HElPPPP i neeeed somebody help

what up yall i got a few questions and id really appreciate the help.. im a 3th time grower and my first 3 grows have all been success' with each one being better than the time before... anyways ive done all of my growing hydroponically and have no experience or knowledge at all about soil growing.

but i thought id switch it up a littlebit and experiment and go soil for once.

so ive got a few questions here..

1.i know your spoced to transplant into bigger pots as the plant and root system gets bigger.. why not just start out with a big pot to begin with?

2.are there different soils used for veg and bloom? or does the soil remain the same?

3.lets say i use a 10 gallon bucket of soil- how many gallons of water would i use per watering?

4.how do you collect the excess run off water after a watering,because doesnt it leak out of the bottom of the pot?

5.would a 5 or 10 gallon bucket work? and if so should i drill holes at the bottom of it??

thank you very much for your time appreciate any feedback

Here is my opinion on the subject, other people may have other reasons for what they do. I am not saying they are wrong. I am just saying this works for me. Here are my answers.....
1. I start from seed or clone in a small pot to conserve space and soil, in case anything goes wrong early with the seedlings. It allows me to keep them under less lights for a while, conserving energy, too. Then I transplant to the Main Big Pot they will live in through flowering. That is where I really start my training of the plant.
2. Soil remains the same for both, just different combination of nutrients in the watering. I start my flush after week 6, but I am really picky, you could do it later.
3. Hard to say, it depends on your soil blend.... I just usually watch my plants, and figure out how thirsty they are. I would say for a 5 gallon pot, you would water about 1-2 gallons every other day. But, like I said, it depends on your blend. I use a blend that I need to water every night, but use less water.
4. There are good runoff containers at most grow shops these days, for all sizes of pots. You can go individual, or use a larger reservoir for all the plants together, but you would need to drain it to something or pump it to something to avoid too much humidity.
5. Yes it would work, but drill plenty of holes in it. And make sure you get a blend going that has perlite, and maybe some coco fiber, that way, you will have a better environment for roots to develop.

Good luck. See if you can detect any substantial difference in taste..... Everyone always says that soil tastes better overall, but I have never put it to the test myself. I have always just grown in soil. I love it, and I can use the used soil in my yard and vegetable garden after composting it.

Hope everything turns out well.

You grow in multiple sized containers for two reasons- to slow root growth and to change soil mixes. When roots reach the bottom of the container, they stop growing downward and start growing in circles. The time that the roots spend growing in circles, they would have spent growing downward in a larger pot. When the plant is moved to the larger pot, the roots are only, for example, halfway to the bottom when they would have already reached the bottom otherwise. Trimming the roots between transplants further slows root progression if you're able to do so.

The other reason was to change soil mixes, which also answers your second question. Soil growers usually need to transplant at least once because seedlings can't handle most fertilizers. We'll use seed starter soil in small cups for germinated seedlings and then transplant into a vegging mix with Worm Castings and other ferts in 3-liter bottles. When vegging is done, we'll chop the bottom off the root ball and transplant into 6-gallon buckets of our flowering soil mix. You shouldn't trim the roots unless you need to. Our plants take over 90 days to flower so we need the space. The vast majority of small-medium sized indoor plants will be able to finish in 5gal buckets, especially if you don't let the soil dry out too much between waterings. We don't use 5gal buckets any longer than about 80 days at a time, ever since a 92 day plant of ours became root bound at the very end of flowering. I've seen other people use them for longer, so it can be done, probably when starting flowering with smaller & younger plants. The bigger a plant gets, the bigger its root system gets and the bigger pot it will need. I can, however, say with some certainty that a plant vegged in a 3-liter bottle will last at least 80 days after chopping off its bottom and moving it to a 5gal bucket.

What kinda lights are you using? Enough to grow trees in 10 gallon pots? For most situations 10 gallon is overkill indoors. I have never even used 5 gallon indoors, I'm a small plant guy.

The above responses were spot on though.

I use plastic trays under my buckets to catch the drainage water.