hydro in 6 inch mesh pots. Bad idea?

I've noticed that at first my grow really took off. Compared to most pictures I've seen on here of plants at 21 days vegging mine seemed pretty big.

But now it seems like they aren't growing very much. From my research Im thinking the 6 inch mesh pot is just not enough in hydro to produce a larger size plant.

I'm using ebb and flow w/ rockwool cube and hydrotone on top/ in the tray.

pics? the 6x6 flood tray pots i used where 1 gal pots and where more for sog style grows not trees. i would not recommend vegging for a extended period in these pots although i have seen it done.

hey here is what the setup looks like

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/13/hi057.jpg/

Btw. The plants are much bigger now. But theres only 3 left (had to chop the males). And I filled the excess space up with hydrotone. Ill try to take some new pics when the lights come on. Gonna be in about an hour and 30


Edit: I'm not looking for trees per say but I've seen some 5 galon DWC grows on here that looked monster. But then again, probably because it was 5 gallon? How much does this matter. (Also with these pots they are real 'netty' at the bottom). Not just the few holes, its wirelike towards the bottom and they are growing out into the hydrotone. What do you think about this?

I looked at the pic...Where do you expect the roots to go? I don't seen any room for them, even for small plants.

i imagine the roots are getting pruned by the light when they hit the edge of the mesh pot. I suggest putting a lid on the whole thing to keep light out and letting the roots grow outside of the pots. I only thing is you cant move them after they grow together, not sure if you run them all the way through like that or not.

edit: didnt realize you filled tub with hydron

Yes the bottom is filled with hydrotone. (in this pic you can't see it well) but in the new pics I will take I'll show you how much hydrotone is in there. Its quite a bit. In fact almost all the way up to the net pots.

So my next question is would this top tank be big enough for 6 plants if the roots are allowed to come out and live within the hydrotone

i was growing 2 plants per a tote about that size. Still have 4 of them going, pics in my thread. I was growing pretty good sized plants like that. Without growing a bunch of plants its prob best to give some room and grow some bushes. Then again you could lollipop 6 in that tote and they might do ok. Remember the roots mass is directly related to the mass above ground.

here is what the setup looks like now. So hydrotone is about 1/2 the cupsize.

I should mention these plants have been through a lot. This was my first hydroponic grow so I used Mexican Shwag Bagseed. When I first started I completely forgot about the PH and for like 3 weeks these grew in PH of around 8. Not to mention for about 3 weeks during veg I added Aqua Flakes A & B together and put it into the resevoir. (It says specifically NOT to do this on the website. Add A first, then B after 15 min.). I suppose I did this because if I remember correctly the directions on the bottles are not so good. It just says add A then B. Anyway.. also about a week ago I had to move and my mother was helping.. so I lowered everything into that resevoir (only minus the water) and put the lid on for 4 days! (There are small peep holes on the side, but the day I opened it oh man it smelt pretty saturated) Yea.. 4 Days! I thought she was going to stick around forever. LOL.

It's been about a week now since the move. Im at about 2 weeks flowering.

Whats funny about the bagseed is that almost every plant had completely different genetics. You can tell by whats left too lol.. One is really bushy with really wide leaves compared to the other that is tall and skinny with thin leaves. They were all treated the same.



http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/710/pixs002.jpg/

hydroleaf, i would think about using something that isolates the plants root systems from one another....i had an aerotub i built once that didnt have dividers in it and the root balls from all my plants got tangled up with one another....it wasnt that big of a deal until one of them got some root rot and it was a huge PITA...also, from the perspective of your pictures they could become root bound in that setup...a 5 gallon bucket is 3 bucks at lowes and your local HS has covers with net pots built into them for another $3...the built in ones come in all different sizes, i use the 6 inchers n get 3 zips per plant....just my 2 cents...hope it all works out for ya

I'm using 6in net pots as well and I'm Planning on the roots eventually getting tangled with One another but my res is big enough and my bubbelers should produce enough oxygen so they won't get root rot but I guess well see how it works out... I feel like as long as they stay stationary the tangled roots shouldnt be a prob for me...