Flowering Rootbound Mother

Hi everyone, my first post in a long while and faced with a new issue.

I decided to flower my mostly Sativa (Sensi Seeds Jack Flash) mother plant that had already stopped growing in height as she was nearly 5' tall in a 2 gallon pot.

1) I assume this means that she was rootbound?
2) Was this a mistake?

She has been on 12/12 for 4 weeks now and is producing buds that don't seem very big for this amount of time but are still developing, with resin now starting to appear on the small bud leafs.

Normally, the plants grow a huge amount more when switched to 12/12 for the first 3 weeks or so but she has only stretched a few inches.

3) What further problems, if any, am I likely to face before harvest in approximately another 6 weeks due to her being rootbound?

I'll try to take some photos later that will also show some other health issues such as some yellowing fan leafs but any advice you can give me at the moment will be very helpful.

Thanks!
Yours, patiently awaiting next smoke.

Do her a favor and put her in a 5 gal bucket...Wait till she's dry, then gently transplant her...try not to break up any roots...If indeed she's a Sativa she can go longer then the 10 weeks you've planned...Can go as long as 15+ weeks..Wish you had pictures ...she does sound like a nice size plant..hang in there...
Good Luck

5 feet tall? 2Gallon Pot? TRANSPLANT!!!!

Thanks guys.

The reason why I didn't transplant earlier was the difficulty in achieving this on my own with such a big plant, which for privacy reasons needs to be the case.

If I don't transplant, what are the potential problems I could face?

If I do transplant, then is my plant going to be excessively stressed?

She's not in the best of health it has to be said.

Will the transplant make a big difference after 4 weeks of flowering?

Yes!

What are you feeding her?...If you can't transplant then don't ... she'll be ok... I'm thinking its more having to do with what you been giving/not giving her...when you water does it just run out?

There's NO WAY to maintain correct soil chemistry in the small a pot and she WILL die before harvest looking like that.

If you can't do a correct transplant, do a double-pot where you fill a 5 gallon pail with fresh soil to within 4" of the rim, then take a sawz-all and chop the bottom 4" of the current pot off, avoiding the roots- or a pair of tin snips if it's a thin pot- and place it ON the other soil. The fill in the sides.

FLUSH WELL before you do this and allow to dry out again. Your plant is showing signs of soil salting.

You also MUST feed a correct bloom fert.

That plant will probably finish rootbound even in a 5 gal pail. Ideally, a large feed tub or trash can cut down to about 3 feet tall and punched full of holes with a power drill and 3/4" paddle bit would be better.

Thanks again for the responses folks.

I decided after reading some more transplant threads last night that I must do it as I also concluded that I have been hiding from the truth that she is not a healthy girl and would struggle to complete her life cycle, leaving me hugely disappointed.

So today I bought a 5 gallon pot and some compost for "acid loving/lime hating" plants and made a trouble free transplantation. She was due to be watered and the root mass easily separated from the old pot which was not too stressful for either of us thankfully! :)

One thing I didn't do which is now worrying me though after reading your post Stinky, was to flush. I just went in with a full strength fert feed (Bio-Bizz, top of the range Bloom fert from my 'friendly' grow shop).
What should I now be worried about? Major nute burn and ceratin death, or just a lack of recovery from the previous issues?
Should I flush her tonight after her earlier feed or wait until she's thirsty again?

I usually grow hydroponically which is why I'm so crap at this! :(

Um,correct me if I'm wrong here,i've never heard of cannabis being an acid loving plant...:wtf: