Guide to choosing a pot size

The article is intended to serve as a guide through the different sizes of pots for cannabis plants. You will read about how to choose pots for autoflowering and photoperiodic cannabis plants grown indoors and outdoors.

Light, climate, genetics and space

There are many factors to consider when choosing a pot size for growing cannabis. It is important to know that the final size of the plant will be largely influenced by the size of the pot. The larger the pot, the more the roots can develop and the plant can grow in size.

However, a number of other factors need to be taken into account:

• genetics, whether they are autoflowers or photoperiodic plants
• the length of the growth phase
• method and frequency of watering

Autoflowering cannabis plants

“Autoflowers”, as we know, have a very short growth cycle and start flowering in the middle of the second month, regardless of the light they have. As they will have little time to develop their root system, it is not worth planting them in pots that are too large.

At the same time, because we must avoid transplanting them to avoid causing them stress and stunted growth in their short life cycle, we will have to choose the ideal container in which they can live from germination to harvest

For autoflowering cannabis plants grown indoors, 10L – 12L pots are recommended. If you have very powerful lights, ideal heat, perfect humidity and a variety that gives a high yield, you can use a pot up to 18L. If you prefer to grow a few smaller plants instead, the recommended pot size is 4 – 6L. Great autoflowers strains for indoor is Automaton and Tokamak.

It is recommended to grow autoflowering cannabis outdoors, especially during the months with the most sunlight hours, which in Central European conditions corresponds to June. Harvesting then takes place in August or September. In general, the recommended pot size is a maximum of 20 litres depending on the variety. The larger the pot, the less frequently it needs to be watered. A five litre pot may be sufficient, but on hot days the plant will ‘drink’ it in a day and may wilt. A great strains for growing outdoors is, for example, the Babayaga or Banshee from Nukaseeds.

Photoperiodic cannabis strains

Photoperiod-dependent cannabis varieties give us more options because they have a longer life cycle when grown outdoors. We can use them for all kinds of growing methods and achieve any size and shape.

Indoor: whether they are mother plants or plants that you let flower, if you are starting from seed (even cuttings) and want to do two transplants, it is recommended to germinate in a 0.5L-1L pot, then transplant into a 3-6L pot (which can be the final pot) and then eventually into the final pot. It’s up to you how long you leave the plants in the vegetative stage and how big you want them.

In the selection of cannabis seeds from Nukaseeds we have great varieties of photoperiodic cannabis very suitable for indoors, including Paradox and Megaton.

Indoor photoperiodic growing

With good indoor growing equipment it is possible to keep mother plants in 50l pots alive for a very long time.

If your growing method is SOG (sea of green), you aim to have a large number of plants that mature quite quickly and that concentrate their energy in the central stalk. To do this, you need to use small pots to limit the growth cycle of the plant and encourage it to flower quickly. If you wish to repot, whether cuttings or seeds are used, it is recommended to start in a 0.5 litre pot and then transfer the plants to 6 litre pots.

Outdoor photoperiodic growing

When growing photoperiodic cannabis plants outdoors, it’s different. Warm summers with more than 15 hours of daylight allow the plants to grow for several months and reach their maximum size. If you want to repot, start with a 0.5 litre-1 litre pot, then repot into a 3 litre-7 litre pot and then into a final pot which can be as large as conditions allow. It is not uncommon for growers to use fabric pots of 100 litres or more. The minimum size start from 20 l.

Nukaseeds has great photoperiodic cannabis varieties Paradox and Cleopatra, which are very suitable for growing outdoors.

We hope this article is useful to you and would be happy if you share your findings in the comments below.

Article source: softsecrets.com