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When to increase pot size
- Thread starter mmscuba
- Start date
I agree with Meinchoh, it's better to pot them to early than too late. If they become rootbound you'll need to cause some damage when untangling the roots. They will do just fine in bigger pots. If you don't have the space to do so yet, you can keep them in those pots until they are about 6" though I'd recommend repotting when they are 4".
Potting up has two factors to it - for the good of the plant and for your convenience. The only "should" is if you let them get to the point where their root system gets too big for the pot. Everything else is for your convenience. You start in small pots indoors in the winter for your convenience - some people start them in their final (larger) pots for their convenience - other people just start them straight in the ground for their convenience. So your moving them to larger pots now would be for your convenience. One thing is you said you "used to" grow in raised beds, which seems to imply that you won't be doing so with these. However, if you are going to move them to raised beds (or in the ground any way), there's no need to pot up since you are in a warm climate - just move them to the raised bed or ground when you're ready.
i always let the plants fill in the container before potting up, meaning the roots.
Thanks to all! From what I'm reading here, I'll probably trans them to 5 gal soon, I'm thinking some 5 gal buckets with a few holes drilled in the bottom? Sorry if I sound stupid about this, but I've never done containers.
I see your point, but no, these will remain in containers for their lifespan. I no longer have the space for a raised bed, or any other natural growing area. These will be in buckets forever.geeme said:
As an experiment i left a few "extra" plants in solo cups. They will be transplanted eventually, but currently they are roughly 2 feet tall and setting pods.. judging by the plants in the picture, you dont need to be in any hurry. As someone said, do it at your convenience, they will be fine
Roguejim said:
LordHill said:
I, for one,can get a little lazy with re-potting sometimes. That does come at a cost, as I need to maintain the plants almost daily. But since I am already taking care of dozens of other plants in the area, it really isn't too tough for me, personally.
I just saw this thread yesterday and thought I would post a pic of my plants in 3" starter pots that are getting pretty big and still very happy.
The small damage on the bottom few leaves would be from a single occasion where the soil dried up and the leaves drooped. Normally, this wouldn't happen with my plants, but it only takes 1-3 days for that soil to dry out. So, if anyone plans to keep big plants in small pots, just be vigilant.
Roguejim said:
It does seem like that. Now that I think back on past experience, it very well could be..
The ones in my pic are under mostly shade in a garden window up until about 4 days ago. They did get some direct sunlight, but the small containers may have been a factor, problem is - given the environment for these, no way for me to tell for sure. One other factor for the plants in my pic, they were topped once, so they had a good root system to push new growth [less initial leaves to support] and with good nutes they could really burst out. That plus mostly non-direct sunlight could have been more of a cause than the pot size... I dunno, that one is tough to reason, but I agree it does seem to happen like you said.
