When To Pot Peat Pots?

I have 16oz red cups, and I put my peat pots with sprouts in them, 1 peat pot in each red cup, it fits snug at the top so that between the bottom of the peat pot and the bottom of the cup is about an inch of space which allows water to drain to.

Well its now about day 20 almost, and I just checked, and in almost all of cups, the roots have gone through the bottom of the peat pots, so each plant has a few roots sticking down almost an inch. Currently none of the roots touch the water at the bottom of the cup, but they are poking out of the peat pot.

So should I go ahead and transplant? Would it be bad if any of the roots started poking down and touched the small puddle of water at the bottom of the cup?

What is the smallest pot I could transplant into so that I don't have to transplant again? I still have to finish vegging, about a month and a half of veg left, and then flowering. I have quite a few plants in peat pots, so I really wanna keep the size of the pot minimal, plus they're $2.75-$4 each, so even buying 5 puts quite the dent in my wallet, and I am gonna need a dozen.

Would you recommend trying a few self watering planters?

I use, and would think you'd be just fine in 2-liter soda bottles....cheap and easy.

You seroius? I could do the whole grow in a 2 liter? That would be so perfect since I drink so much soda. Should I just cut it as close to the top as possible below the curve where the lid is, so the maximum height is available?

Brokenhope420 said:

You seroius? I could do the whole grow in a 2 liter? That would be so perfect since I drink so much soda. Should I just cut it as close to the top as possible below the curve where the lid is, so the maximum height is available?

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It is time to transplant when the roots start growing out of the bottom of the pot. Better to use pots, if available. Less likely to tip, doesn't allow light to hit the roots. Drill drainage if you use the soda bottle. I would go with 2-3 gallon pots. These will be plenty big enough to finish in.

Really you should of planted the peat pots into bigger pots before the roots started to hang through as now you have a chance of damaging the delicate root system when you transplant.
I use peat pots and the idea is to make transplanting easier but i think you have made it a bit harder by leaving it too long
Hope this helps

Bifter

Brokenhope420 said:

You seroius? I could do the whole grow in a 2 liter? That would be so perfect since I drink so much soda. Should I just cut it as close to the top as possible below the curve where the lid is, so the maximum height is available?

Click to expand...

Sure thing, the only time I go bigger than 2 liters is for moms which I keep in 2 gallon grow bags. I flower all my clones out in 16oz. cups

The smaller 2-liter / or 16oz. cups are meant to be packed in tight so no tipping is possible. Also meant more for SOG style of growing single colas. If you want a large bush, or plan on SCROGing you may consider larger pots as well.

Main thing with smaller containers is you want good drainage as you'll be watering everyday.

So, if your schedule doesn't allow that, then the larger 2-3gallon pots/bags would be better to give you more buffer between waterings.

Peace - OGH

I have had a huge underwatering problem with all my plants... I don't know how well I would do if I had to water that frequently... I mean my problem is I don't know how much to water when I do water, and how to decide when the soils dry enough it needs to be watered. I have a moisture meter now, a cheap crappy non-electric one, but it may help... the probe would reach the bottom.

Should I water them until the soil starts draining still? I use miracle grow, which really holds water, its a pain to even get drainage with miracle grow in a 16oz cup, I cant imagine getting it to drain with a 2 liter full of it, but if thats what it takes, I can water and water haha.

I will probably make something out of cardboard to prevent the tipping, put 4-5 holes in the bottom of each 2 liter, and cover each one with duct tape so the soils not exposed on the sides. I will probably flower them all early as well.

Thanks for the reply . I will begin cutting up 2 liters later .

Hmm, this may be something you wait and do next time depending how far along your plants are. If you aren't past 2 weeks into flower I would think you could transplant and be fine, but the soil mix is important for the right drainage.

I use whatever basic soil I can find, usually ACE hardware brand, perlite, vermiculite (if easily available), and worm castings. I take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it almost half with soil, about 25% perlite, 15% worm castings and 5-10% vermiculite...and then mix well.

Everything is hand watered and I just use another 16oz. cup as my pourer (new word!).

It usually takes about 8 oz. of water to get a nice 1-3 oz of drainage.....make sure you have a tray below while you water
With that soil mix, you'll not be able to overwater as excess drains, plain and simple.

I'll try and get some pics up soon.

Also, I never bother with covering the 2 liters with tape or anything. The canopy is thick enough to block most light from the bottom anyway. I do leave whatever label is on there ..Pepsi, Coke etc Still wondering which bottle grows them the best The little clear area on the bottom acts as my window each day when I water to observe root color/health, and the drainage.

I flower about 25-30 plants at a time and it takes right at 30 minutes a day for watering.

Peace - OGH

Most of my plants are around 3 weeks old, maybe a lil less, I think those will be the ones going in the 2 liters, since I do have 2 other pots I can put the day 48er's in.

I carved up 4 2 liters so far, haha I wish I read that part about leaving the label on before I did that haha, that was pretty stupid of me, I like that window idea at the bottom . So I may have to do some taping, if anything atleast to make the sides a bit more sturdier, I will leave a window at the bottom .

but I do have a few plants I could test how it works out on, the 2 liter and watering and all. Theres one 3 week plant that literally looks like it sprouted yesterday, but its still green and healthy. Its in a shallow peat pot, so I am not sure what to do about transplanting. I may mix the miracle grow with some dollar general soil, just roughly 1/2 1/2, more on the MG side. When filling the 2 liter with soil should I be watering it after putting a few handfuls of soil in? Or put all the soil in, have it all dry, put the peat pot in, put the soil around it and everything, bury up to the leaves, and then water everything very well until it drains?

I made 5 good sizes holes in the bottom of each 2 liter, slightly bigger holes than the pre drilled ones in the few plastic pots I have.

Thanks for your help .

PS, dang only 30 min a day 0_0. Haha I have one plant in this soil called Sta-Green, the water just sits on top, this lil tiny sprout in a tiny peat pot takes me almost 30 min to water every other day alone haha.

You got a grow journal? Your setup sounds freakn sweet .

No journal per say, but once I can get the wife out the house later I hope to snap some shots for you.

Yeah, when I mix all the soil components, I mix them dry. Then after filling the 2 liter, or 16oz., I dampen the soil nicely before putting in the transplant.

It just drinks it right up, no sitting water on top...I hate that! If I ever see one doing that, I simply re-pot and start that one over in case the mix wasn't right.

Glad to help with what I can, best of luck and hopefully by tomorrow I'll have pics!

Peace - OGH

Hey Brokenhope - got some pics uploaded to my gallery if you care to take a peek.

Peace! OGH

Wow those look awesome. Such big plants in such little containers. What type of lights do you use?

side by side 400watt HPS, then a little cfl set-up for clones for the first couple weeks.

Peace - OGH