Why start to grow in small pot?

People keep saying about this period when you replace your small plant to an bigger pot. Why to start grow in a small pot in 1st place? Is that necessary?

Well if like me you use supper soil (no extra nutes needed during grow), you will find that after watering repeatadly your soil will lose its nutes before the plant absorbs it. I think it easy to control a small plant in a small pot, also i think for smaller plants your more likely to over water in a bigger pot and in bigger pots they stay wet for longer. lol hope this helps.

...if you pot up a small plant in a large pot then water it it stays wet too long and the plant suffers from overwatering.

peace, bozo

hah hi bozo, lol i love the tight knitted community of RIU.

Thank you very much

It is a root thing they race to the side of the pot and then circling if you up pot in stages it helps the roots make better use of the soil. But just throwing a clone right in a bag of dirt still works great.

It's also a 'resource' thinga-ma-bob.. honest, you can quote me on that..

As soon as a new seedling goes into dirt the plant spends almost all its' energy putting down a root system that will support the plant. That means the plant grows roots until the roots hit the inside of the pot. That's why we first TP into smaller pots. If you immediately put a new seedling into a 5-gallon bucket you are going to sit there for weeks waiting for the plant to grow much more roots than it will actually need. A 3-gallon pot will fully support a pot plant you plan on keeping 3 months. So, put your new seedling into a solo cup or 4-inch pot for 10-14 days at first. The plant will soon have the roots necessary and will start vegetative growth only when the root system has been laid. BigSteve.

Interesting. I have wondered that myself and only assumed it was to establish a dense root system before putting them into a larger pot. This makes a lot more sense now.

justanotherbozo said:

...if you pot up a small plant in a large pot then water it it stays wet too long and the plant suffers from overwatering.

peace, bozo

Click to expand...

Great answer! Simple and to the point!

Transplanting is also a great way to check your root system out and see if everything looks good. I like to see the strong white roots when I am moving up pot size. If my roots are discolored I know I have a problem. Its just another way of keeping up with your plants.

I always try to pot-up twice, not including what the seed starts in. If you must go from small to large w/o an intermediate step, water carefully around the plant for a while, increasing the circumference a bit each time, don't do a normal soil soak. You know how big the root mass is, initially anyway. A pretty good rule of thumb for plants in general is that the roots extend out to the far end of the branches/leaves, aka the 'dripline'. Concentrate your watering efforts there until it's big enough for regular watering.