Is being root bad necessarily bad?

Over time, for various reasons, I've grown some plants in small containers. If I have some reg seeds instead of fem, I tend to grow them in smaller pots until they show their sex during veg. This way I don't waste one of my fabric bags meant for a full grow, as well as more soil mix. Unfortunately, because I do use smaller pots, they tend to stop growing in size at a certain point, but they also resume growth when I transplant them. It has happened every time, for me, so I've not had an overall bad experience.

So can growing in smaller pots, which tends to result in root bind, also be considered a way to train plants to grow to a controllable size?

EDIT: Title is meant to be "Is being root bound necessarily bad?"

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It depends what you consider bad? The plants growth is stunted meaning wasted energy from the lights, so if you look at it that way you are wasting time and electric when you could have larger plants in the same amount of time with the same light.

Best to up the size of pot as the roots fill the space provided.

Plus if you edit the main post of a thread and click 'advanced edit' button you can edit a thread title within a certain amount of time. I am unsure about the time but I edited one of mines a few days after posting once I noticed a mistake.

TY for that title edit tip.

Well, what I've read is with people who don't have a lot of grow space, keeping their plants in small pots also keeps the plant small. Now can you transfer a flowering plant into a bigger pot due to root binding... or is it best to leave her be?

grasscropper said:

Well, what I've read is with people who don't have a lot of grow space, keeping their plants in small pots also keeps the plant small. Now can you transfer a flowering plant into a bigger pot due to root binding... or is it best to leave her be?

Click to expand...

I used to do quite a bit of work with small pots and organic soil. As the plant gets to big for its pot the first problem is that it dries out too quickly making it easier for us to accidentally overstress the plant and kill off fine root hairs. It also reduced the microbial population which reduces available fertilizer. That is compounded by a general lack of fertilizer due to the small soil volume. What you end up with is dank but scraggly fluffy buds with a pathetic yield.

But as long as you are able to keep them perfectly watered and well fed you can grow plenty of dank in small pots. (1plant 1zip 1.5 liter pot)

The other side of that coin is that transplanting into too large a pot, too close to flowering, can cause overfertilization which leads to nasty tasting buds that need lots of curing and buds that never seem to want to finish (fresh calyxs and white hairs keep coming).

I do mine much the same way in that I tend to keep them in smaller pots gallon to gallon and a half until I can sex them and then put them into larger containers. I believe it more comes down to work you are willing to do and the timeframe you give them after you transplant. I always give them 2 to 3 more weeks veg before I allow them to flower. If I am running clones then I don't restrict their size rootballs but keep them stepped up before they really need it. From seed until put into flower is usually a 3 step up process, I enjoy being able to refresh their soil make any adjustments to the soil each strain might need to get through flower with less work on me.
That being said I guess it all comes down to what makes you feel comfy in your grow and gives you the most enjoyment. Also, depends on the size plant you are growing and what your goals are. I believe there isn't a right or wrong answer, time will solve all problems and plant size per container. You just have to try a few different ways and see which is better fit in your time and space. Good Luck.

Anything 3 gallons and over is fine for however big you want to grow them.

I have 13ft tall tomato plants outdoors in 3 gallon pots that have bushels of tomatoes on them. Smaller pots just dry out faster. I'm not a big believer in the root bound debate.. I've grown 3oz plants in 1/2 gallon containers and the plants were healthy as can be.

I seen a guy here growing monsters in 2 gallon containers. 2 gal is pretty small
but he sure had great success.