Will my plants get root bound?

I have 4 Ak48 clones in my veg closet waiting to go into my flower tent, however I'm still finishing up my first grow in the tent and it could possibly be another week or two. The vegging plants are in 3 gallon pots and they have been in them about 5 days so far....Will they be able to grow in these pots another 2 weeks & flower another 60 days after that? I'm still pretty new to growing but I don't want to put them in flower if they won't make it all the way to the end... Also I don't want to move up to 5 gallon buckets either...
I have attached pics of the veg plants in the closet and also my flowering plants if anyone has a guesstimate of how much longer to harvest... Appreciate any info... Thanks

A rule of thumb is 1 gal for every month. So...5 days + 3 weeks = 1 month. Then probably 9 weeks for bloom. Theres your 3 months for 3 gal pots.

So it will be close. I would transplant them to 5 gal myself. Because if they do get root bound youll lose some yield. How many you have to transplant?

Also...they will get bigger in 5 gal pots...so do you have enough room?

Gquebed said:

A rule of thumb is 1 gal for every month. So...5 days + 3 weeks = 1 month. Then probably 9 weeks for bloom. Theres your 3 months for 3 gal pots.



So it will be close. I would transplant them to 5 gal myself. Because if they do get root bound youll lose some yield. How many you have to transplant?

Also...they will get bigger in 5 gal pots...so do you have enough room?

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I have a 3x3 tent so I'm thinking I can fit four 5 gallons in there... The ones in flower tent now are in 3 gallon pots but they were set to 12/12 two days after being put in the 3 gallon containers... Is there a big difference in yield between 3 and 5 gallon.... It's probably best to transplant one more time to 5 gallon then... Just the cost of soil is what I was trying to avoid... I've already transplanted from
Red 16 Oz cup-1 gallon - 2 gallon-and now 3 gallon

If the the plant doesnt get root bound then there would be no difference in yield.

If you have 3 x 3 then i would just stay in the 3 gal pots. I used to grow in a 5 x 5 tent and do four 5 gal pots and it got pretty tight.

Gquebed said:

If the the plant doesnt get root bound then there would be no difference in yield.

If you have 3 x 3 then i would just stay in the 3 gal pots. I used to grow in a 5 x 5 tent and do four 5 gal pots and it got pretty tight.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help... Ya I think 5 gallon would be pretty tight also... Just hoping I can get these in the flower tent soon... But don't want to rush my first harvest

you are wise to not rush.

your girls look great, but let them finish properly and do them justice, they still have 2 weeks + as you mentioned.

i too would go with the 5 gal, you will have to work on trying to get them to grow up more than bush out, so removing lower and even side branches will help you ensure you get lots of big buds instead of loads of larf from overcrowding.

your flowering tent is pretty much at capacity now, really impressive for a first grow ( or is it just a first grow in this tent?) or any grow for that matter

You could up-pot to 5 gal.sized pots and that might give a little better yield (that really depends on several things).

But the main reason I'm responding to this thread is to say that "Rootbound is really a state of mind". When you pull the plant out of the pot it's in, you can see what condition the roots are in. If "a lot" of roots are exposed and "twisting around" the dirt ball - that's not rootbound, that's just a healthy root system (perhaps ready to up-pot)! If it looks like a huge ball of twine with the roots all wrapped around themselves (so you can't see the dirt for the roots!), that's rootbound, baby! A true rootbound condition can indeed inhibite plant growth and therefore restrict the yield. But, you can also just deal with it, make sure you give it plenty of water and nutes!

Your grow seems to be in between "I could get away without up-potting" and "I should really up-pot, to avoid a rootbound situation". My advice would be to go for it and not up-pot, just for the experience you will gain! Whatever you decide to do - it's all about the experience!