[rottenjohn]

I have seen a few grows like that but the grower use milk jugs with the bottom cut out. Plants were rootbound as hell and he did a fair amount of soil prep but I really think in his case the yeild suffered because the entire rootmass wasn't able to expand only the portion he cut out. 12' tall huge bushes with so so yeild. Now in your case using a much bigger container it more than likely doesn't cut the yeild.

I personally like to give the rootmass time to develope, then let it have plenty of loose loamy soil to expand in. With a proper watering schedule I don't think the roots stop growing, if you watered every other day then yes, I agree the roots would stop growing in search of water. But I think a good soak from the bottom or at least a little lower than on top will limit the amount of evaporation you would experience.

Using a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom out is very similiar as it will keep water from leaching out and direct it to the deepest part of the roots, especially over a long slow soak.

[negative 1]

oh no bro, i meant that in the center of my grow of the four plants i put a 5 gallon bucket filled with water mostly, sometimes nutrients in beginning of flower and at the very end i'll use a far more than reccomennded amount of flush but the plants are in the ground completley, the buckets are just for watering/feeding. i don't add nutes because in an outdoor grow everything you need is already there. plants that died the year before and the year before add nitrogen and blooms that fall add p and k plus all the varmin droppings and such. i never hinder root growth. in fact with the milk jug method that should not have hinderd growth of roots at all it should have directed them more towards the deeper part of the hole. roots find there way around anything like if they hit a rock they grow aroud it, if they hit a plastic wall they will grow down it. just my opinion and i don't mean to argue. i think that watering from the top is just natural. in an outdoor enviornment there is no need to mess with something that has worked for however long green plants have been growing. again just my opinion.

[rottenjohn]

Only problem I have with forcing the roots down is when it rains the rain doesn't always penetrate as low as the roots are dircted by the jug method. If the roots are let spread naturally they don't just grow down, they also grow out and up in search of water, thats why we see tree roots at the surface. Also I understand what you were saying about the bucket now, makes sense to me. Glad it works out.

[poedizzle]

I already do this with tomatos, i believe its called an earth box, I use a rubbermaid "keg tub" ya know the red tub that they use to put the keg in at keggers and then built a space for the water to sit in the bottem and then have 2 wicks for the water, and they are constantly watered, never dry out and i feed the nuted thru the tube, would probably work well outdoors in ground, never tried it though, maybe next year just to see!
peace
~POE~