transplanting to bigger pot, need advice

Ok ive waiting too long and have a huge root mass down in the res of my bubbler, am trying to move up from 3" to 5".......do you guys take out of small cups or just sit cup in new larger size............should i carefully pile roots around in the new pot and fill in w media or whats best way to avoid damage. i have no choice now but to mash all the roots into the new container, but i guess technically i should have repotted while roots where still growing and not such a large mass. Or should i leave it all alone and hope for the best in the small pot.

Thanks for the help

Leave it alone. You will only do damage in hydro.

How big are your plants ?

We have seen 4 foot or so in a 3 inch netpot.
In hydro you go straight into whatever is finale no repotting like soil.
The reason for bigger net pots are the stability it gives big bushey plants. so it depends what your growing. Indoors when the canopy is about 2 feet the light does not penetrate so any more than that is wasted. Unless you know how to gro the big ones and have massive light.

You always respond with good advice, .....my plants(3) are around 8" tall but bushier than my first attempt. I added more light. I have 2 48" 4bulb flourescents up each side, white panels on the other 2, and a 70 watt hps above in a 2x2x4 space. Started out with these seedlings in the bottles cuz thats what i had, just didnt finish my rubbermaid tub till now. Also still waiting on hydroton i ordered. I am building a new box (prolly 2x3x5) to flower in, with 2 more flouro's and 150 watt hps above, also have a spare 70 MH to add into the other when i start another round. never plan to have more than 4 growing and 2 flowering depending on how many males i get. have yet to try cloning need something to help me "concentrate" for now.
As you can tell im a newbie, pretty good at outdoor veggies just trying my hand at my own stash..........didnt realize to start out/finish in same pots. Thought i had read somewhere on here about a guy setting the 3" in the 5". Didnt make any sense to me then cause roots are still confined........guess i will learn to start out in little bit bigger pots. real problem is the 3" pots are inside a 24oz bottle set in a pvc rack, roots are enormous but hang down through the bottle neck and are constricted. figured i should leave well enough alone and learn better next go round. Am working on some lids to use the pots and no bottles. If i had transplanted before roots made it through the bottom, that would surely have helped.

The 3 inch netpots should work very well for those rooms.

Are most of the roots in the bottle ? And main roots hanging through the neck ?

If that's the case then I would take a good pair of heavy shears and cut the bottle away. Be careful and you won't do hardly any damage. If the roots become too restricted then the plant will Bonsai. I have seen roots clog a 1/4 inch drip line 6 inches up and then stop growing. Took me a few to figure it out.

Most of the roots are actually down south in the res, i had cut the bottles just tall enough to hold the pots, the roots went straight down thru then filled out.....i was worrying about them cloggin up the pvc and not draining, had not had so much root mass in prior attempts. I will probably ditch the pvc/bottle setup when i transplant the (4) seedlings i sprouted 2 weeks ago. its working great for small plants as long as you get them out before they make alot of roots. For the ones already cooking......i was thinking of trying to use shears or a hot knife or something to carefully carve the plastic away, and still may attempt it, was just curious if I should get the roots back into a container without mashin them all up and doing more harm than good, could sacrifice the bottom of larger net pots to keep them hanging down in the res, just wasnt sure if i should try to get them up in some media or not. One is looking really good and flowering all by itself, and definetly the prettiest female i have had so far, so i dont want to f it up. The other two are a cpl weeks behind, and not sexed, but still have a good amount of root mass, may experiment with them first. i just need to do whatevers best for the older one and get it into a flower box asap to cut back to 12 hrs light. Just got my GH 3part and started mixin, so far have been using a "pinch" of MG to a gallon plus a "pinch" of epsom salt.

If they have a good root mase and you want to flower leave them. The sooner you get them to flower the sooner the roots will stop growing as much.

I would leave them as is and plan for the next time. Hydro can be fast.

I appreciate you following my thoughts and helping out, i have wasted a week worrying about what to do.....think im gonna flip the lights and leave the little bottlenecked plant to do its thing, bonsai or not times a wastin...............cya round the forum.

Oh Oh, I had plans on transplanting too. Growing in 3 inch netpots in DWC (hydroton) small grow chamber with 5 gal resevoir. Now I have a grow tent big enough for 3 x 3 ebb and flow tray. I have econo tray with 5.5 inch netpot insert and was planning taking my 10 plants and moving them in at week 3 or 4 into new ebb and flow. Was gonna nest the 3 inch pots in 5.5 inch pots and fill with Hydroton. Will they survive this ??

They will survive it just takes more time and I would also add a root rot preventor such as hygrozyme.

I might would fill the tray with hydroton and just bury the 3 inch netpots in. Use the 5.5 next time. Save your self some time.