Can u put a plant thats in a pot on top of another?

[GDP]

I have a cheese plant that has filled out it's 3 gal pot, can i put the plant in the pot on top of another 3gal pot filled with soil? the only thing im worrying about is if the roots will go through the drainage holes and form a root system in the other pot? does anyone have any experiance with this? thanks in advance.

 

[hubcap]

sure.
cut the bottom out of the smaller and submerge it into a (preferrably larger) pot about 2 inches down.
(protects already established root system)
i think BOG was big on this methodology.

-hub

 

[GDP]

thanks bro, will it work without cutting the bottom off? its a hydro pot so it has alot of holes.

 

[guerilla family]

thanks bro, will it work without cutting the bottom off? its a hydro pot so it has alot of holes.

You would be better off removing the bottom, or atleast making the holes a bit bigger, IMO. It would allow the roots to grow into the second pot at a much faster rate. Tho Im sure the roots would make their way down to the second pot, without cutting out the bottom, I would recommend breaking the bottom out or widening the holes.
There is a term for this, but I cant think of it right now!
Good Luck

GFam

 

[hubcap]

i dont suppose youd HAFTA take the bottoms off, but, im agreeing with guerilla family here.


i could see and understand the hesitation, but, it prolly would work better with the whole bottom removed.

if ya dont wanna ruin alot of pots, just try a couple and see how the method works for ya?

just some opinions to chew on....

 

[FastForward]

I've no experience of it, but I'm fairly certain you'd get a better result with the bottom cut off. If you've got to remove the plant to make the drainage holes in the pot bigger, then you might as well cut out the bottom all together - better drainage, better root coverage - and then put the bottomless pot on top of the soil in the new bigger pot, and then put the plant back in :) That's how I'd do it if I had vertical space...

 

[GoodTimes]

I agree FF..remove the entire bottom of the pot.
... its called "double potting".

 

[FastForward]

Here's a free idea for anyone feeling commercially minded:

Pots with slide off removable bottoms :)

 

[hubcap]

no shit....
they got those already?

"double potting"...
THATS what im looking for goodtimes!

 

[GDP]

thanks for your help fellow farmers, i went with the bottom cut-off technique.

 

[convex]

If you are starting your plants with double potting in mind, or as a precaution on your next grow:

Cut 2/3 the bottom out of the pot and place a piece of poly on the bottom.
When the plant fills the pot, pull the poly through the bottom of the pot, tickle the root mass a bit and place on new pot - works a charm ;)

Cheers

 

[hubcap]

dude, thats a really good tip.

point for farmer convex.

 

[British_Hempire]

I used plastic drinks cups and cut the bottoms out, it works great.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

BH, nice colors in your girl. I left my glasses with a friend,what is that? Looks like a strain I saw Heath have from black rose. JK

 

[hubcap]

here, here

what is that beautiful lady BH?

2 or 3liter bottles rule for sog, btw!

 

[purpleberry]

Very nice bud BH, and i love your quote from DJ......

 

[Old Yeller]

Also, remember that the root growth of a typical indica variety will slow down & stop once you put it into flower. Sativas, because of their longer flowering time, will still grow new roots way into flower.
When i first started growing, i'd transplant into the final containers & put right into 12/12 only to discover (when i harvested) that the root mass had not spread much into the new soil.

 

[hubcap]

excellent points all around.

theres no reason someone getting into growing in this day and age should fail.

id rep ya OY but i already did. i gotta spread it around...
funny. my mom always told me NOT to do that

lol

 

[Old Yeller]

Thanks HC, i need a good rep - do you handle artists?
I know for my style of growing, this pot-ina-pot idea would be dangerous since i'm always moving my plants in & out of my tent to water & prune. I'd have to drive a 4' stake thru to the bottom of the larger pot to keep it from falling over & ripping out the roots. I routinely clean the spider webs from my basement ceiling with the top of my plants when i move 'em around. Had a heart attack when i thought the Borg had invaded, only to discover they were regular cobwebs...

 

[7rayos]

I've tried too, first with just this small seedling pot straight into a bigger one. The results were curious, as the roots went like crazy through the holes and ended up breaking the first vase.
I've tried again with a bigger pot, like 3 litres, onto a 9 litres. Again, no cutting the bottom or anything, letting the roots through the holes. What happened is that were the roots went through they were thick as fingers. I don't know if that's any better, but they looked like horseradish, and they could take as much nutes as you wanted, it never looked overfed.
I went on trying on a three pots system. The first passing was as good as the others, but the second didn't quite colonize the whole pot by the time it was finished. The substrates in each pot were increasingly nuted, first just plain compo substrate, second with extra wormcasts and third with all of that plus bat guano.
I made a comparative with two clones, same amount of substrate altogether. Unfortunately i had a bad spidermite attack and i couldn't conclude it properly, but at the time of cutting them you couldn't really appreciate much difference in size, if any.
So, i'd stick to the two-pot. What i've heard but not tried is that it works wonders in sog, as the growth after they get through breeaking the holes is explosive, like, you think is something wrong with the plant and suddenly you can actually watch it growing by the hour.
The photo is not the best sample for roots i've had, but the only one i could find.