Crowded pot!!

I got some clones from a friend but they were delivered to my neighbour. He immediately planted 10 plants in a large pot that already had 2 (that were a few weeks ahead in growing) inside.

After nearly 2 weeks, I've finally managed to reclaim my clones from him but the pot is looking overcrowded already. There are currently 12 (yes 12) plants inside a (approx) 50L planter. Because of this, two of the plants are REALLY stunted. They basically look like twigs compared to the others and the leaves have all fell off.


I've looked up online how to transplant before but none of them were taking into account a set up as ridiculous as this.

What is the safest way to remove these plants and give some (much needed) relief to the smaller ones?

Just separate them gently, disturbing the roots as little as possible. Keep them out of direct light for a day. Some superthrive would be nice if you have it, but not necessary. They will recover. I would only leave one plant in the pot. The roots will get tangled and they may stangle each other.

yes be careful not to kill too many roots, they are tangled down there so dont rush.

dude proper method for this kind of thing is to wash away the soil due to the roots probably being extremely clumped together, once you just have a root mass for the most part you ought to attempt to separate to the best of your abilities each root mass leaving enough to recuperate the plant then re pot them and you should probably give em some senzi zym or root innoculent or something to start root production immediately.

after you do all of the above i would go next door and kick your neighbour in the nuts.

have you started flowering these at all? keep in mind that transplanting and tearing these plants apart will cause stress, will slow down growth for a little bit, and might even lead to 1-2 of the small/weak plants dying off. it looks like these are reaching the max height (for your enclosure) before you'd want to flower them; as in you might just want to move forward and not worry about this. Yes, the plants will b fighting for root space and nutrients; so in this setup you will find some plants will b smaller and offer less production than the taller ones.

+1 to a face palm for your neighbor.

qaws83 said:

dude proper method for this kind of thing is to wash away the soil due to the roots probably being extremely clumped together, once you just have a root mass for the most part you ought to attempt to separate to the best of your abilities each root mass leaving enough to recuperate the plant then re pot them and you should probably give em some senzi zym or root innoculent or something to start root production immediately.

Click to expand...

Anyone who has actually done this (like myself) will tell you what a pain in the ass this is, and you will still break roots, and the roots don't like light so you need to do this whole process fast and with a dozen plant its going to take a little while to get it all washed separated and back into the soil, and when you replant its hard not to damage any roots. Just let the soil dry out a bit, and take a sharp blade a cut down between them then replant in a larger container, you want to have new soil all around the core you cut out. If you want, you can add hygrozyme as directed to your water, it will dissolve the dead roots and promote new growth. I've found this causes less stress than playin' with the roots with your hands.

This is just a suggestion. Let them all grow together and put them in a trashcan or big bucket so they have lots of room to grow. I have had plants grow well close together on several occasions.

you can even LST/bend them away from the center of the pot so the leaves have more room.

I have separated quite a few in the past. I have a habit of throwing stray seeds in the pots of other plants, (not mj plants), so I have done this often. I have never damaged the roots so badly that I lost one. The worst case scenario was that it might take a couple of days for it to recover. It's really not that big an issue....as long you take your time. It isn't necessary to remove all the soil from the roots! The more soil that you can leave on, the better, less shock. Good luck.

Thanks to everyone for the advice!
I'll definitely be doing some nut kicking when I see him again.
Guess I'll try to cut a few out and see how that goes.... Biggest problem atm is that he not only planted mine in there, but someone else's so it's made everything even more messy. At the moment I'm growing mine, someone elses and one of my neighbor's clones in my tent. Maybe I should charge rent. ;D