keen to stay as lean as possible on the grow cycle - plant maturity aside.

Edited November 4, 2023 by MidgeSmith

[KC]

3 hours ago, 5Lip said:

wasnt sure to pot up or not

 

If the plant was starting to look hungry I'd pot up anyway. I rarely feed a plant in veg, I just rely on the compost. Mothers are different of course.

[Lux_Interior]

You can't really hurry a plant rooting, you just help it along (love/nutes, etc.) . There is no point putting a small plant in a massive pot and falling to your knees and praying for a miracle, it probably won't happen.

 

Ideally, I like to see a nice white root-ball before I pot up. Patience is a virtue.

 

 

 

[MidgeSmith]

@KC yeah me either ideally, but I think All-Mix has about 3 weeks of vegetative growth nutrient available and then it starts to get patchy.  I'm into week 4 now, so I guess it is about right.  I've given them a little fix mix just to carry them on. It's no big thing, but to be honest, I wish I'd gone with living soil from the start with this grow, but I didn't get it in, in time.

 

I just had a look up the holes leading up the columns inside the bottom of the pot and all of the plants.  Joy, they all have a cris cros of happy and healthy white roots visible through there.  I put my reading glasses on and inspected the surface of the pots too and there are lovely hairy white roots searching across the edges of the pot at the top too

 

So, I am going to let the pots dry out for a day or two since they've not long been watered and then I should think they will be good to pot-up.  I will take it slowly and carefully, but turning a plant upside down in soil is always a bit scary to me after the 500ml size lol.

 

@Lux_Interior no totally!  I won't try to rush things, it all takes as long as it takes. I am in no hurry to get it in to consume, just to try to get the SCROG net in the minute they are repotted.  It's a matter of telling when they are ready without too much disruption that I was after and hoping it wouldn't take too long.  I'm not trying to hurry rooting just speculating on timescales because Ketama isn't the shortest Indica As I say though, if they are not ready imminently I will start super-cropping her.

I'm really excited to see how this grow goes.  Afghan, Ketama and Cinderella 99 is a bit of a dream team for me - in theory - lol.

 

It will also be good to give my curing fridge a really good shot at optimal temperatures over a 3 week dry too.  This will be the acid test, as long as I grow them reasonably well, I will be able to see just how much terpene and VSC content I can retain for the consuming.  So, exciting as hell all the way around.

Cheers,

Edited November 4, 2023 by MidgeSmith

[MidgeSmith]

Well, I needn't have been concerned at all...  Potted up a few minutes ago and they were all happily and healthily slightly root-bound with bright white roots.

 

They've all gone into their final air-pots with a bit of dim-light kerfuffle and spilt soil everywhere

 

All good, thanks gents

Edited November 6, 2023 by MidgeSmith

[MidgeSmith]

On 04/11/2023 at 6:57 PM, BodhiBaby said:

Think I know the pots you mean, those tubes are usually on outdoor flowerpots. I'd highly recommend cutting those tubes off otherwise the wet dry cycle is gonna be hard to judge. I've got experience of growing tomatoes in similar pots and can say without a doubt they were stunted and just hated always having the bottom of the pot wet, but that was outside where watering is hard to control if there's weeks of rain. 

Yeah, glad to have potted up from that pot now.  Though, in honesty, it turned out that the risers were only about 1cm high. Anyway, that unnecessary cm will be removed before I use those pots again!!

[Goohfy]

Perfect try that next time have a little look to save you getting anxious glad there’s no problem.peace Goohfy