Originally Posted by
Brick Top 
I just do not understand the being willing to settle for less mentality when all it would take is a larger pot to have a good bit more. Is it just so you can say you got a pound and a half from from extremely root-bound plant grown in a pot that was way to small? I mean, is it your version of a party cup grow or a shot glass grow or something?
I can only speak for myself, but like I said before it seems as simple as not everyone has room to keep all their plants in large containers. It's not a willingness to settle for less, it comes from necessity. If I had room of course I'd use bigger pots for bigger plants, but since I don't I need to use smaller pots...and yes I get smaller plants because of it. The only point I'm arguing at all is that plants are not inherently unhealthy because they stay in smaller containers, they get that way because people don't adjust their watering/feeding.
The particular message of mine that you quoted was really in reference to a certain person and a certain picture and not really intended as a general comment, though admittedly with what all I have said on the subject I could see where it could easily be taken as being such.
I can fully understand why some people decide to us smaller pots and that some might need to use smaller pots. But the fact is that once roots begin to circle a pot the plant is under some degree of stress and the more circling there is and the more tangling and intertwining that occurs the more the level of stress will increase.
If someone is experienced in using undersized pots and is diligent with what they do there is no questioning that they can do rather well, but they will never do as well as if they used pots that were of proper size. That is my main point.
Second is experienced and diligent or not, growing in undersized pots always has some degree of risk to it. These are some of the risks.
The following symptoms may be observed if you allow your plants to become root-bound:
1. Stunted Growth.
2. Stretching.
3. Smaller and slower bud production.
4. Needs watering too often.
5. Easy to burn with low % nutrient solution mixtures.
6. Wilting.
No plant will do as well as it otherwise could when it's root-bound if you are using a plant with plenty of room for its roots as your standard of judgment. If plants did better growing under root-bound conditions, it would seem that Mother Nature would have arranged for in situ (where they naturally occur) plants to grow with their roots in tight little cones or cubes, yet we never see that occur. Never.
Growth is simply a measure of the increase in a plant's biomass, how much bigger it has become (the weight of the sum of it's parts), and is the actual measure of how well a plant is doing. Tight roots restrict growth, reduce the amount of extension, and reduce the potential for an increase in mass, so even if someone thinks their plants are doing well the truth is tight roots are stressful and plants would rather have plenty of room for their roots to grow so they could grow as mother nature intended.
Many people claim that large pots promote or increase the risk of root-rot, especially in seedlings and small plants. I always start out my seedlings in the size pot I will use for the entire life of the plants. I have used 4-gallon pots but almost never, but they will work indoors. I have used 5-gallon pots a fair number of times but I prefer to use 7-gallon pots. I have never had any problem with root-rot with seedlings or small plants. The key here, is the soil. If you choose a very porous soil that drains well and supports no (or very little) perched water (that water in the saturated layer of soil at the bottom of the pot), you can grow a very small plant in a very large pot and make the plant MUCH happier than if you were growing it in an undersized pot where it's roots will be highly restricted.
Again, I can see why some people use undersized pots. But even if their plants appear to be happy and healthy, they are not. They are stressed and it is impossible for them to do as well as they otherwise would do if grown in pots that were the proper size. If someone has to grow in undersized pots, then that is what they have to do and all they can do is hope for the best. But no one who has the option of using larger proper sized pots should ever grow in undersized pots. Regardless of how well they do there will still have been some loss, possibly a significant loss, because of the stressful conditions they forced their plants to grow in when they did not need to do so and could of instead did better to much, much better had they instead used larger proper sized pots.
