How large should the root-ball be?

[stinkbudd]

Here is my problem-plant. After trying everything to help her, someone suggested to transplant her into another pot with better soil. Below are pictures taken a few hour after her transplant. She hasn't went into shock yet (she looks the same or maybe even a little better since the transplant). But when I transplanted her, her rootball was as big as my fist. For a girl, I have a good size fist, but I would think that her root ball should have been bigger than that. She is 7 months old and has never been pruned or topped. She is 20" high. We recently made an indoor grow room about two months ago and had moved her from being outside to the new grow room where she has been the last 2 months. She was lookin pretty good till we kicked her into flowering then she declined agin rapidly. So i'm thinking it has somthing to do with her roots being stunted (unless some strains have small roots)

stinkbudd Reviewed by stinkbudd on 08-31-2006. How large should the root-ball be? Here is my problem-plant. After trying everything to help her, someone suggested to transplant her into another pot with better soil. Below are pictures taken a few hour after her transplant. She hasn't went into shock yet (she looks the same or maybe even a little better since the transplant). But when I transplanted her, her rootball was as big as my fist. For a girl, I have a good size fist, but I would think that her root ball should have been bigger than that. She is 7 months old and has Rating: 5

[locomark]

Well Stinkbudd,

That'a a hard question you have there since several factor are at work. Since your picture isn't available I'll make some assumptions. One your first pot was fairly small? Maybe it was in indirect light while outside? Remember the bigger ths pot the bigger the rootball the bigger the yield. Anyway there you have it.

Loco

[alienhybrid]

Well I've been researching this a lot since many people told me my 1-gallon pots were too small....

But every growing bible I've read said 1-4 gallon is acceptable.

From what I've read a 24" plant will only have a root-ball the size of a baseball. Once they reach 4-feet high the root-ball can reach softball size. It is that point where they become too large for a 1-gallon pot.

If you look around at other similar plants and trees the root are of similar size and don't really need a large area to mature.

However as was said the bigger the root the bigger the plant.

[the image reaper]

first off, I suspect a 7-month old plant that is only 20" tall, has problems, ... I have gradually increased pot sizes over the years, starting with 6" clay pots, and now using #5 pots (commonly referred to as 5-gal pots) ... whatever size I used, the rootball pretty much filled the pot at harvest time ... there is a product called SUPERTHRIVE that you will see mentioned in these forums extensively ... you will see claims that it changes seeds to female status, triple sizes buds, and probably cures cancer, too ... none is true ... the one thing that it DOES do, is promote rootgrowth, which is essential to healthy plants ... next crop, start with the basics, I suspect you have poor soil pH, and probably not enough light, to have such a small plant after 7 months ... good luck :smokin:

[m.g.]

i start my seeds directly in the soil (appx half inch below surface) in the "#1" pots (aka 1gal) and that's where they grow until sexed. then the females are transplanted into the "#5" (aka 5 gal) pots where they finish 4-5 months after the seed was planted and the pots are always rootbound to the point i wonder what happened to all the soil sometimes...lol

and yes, super-thrive was made for transplanting and reduces shock. there are cheaper alternatives to be found that work well enough but i rarely have probs from transplanting when i give the plant a good dose of s-t solution a couple days before the transplant and a heavier dose in the pot just before the plant is moved into it (on top of the soil of the soil in the half-filled pot) and another right after getting topped off with soil when the transplant is finished. same regimen works well for me when moving clones from the rooting chamber into potted soil (but i use smaller pots and won't transplant again (into the #5's as they have already been sexed) until their seedling starter pots are rootbound.

HTH...