How large do people usually veg in 5 gal. dwc?

How tall do you guys veg to in a 5 gallon bucket? IS it possible for the roots to get TOO big for a 5 gal? Only reason i ask is because i usually grow in soil or dwc in a large 18-32gal tub.

Edit: Also check out my sweet typo in thread name

2 weeks to a month seems right for a 5 gal bucket, but it depends greatly on your light and feeding schedule, available room, number of plants, ect. How long do you veg your soil plants?

PS, fixed the typo

haha, vegged my soil plants to 2 feet with the same light im using now(400w), and i have a larger space, so i guess i answered my own question. But mainly i was worried about the roots growing too large for the 5 gallon bucket.

2 gal of water is enough rootspace for one plant unless it is a tree. In a 5 gal bucket, you probably have 3 gal of water, so assuming it is one plant that is plenty.

Hahahahahaha i love your avatar pic illegal smile!!

This is my 1st round using 5g, but I vegged my girl for 3 solid weeks and it seems I'll have just enough room for her roots to really bulge out without taking up all the bucket space. They'll definately touch the bottom of the bucket, but not so sure about filling it up width-wise. Either way I phuckin <3 5g and my girl does as well. They really start "treeing" up with the quickness. I also seem to have WAY fewer PH inbalances as well? I'm used to 3g and had to adjust PH everyday...and with the 5g I only have to adjust every other if that. Good luck and happy growing!

RL420: I think what you're asking depends a lot on the strain you're growing. I have a friend who presently has a flowering sativa plant grown from bag seed. It's about four feet tall over the height of the bucket it's sitting in and since it's his first grow he's as proud as a new daddy. It's grown about 18" since flowering began and it was about 2 1/2' feet tall after a month of vegging. Now the only problem is that it barely fits in the 2' by 2' by 6' tent.

The bucket is full of roots but he has two air stones at the bottom and he watches this bad girl constantly. She's growing out of a lid with an integral ten inch next basket of Hydroton and she's solid as a rock.

The mass of the roots takes up about two gallons of volume. I've seen him change out the nutes which he does weekly. He fills a second bucket with three gallons of mixed nutes and then he switches the lid and plant from the original bucket to the second bucket. He checks the ppms and pH daily and complains that he has to add water almost every day. When the lid is back in place there's only about a half inch of air space over the level of water but he has a big drip pan under it just in case. He claims there's never anything in it. Needless to say if it grows any taller he's going to have a problem getting it in and out of the tent but I think he's doing it now just for shits and giggles. HSA

I noticeed vegging time totally is strain dependant. Get a stretchy sativa too tall in buckets and they get out of control.

Metal n Weed said:

I noticeed vegging time totally is strain dependant. Get a stretchy sativa too tall in buckets and they get out of control.

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I agree. I vegged a bagseed for 3 weeks and it ended up being sativa dominant. It tripled in size by the time it was done flowering and ended up being a bitch to tie down.

Jesus, HSA, sounds like you're spying on me! RL420. I have placed pictures of my grow below (I know perspective is difficult to judge); here are a few details:

Inside of a Secret Jardin Pro II DR120 Tent (4'w X 4'l X 6.5' h) - 400w mh/hps switchable digital ballast and 6" cooltube - 6" High Output CanFan and rate matched CanFilter (passive intake only)
1.) Non-recirculating DWC in independent (no control bucket) 5 gal buckets with 10 inch netpots (not integral - removable for easy access to roots)
2.) General Hydroponics Irrigation Rings (airpump fed - no need for water pump - check the GH website to answer questions) sit atop hydroton and a 2in thick, 4in by 4in wide rockwool cube
3.) Two independent airlines in each bucket feeding two short n' stubby air stones each - 4 total each bucket (I've been told this is overkill and that airstones are bad - I have never grown without them, but I am curious to try and to believe)
4.) 3 part GH Flora Series (Micro, Grow, Bloom) - additives are Liquid Koolbloom and Floraliscious Plus
5.) Changing reservoir once a week
6.) pH'd at 5.6 to 6.0 and running 980 to 1120 ppm at first change, finishing around 1350 by next change

I flipped these plants to 12/12 on Jan. 7th (day 42 of veg) - the pics below are from tonight; day 16 or 17 in flower (no bud porn yet, but wanted you to see the plant size). Roots are big, white and smell like fresh alfalfa (sorry, didn't snag a root pic, kinda' hard with these big girls). My tallest plant is easily over three feet (above bucket). I hope this gives you something visually to compare. Peace, and good luck.

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HSA said:

RL420: I think what you're asking depends a lot on the strain you're growing. I have a friend who presently has a flowering sativa plant grown from bag seed. It's about four feet tall over the height of the bucket it's sitting in and since it's his first grow he's as proud as a new daddy. It's grown about 18" since flowering began and it was about 2 1/2' feet tall after a month of vegging. Now the only problem is that it barely fits in the 2' by 2' by 6' tent.

The bucket is full of roots but he has two air stones at the bottom and he watches this bad girl constantly. She's growing out of a lid with an integral ten inch next basket of Hydroton and she's solid as a rock.

The mass of the roots takes up about two gallons of volume. I've seen him change out the nutes which he does weekly. He fills a second bucket with three gallons of mixed nutes and then he switches the lid and plant from the original bucket to the second bucket. He checks the ppms and pH daily and complains that he has to add water almost every day. When the lid is back in place there's only about a half inch of air space over the level of water but he has a big drip pan under it just in case. He claims there's never anything in it. Needless to say if it grows any taller he's going to have a problem getting it in and out of the tent but I think he's doing it now just for shits and giggles. HSA

Click to expand...

I usually veg to 12-14" in 2 gallon buckets then move to 3.5 gallons for flower or 5 gallons depending on root mass. They never seem to get close to filling up a 5 gallon, and 3.5 gallon is perfect as the air stone is in middle of root ball and all the roots get blasted with air.