When is it too late to pot-up for final flowering?

Dumb question - life got in the way and I've not potted-up to the final size container but flowering has started; Barely into it (2nd week 12/12) and small flowers are starting to form. The final containers are prepared and ready but now worried about any stress factors. They are in smart pots so I intend to use a knife & run around the edges to allow them to come out with minimal handling and then move them into their new pots.

Also, they have tiny little flowers starting to form - too late for a pro-active pest treatment? Neem-based spray. Using bagged soil (FFoF as large portion) and worried - plus just looking to be pro-active before there's an issue.

Not a chance I would be repotting at that stage. Also smart pots are no treat to transplant from, they dont nearly as easily slide out like they do in plastic

If you can get the plants out of the pots without damaging the roots it is perfectly fine. But smart pots are dumb pots at making it easy.

NewGrower2011 said:

Dumb question - life got in the way and I've not potted-up to the final size container but flowering has started; Barely into it (2nd week 12/12) and small flowers are starting to form. The final containers are prepared and ready but now worried about any stress factors. They are in smart pots so I intend to use a knife & run around the edges to allow them to come out with minimal handling and then move them into their new pots.

Also, they have tiny little flowers starting to form - too late for a pro-active pest treatment? Neem-based spray. Using bagged soil (FFoF as large portion) and worried - plus just looking to be pro-active before there's an issue.

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How large are your pots?
Indoor or outdoor?

TurboTokes said:

Not a chance I would be repotting at that stage. Also smart pots are no treat to transplant from, they dont nearly as easily slide out like they do in plastic

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My experience has been that all of the root tips that grow into the fabric form a kind of a bulbous knot at the end when they're air pruned. For my own personal process I'll only use fabric pots to finish in because you can't transplant from a fabric pot without ripping all of those roots apart since the tips are trapped in the fabric.

Another likely issue when transplant during flowering, especially with a rich or even hot soil like ffof, is that you'll likely have an excessive burst of available N at a very bad time to being having an excess availability of N.

If you're careful and break the seal with the knife you mentioned they should be fine. I try and avoid transplanting close to flowering but I regularly up-pot and flip same day with no issues in a pinch. Particularly when I'm pheno hunting and waiting for final sexing before flowering. The trick with up-pots from a fabric pot is to not be too wet or too dry. Too wet and they tend to "stick" more to the pots, too dry and the root ball can break apart.

These below (10x 2gal) are on the go now, all were up-potted from 1gal to 2gal fabrics and flipped the same night.

I couldn’t really tell you about the repotting thing I’m only a total newb too! But my logic says that the minor stress caused by “re-housing” her somewhere she’ll be happier and can thrive, compared to letting her go thru the important stage of growth feeling a little cramped and unhappy and probs not doing the best she could?? You’d have to think a better final outcome would be from the former wouldn’t you?? Like I said I wouldn’t have a clue tho lol.
As for the neem I can tell you from personal experience, I sprayed my plants once a week throughout veg and continued to in a much lighter application during flower up until wk 5. I’ve always said don’t get neem anywhere near plants during flower cos fu&k smoking that shit! But due to circumstance I had no choice but to continue lightly misting them with Eco-Neem every 2 wks rather than wkly. In that time I also used an insectidal soap, which is made using Castile soap, aka “pure soap” made solely from veg oils like olive or coconut, or even neem. You have to actually spray this directly on any pests present tho or it’s useless as there’s no residual effect and breaks down quickly.

I harvested at 9wks and can say there wasn’t/isn’t even the slightest hint of anything other than “dank” weed! Lol. It’s smooth af to smoke burns grey etc, couldn’t be happier.

So it’s up to u I guess, but remember to be light handed and try hard not to intentionally spray buds. (So much easier said than done!)

Anyway good luck to you whatever u decide

So these sat in veg for a very long time just waiting - like waaay long; Topped many times and just kept like a batch of moms - keeping flowering at bay until I could actually get setup to run again. So they are in 1 gal pots but quite large and hungry for sure.

Using the knife to release them is what I had done before and it was fine, just never let them actually start to flower before potting-up. They'll be moving into 7 gals so they'll have plenty of room to grow new roots and plenty to feed initially (FFoF is just a portion of mix, tried to avoid N inputs otherwise).

I guess the other option would be to consider potting-up and forcing a re-veg for a few but they're already way past any need for veg time and those 1 gals are packed with roots.

NewGrower2011 said:

Dumb question - life got in the way and I've not potted-up to the final size container but flowering has started; Barely into it (2nd week 12/12) and small flowers are starting to form. The final containers are prepared and ready but now worried about any stress factors. They are in smart pots so I intend to use a knife & run around the edges to allow them to come out with minimal handling and then move them into their new pots.

Also, they have tiny little flowers starting to form - too late for a pro-active pest treatment? Neem-based spray. Using bagged soil (FFoF as large portion) and worried - plus just looking to be pro-active before there's an issue.

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Lol I use 5ltr all the way thru with coco and pull a good p and a half off 5 plants under 2 600 Watters

Roots on Indica plants grow little after flip bud as crowded in those pots as those are, I’m sure they would be much easier to care for.

So maybe there's some reason it's not this simple but... Can I just sit the existing smart pot into the 7 gals? It'll just continue to root through the cloth right?

Or wold the cloth slow down/hold back that root growth? They protrude little white roots just fine as is then air prune so I'm considering if that's not the least stressful (and easier) path here?

NewGrower2011 said:

So maybe there's some reason it's not this simple but... Can I just sit the existing smart pot into the 7 gals? It'll just continue to root through the cloth right?

Or wold the cloth slow down/hold back that root growth? They protrude little white roots just fine as is then air prune so I'm considering if that's not the least stressful (and easier) path here?

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as long as u are getting nutes into the root ball mass mate i have seen plants crack 5 ltr pots roots comming out the guts to the point were the roots at the coco and still pull a good 2-3 oz a plant

NewGrower2011 said:

So maybe there's some reason it's not this simple but... Can I just sit the existing smart pot into the 7 gals? It'll just continue to root through the cloth right?

Or wold the cloth slow down/hold back that root growth? They protrude little white roots just fine as is then air prune so I'm considering if that's not the least stressful (and easier) path here?

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just at that point shit can fuck up real easy

I have the same issue. Veg way too long and had to flip. So basically what I’m understanding is you can finish flower in 1 gal, but you’ll have to water way more often?

Chip_pz said:

I have the same issue. Veg way too long and had to flip. So basically what I’m understanding is you can finish flower in 1 gal, but you’ll have to water way more often?

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Feeding gets harder right along with watering but I normally use 2 gallon containers with organics. Big difference in one gallon. More bother but very doable.

hillbill said:

Feeding gets harder right along with watering but I normally use 2 gallon containers with organics. Big difference in one gallon. More bother but very doable.

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It’s not preferred by ya what I gotta do this round

Chip_pz said:

It’s not preferred by ya what I gotta do this round

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Good luck and make it fun!

That’s no problem!

yeah, I've decided to leave them in the smartpot and just set it down inside the bigger ones with some nice fresh soil waiting. They're poking white-tips like crazy and grow into each other (too close - all touching) without any problems so they'll penetrate sides just fine since not hitting air and self pruning.

I figure at worse maybe I'll try a re-veg run or something.