Who of you guys went lower than one gallon to achieve enough rootbound?

[hydrodreams]

I have just finished my first grow in Coco (gold label 70/30) after a long time in high quality peat (gold label light mix). Before I did that, I tried to get myself educated a bit about growing sucessfully in coco in the threads of aquaman and others about watering, pot sizes etc. I vegged mine 2.5 weeks straigt in 1 Gallon nursery pots. This gave me a good amount of roots, but after harvesting and watching the medium, i realized that many plants didnt have a lot of roots on the inner part of the medium. And even outside, not all of them had what could be called severely rootbound.

I cannot veg them longer, otherwise they will be too big for my room. And I was actually happy with how their structure looked from above the medium. My problem is, that I had always high runnoff values, up to 2.8ec when feeding 1.4 or even higher. And I think this is because my 1 Gallon pots were not rootbound enough and salts could build up in parts of the medium where there isnt enough roots that would consume them. In many threads here, experienced people mention how crucial it is to get the plants rootbound in order to be able to manage a stable ec without having to initiate heavy flushes all the time.

So back to my initial question: Did anybody here go lower than one gallon pots in order to achieve more rootbound than he achieved in 1 Gallon?

Thanks for any help

Edit: I'm talking about serious perpetual grows and not fun-oriented contests or similar

 

[Paradiced]

So you vegged for 2.5 weeks then ran right through flower to harvest in the same one gallon pots. Gotcha. The salts will build up without proper runoff root bound or not. Runoff is how you maintain a stable ec in the root zone. My guess is you needed to have a higher frequency of fertigation events. In one gallon pots 6x per lights on is about average for coco. So if you're feeding them w the correct volume that yeilds your 10-20% runoff and your run off ec is still high keep adding new cycles until it levels out. It's a gradual process. I hope that helps somewhat

 

[Aqua Man]

So you vegged for 2.5 weeks then ran right through flower to harvest in the same one gallon pots. Gotcha. The salts will build up without proper runoff root bound or not. Runoff is how you maintain a stable ec in the root zone. My guess is you needed to have a higher frequency of fertigation events. In one gallon pots 6x per lights on is about average for coco. So if you're feeding them w the correct volume that yeilds your 10-20% runoff and your run off ec is still high keep adding new cycles until it levels out. It's a gradual process. I hope that helps somewhat

This ^^^ I was feeding my 1 gals up to 250ml14x a day at peak growth

 

[hydrodreams]

Thanks for the answers so far.

Well I certainly had 10% runoff, rather more. I even did a manual flush with florakleen. I am feeding 19x 50ml a day appr. which gives me 10-20% runoff.

After reading all the content here and elsewhere, I really have the impression, that coco doesnt make a lot of sense without severe rootbound if you want to achieve the most out of it.

@Aquaman: I saw your pictures from your rootball....and I can tell without a doubt, that mine is nowhere as rootbound as yours. So Im not surprised that you had to feed 250ml 14x a day. How much would such a plant of yours yield more or less?

I do about 12 plants per sqm.

 

[Mudballs]

Screen grab from vid cuz it's all i have from this. Easy and fast to bottom feed, flowered clones stupid fast...but untenable really. Not rootbound per se, but such limited space they go off pretty much instantly under 17/7 after rooting and transplant.

 

[Paradiced]

Thanks for the answers so far.

Well I certainly had 10% runoff, rather more. I even did a manual flush with florakleen. I am feeding 19x 50ml a day appr. which gives me 10-20% runoff.

After reading all the content here and elsewhere, I really have the impression, that coco doesnt make a lot of sense without severe rootbound if you want to achieve the most out of it.

@Aquaman: I saw your pictures from your rootball....and I can tell without a doubt, that mine is nowhere as rootbound as yours. So Im not surprised that you had to feed 250ml 14x a day. How much would such a plant of yours yield more or less?

I do about 12 plants per sqm.

Increase your shot volume

 

[GreenFlexTiger420]

i grow in 2.5 liter(didn't want to buy pots and I thought it was 3) like aqua man does and explained in his thread and I don't have any issues root bound is a myth after all

 

[hydrodreams]

Thanks for your input GrennFlex.....

What is your setup? How many plants per m2 and how much do you yield per plant approx.?

I find it a bit risky to say that it is a myth, that rootbound isn't one of the most important aspects if you want to get as much of a hydro-effect as possibel in coco, if this is mentioned a lot of times all over. But I am not making any claims in this regard right after my first coco grows for a long time. I this thread a quote from a really experienced grower says: "with that said, multifeeds only work with A. an undersized rootbound pot and B. a thriving and thick root mass...if you throw and under developed root system in too big of a pot and try it , its a recipe for disaster."



Maybe the best that could come out of this thread is: "How to achieve the same results in coco without rootbound than with rootbound and not experience salt-buildup"

 

[hydrodreams]

Increase your shot volume

I think this whole discussion about rootbound is also where you ran into the controversy if its possible to overwater in coco....I think that a container with a severely rootbound plant can indeed not be overwatered. But one without severe rootbound as mine can indeed be overwatered and this makes me hesitate to produce even more runoff in order not to have these differences....

 

[Mudballs]

I'm not a scientist or botanist, i just studied cannabis stuff online like most of us. i "think" rootbound is perhaps a misnomer. You know how flowering hormones or precursors is it...need to collect to a certain amount uninterrupted, then flowering starts? Well i think that's what's happening with roots and what's perceived as rootbound flowering onset.
I think the tips of roots hit obstructions and then send hormones or some kind of signal (enzymes maybe) and if that signal reaches a certain threshold, it initiates flower.
I know i should back some of this up with links to studies and whatnot, but I'm hoping for a casual convo.

 

[GreenFlexTiger420]

I think this whole discussion about rootbound is also where you ran into the controversy if its possible to overwater in coco....I think that a container with a severely rootbound plant can indeed not be overwatered. But one without severe rootbound as mine can indeed be overwatered and this makes me hesitate to produce even more runoff in order not to have these differences....

Well sorry I kicked a controversial topic I run more of a chill grow so sorry for jumping in with not much mastery I mean I know how to grow in coco but in no sense I have a full understanding of what the coco does also I have a hard time with writing in English, so I have a 4x4 with 8 clones that went straight to flower 3 bigger plants and 2 from seed
10 pots in the tent are 2.5L two are 4L and one 5L I grow with age old nutrients hand feeding and watering with blumat . We are all the kids of the green hope you have a great grow bro