Root ball not filling whole pot.

franklinz

Active Member
After my most recent living soil harvest in smart pots, I noted the root ball only made it about halfway down my 7 gals and did not touch the bottom half of the soil. Transplanted w/extreme mycos from 3 gal to 7 when going to bloom and it appears the roots really didn't grow a lot since. no salts. Mostly recharge, Mammoth P, and a few hits of Ambrosia during my flower maturing stage. Other than that it's straight 7.0 tap from the top when my pots are light. Any suggestion on how to get my roots to fill the pot and utilize all the medium?
 

Herb & Suds

Well-Known Member
Water when dry and leaves begin to droop. Gallon every 2 days at stretch and bulk. Then drop to every 3 days when the flowers are riping.
I run in 5 gallon pots a gallon each watering and if I waited three days they would look half dead
In full flower I am feeding everyday
Waiting till they wilt is waiting to long
 

franklinz

Active Member
These plants shift their energy away from root growth during the flowering period. A lot of people transplant like a week before flowering, but I like to hold off on flipping to 12/12 until I see roots filling out the entire pot.
This makes sense as I don't believe there really is a single-time-based solution and a visual check of the roots would be valuable.
 

franklinz

Active Member
Not enough volume. You should be using almost 2 gallons to water sufficiently. At least 25% of container volume.
This would make sense. I usually water slowly over a 15 minute period to 'try' and saturate the medium and check the base to make sure it is wet. How much time would you use adding 2 gallons to ensure saturation but little runoff? 30 min?
 

waterproof808

Well-Known Member
If the plant grew well, you dont need to concern yourself with root mass...you arent smoking roots. You could use less medium next time but then you will need to increase watering frequency.
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
I've transplanted to bigger pots well into flower. At harvest the roots had filled the pot completely. Those that are implying that roots don't grow once the plant starts flowering are incorrect. I've even ripped half the roots off and they still filled in the pots. No transplant shock or anything. I don't use any Mammoth P, Recharge, or anything else. I still get excellent root growth.

Chances are the bottom half of the pot was staying dry.
 

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
This would make sense. I usually water slowly over a 15 minute period to 'try' and saturate the medium and check the base to make sure it is wet. How much time would you use adding 2 gallons to ensure saturation but little runoff? 30 min?
Yeah, I usually do somewhere around 2 gallons per 5g bag. I rotate so I do say a gallon in each then go back and do another round. I only have 4 plants going at a time, but with mixing solution, etc. I'm probably spending about an hour and a half each water/feed.

In a 5G bag with ProMix I generally water between 1.5g and maybe 2.25g to get to 20% runoff. But I'm not watering every other or every two days, it's a 4-day cycle.
 

franklinz

Active Member
If the plant grew well, you dont need to concern yourself with root mass...you arent smoking roots. You could use less medium next time but then you will need to increase watering frequency.
I'm a believer in as in 'As above, so below; as below, so above' with regards to plant growth. The flower was great but it may have been better. That's just my craft way...
 

mudballs

Well-Known Member
I'm a believer in as in 'As above, so below; as below, so above' with regards to plant growth. The flower was great but it may have been better. That's just my craft way...
That's the spirit, reject sound pragmatic input from long term growers...
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
This would make sense. I usually water slowly over a 15 minute period to 'try' and saturate the medium and check the base to make sure it is wet. How much time would you use adding 2 gallons to ensure saturation but little runoff? 30 min?
Depends. Do it slowly and all over. Use a bamboo barbecue skewer and pierce the hell out of everything. Especially under the plant. Do this before every feeding. With the medium loosened up it takes more water.
 

franklinz

Active Member
The dude told you root mass dont really matter...you basically told him to go fk himself
Depends. Do it slowly and all over. Use a bamboo barbecue skewer and pierce the hell out of everything. Especially under the plant. Do this before every feeding. With the medium loosened up it takes more water.
Yes. Aeration may be the ticket as I usually have a hydrophobic crust on the top. Watering slowly usually helps saturation but I think I'm losing a lot to the sides. Thx
 
Top