When to transplant 1>3>5gal

Greetings! Im trying to come up with a base time frame for when to transplant when useing a solo cup for seedling then 1gal>3gal>5gal? Can I transplant during sexing/ pre flower? I was thinking solo cup for 2 weeks, 1 gallon for 2-3 weeks, 3 gallon for a week before I flip 12/12 then another week or two until I can sex (2-3 weeks total) and cull the males out, then finally into the 5 gallon to flower... but do plants even gain much root mass during flower? Are those transplants too frequent?

I'm trying to fill a 4x4 tent, I plan on keeping 4 females after culling to fill said tent

I admire your dedication, but honestly you're best off transplanting less often to minimize the amount of shock to your vegetating plant. Personally, I would probably go straight from the solo cup to a 3 gallon pot in your situation. As a general rule of thumb, it is best to avoid transplanting during flowering but you are under special circumstances here. Good luck determining the sex of your plants early. Typically I veg my plants for a full 45 days before flowering, sometimes as long as 55, flowered in a 7 gallon pot. Straight from clone to 1g pot, 1g pot to 7g pot after it's between 12 and 18 inches tall.

LamontCranston said:

Typically I veg my plants for a full 45 days before flowering, sometimes as long as 55, flowered in a 7 gallon pot. Straight from clone to 1g pot, 1g pot to 7g pot after it's between 12 and 18 inches tall.

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similar here, clone/seed/cup/1gallon/five gallon/flower12-18 tall

For me it's solo cup straight to 7 gallon pot. Sometimes I'll go solo cup to 1 gallon to 7 gallon but I find my babies stay shorter and grow wider when going straight to 7 gallon from solo cup.

Thanks for the replies! I think you're all right about I don't need to do so many transplants.. I think I'll go with solo cup for 2 weeks for seedling stage > 2 (or) 3 gallon for veg >5 gallon to flower...

I would rather not waste effort and soil on plants that will turn male.. if I do a 5-6 week veg, will I be able to sex them before I flip 12/12, transplant to the final 5 gallon and go into flower?

I've heared you can sex in veg and I've heared you have to wait a couple weeks after you go 12/12.. I'm sure plant maturity has something to do with it but I'm new so I have no opinion.. I'm only learning

Shaawing said:

I've heared you can sex in veg and I've heared you have to wait a couple weeks after you go 12/12.. I'm sure plant maturity has something to do with it but I'm new so I have no opinion.. I'm only learning

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If you go from seed the vast majority of strains will show preflowers from 35 to 40 days after it sprouts, unless you have some problems that stunt growth. This can be done in a 1 gal pot and you dont have to flip to 12/12.

I just found a girl 27 days from sprout.

Also, i go solocup/ 1gal / 5 gal for transplanting.

LamontCranston said:

I admire your dedication, but honestly you're best off transplanting less often to minimize the amount of shock to your vegetating plant. Personally, I would probably go straight from the solo cup to a 3 gallon pot in your situation. As a general rule of thumb, it is best to avoid transplanting during flowering but you are under special circumstances here. Good luck determining the sex of your plants early. Typically I veg my plants for a full 45 days before flowering, sometimes as long as 55, flowered in a 7 gallon pot. Straight from clone to 1g pot, 1g pot to 7g pot after it's between 12 and 18 inches tall.

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Transplant shock? @Odin*

I do exactly what the OP ask's.

When the plant begins to show need for feeding (In a 28 day feeding soil), I up-pot......I'll run the 3's till close to needed size and trans to the 5 or 7, using my bloom soil mix for the strain, and give it 8-10 days to set rooting and flip them. This true for organic or synthetic running.

I also "score" or slice the coiling at the bottom roots in an "X" pattern. I then water with straight water and kelp extract....
The plants show NO transplant "shock"! This is old school stuff man....

You gotta abuse a root ball pretty hard to get "T-shock"...... Of course my plants are in great health.....Already stressed plants should be stabilized before any transplant.

I had to tag you in Odin....You know what I mean about old school greenhouse work/transplanting - or up-potting...

Dr. Who said:

Transplant shock? @Odin*

I do exactly what the OP ask's.

When the plant begins to show need for feeding (In a 28 day feeding soil), I up-pot......I'll run the 3's till close to needed size and trans to the 5 or 7, using my bloom soil mix for the strain, and give it 8-10 days to set rooting and flip them. This true for organic or synthetic running.

I also "score" or slice the coiling at the bottom roots in an "X" pattern. I then water with straight water and kelp extract....
The plants show NO transplant "shock"! This is old school stuff man....

You gotta abuse a root ball pretty hard to get "T-shock"...... Of course my plants are in great health.....Already stressed plants should be stabilized before any transplant.

I had to tag you in Odin....You know what I mean about old school greenhouse work/transplanting - or up-potting...

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My method too, cup>1gal>3gal, then they either stay there or go to 5/7gal depending on what I'm running. From seed I'll usually stick to 3's as I'm usually running more plants to pheno hunt. Only thing I try to do is give them a week to settle before flipping but not always. I have 2x small 3gal plants running that were transplanted and flipped the same day. Transplant shock doesn't exist unless the plant has something wrong with it imo.

RE: Old school. Reason I follow multiple up-pots is many years ago an old school grower who worked in a nursery told me that's what he'd done for years. Let them get as large as possible without stressing them, then up-pot.

Shaawing said:

Thanks for the replies! I think you're all right about I don't need to do so many transplants.. I think I'll go with solo cup for 2 weeks for seedling stage > 2 (or) 3 gallon for veg >5 gallon to flower...

I would rather not waste effort and soil on plants that will turn male.. if I do a 5-6 week veg, will I be able to sex them before I flip 12/12, transplant to the final 5 gallon and go into flower?

Click to expand...

Shaawing said:

I've heared you can sex in veg and I've heared you have to wait a couple weeks after you go 12/12.. I'm sure plant maturity has something to do with it but I'm new so I have no opinion.. I'm only learning

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Transplant when they need it. I up pot as soon as there is enough roots to hold the soil together.

Most strains reach sexual maturity 4-6 weeks old. In general terms, the branches will go from opposite each other to staggered when they are sexually mature. You can tell the sex at this point on most of the plants. There is usually a few that are harder to read. But if you are having trouble picking out the males. . . . . . .

And old hippy lady taught me a trick for telling sex without changing your light cycle. Mark a limb on each plant and place a small brown paper bag over the tip of that limb everyday after 12 hours of lights on. Take off after lights off. The covered tip will start to flower after a couple of weeks of this.

Gquebed said:

If you go from seed the vast majority of strains will show preflowers from 35 to 40 days after it sprouts, unless you have some problems that stunt growth. This can be done in a 1 gal pot and you dont have to flip to 12/12.

I just found a girl 27 days from sprout.

Also, i go solocup/ 1gal / 5 gal for transplanting.

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You took the words right outta my mouth.

I go from Solo Cup, to 1 Gallon, to either 5 or 10 Gallon depending how many I'm growing.

hotshotisdashit said:

You took the words right outta my mouth.

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Not right after i said 35ish days to sex i find a plant thats 45 days in and no sign whatsoever either way...lol

But this happens once in a while...

too larry said:

Transplant when they need it. I up pot as soon as there is enough roots to hold the soil together.

Most strains reach sexual maturity 4-6 weeks old. In general terms, the branches will go from opposite each other to staggered when they are sexually mature. You can tell the sex at this point on most of the plants. There is usually a few that are harder to read. But if you are having trouble picking out the males. . . . . . .

And old hippy lady taught me a trick for telling sex without changing your light cycle. Mark a limb on each plant and place a small brown paper bag over the tip of that limb everyday after 12 hours of lights on. Take off after lights off. The covered tip will start to flower after a couple of weeks of this.

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Hmm....... and this doesnt fuck with the rest of the plant in anyway?

Gquebed said:

Hmm....... and this doesnt fuck with the rest of the plant in anyway?

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I've never done it, as I grow in the woods, and do good to go to a patch once a week. But it has been done since the 60's at least without side effects. Each growing tip has it's own light sensors. Or rather, it's own dark sensor. Once it "sees" the nights are longer than it's trigger point, it triggers flower in that tip. That is the way she explained it to me anyway. Once it starts to flower, you just cut off that limb tip and it keeps on vegging. You pick your keeper males and kill the rest.

I have since seen videos on You Tube where it was talked about at some of the Emerald Cup round tables from back in the day.

Dr. Who said:

Transplant shock? @Odin*

I do exactly what the OP ask's.

When the plant begins to show need for feeding (In a 28 day feeding soil), I up-pot......I'll run the 3's till close to needed size and trans to the 5 or 7, using my bloom soil mix for the strain, and give it 8-10 days to set rooting and flip them. This true for organic or synthetic running.

I also "score" or slice the coiling at the bottom roots in an "X" pattern. I then water with straight water and kelp extract....
The plants show NO transplant "shock"! This is old school stuff man....

You gotta abuse a root ball pretty hard to get "T-shock"...... Of course my plants are in great health.....Already stressed plants should be stabilized before any transplant.

I had to tag you in Odin....You know what I mean about old school greenhouse work/transplanting - or up-potting...

Click to expand...

With my appy superskunks, i had 9 that were growing too big wile i was waiting for my clones to confirm sex. To slow them down i manicured them back a bit, cutting down some tops and lower side branching and i cut off alot of the roots from the sides and bottom, keeping only the core root mass. They didnt skip a beat and were right back where they were before the massacre in less than a week. Noticable growth the next day. Cool! Not what i was going for but cool to see they were happy, healthy and had zero fucks to give about what i was trying to do!

Cletus clem said:

With my appy superskunks, i had 9 that were growing too big wile i was waiting for my clones to confirm sex. To slow them down i manicured them back a bit, cutting down some tops and lower side branching and i cut off alot of the roots from the sides and bottom, keeping only the core root mass. They didnt skip a beat and were right back where they were before the massacre in less than a week. Noticable growth the next day. Cool! Not what i was going for but cool to see they were happy, healthy and had zero fucks to give about what i was trying to do!

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You scare my little girls

Yuppers.....Done root culling in greenhouse work too.....Plants are tougher then many think.....

On the flip side. You can produce some mind numbing results in smaller pots with big plants. As long as you feed the plant with what it needs. It will break any "root bound" logic, or "rules".

A rule of thumb I read years ago has worked well for me:

Let the crown of the plant get 50% past the edge of the pot. In other words if you have a pot 6" across let the plant crown grow to 150% diameter of pot or 9". Or approx 1.5" past the lip of the pot.

If you transplant too early the roots are not dense enough in the pot to hold everything together and you can kind of F it up. Transplant too late and you will get a shitty looking rootbound mess.

I go up about every two weeks. Tray, solo, 1,3,final.

AimAim said:

A rule of thumb I read years ago has worked well for me:

Let the crown of the plant get 50% past the edge of the pot. In other words if you have a pot 6" across let the plant crown grow to 150% diameter of pot or 9". Or approx 1.5" past the lip of the pot.

If you transplant too early the roots are not dense enough in the pot to hold everything together and you can kind of F it up. Transplant too late and you will get a shitty looking rootbound mess.

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"Root bound" mess i consider a good thing. I like to take them till i feel i cant keep them fed enough in their container. During the transplant a couple strategic scalpel incisions and theyre good to go. I have found what i consider the perfect veg pot after i modify it. I keep them in these until just before flower. Give em a week in their new home and flip. 5x5 at the top, about 6" tall. I poke the holes with a soldering iron then drill them out a tad bigger. The holes are in all the corners on the bottom to catch circling roots and force them out to be air pruned. The new roots growing out also get caught in the holes on the sides, repeating the effect. Usually by the time i transplant the entire container is a dense fiborous root mass. Moding the flowering container is not necessary as the base of the root mass i build in veg will fill out up to a 5 gal bucket though results are better in a 2-3. Yucca becomes a necessity in every watering. There are alot of good guidlines to go by. Which ones to use is a matter of what youre trying to achieve. I try to build bushy plants with big canopies and massive root systems without them getting too tall. I pay no attention to time as far as when to transplant.