What Size Container Should I Use?

    

small one-gallon pot

    The container size you should use with weed is dependent on many factors. Let us face it, we all want a good yield. We all want healthy plants too. So each situation is different. If you are growing outdoors, the best answer might be on the ground. You can get some monster plants like we have all seen. Outdoors, I would say to use at least 5-gallon buckets.

From my experience, An ounce of bud is grown on average per gallon of soil used. It is the overall gauge I go by. Medium, light, strain, and airflow can give or take away those yields. 

For example, if Im growing in a 4x4 tent, I may want to grow four plants in that space. I could let it fill out the room in the tent with vegetative growth, using one little bulb or some tiny led light, then I will not get the yield as I would if I used a 1000-watt HID bulb. I would get tiny wispy buds that didn't grow to their full potential. Say that we only vegged the plants a month or less in the 5-gallon buckets before flowering, and we used very cheap soil we got from a dollar retail store. Our results will not be at full potential because our plants were only 2 feet tall and didn't even utilize all the space in the 5-gallon bucket, and the soil was having problems, so the plants are experiencing stunted growth. Many factors contribute to yield. Pot size is one that plays into the whole picture.

I have grown several plants in one-gallon pots. I personally would get an average of ½  ounce to 1 ounce. The strain's genetics was a factor.

The medium you use will also play a factor. So can the kind of nutrients you use. If I use Coco Coir instead of soil, I can get a better yield in smaller containers. Is it worth sacrificing taste and terp profiles by doing so? Much of it depends on what your goals are regarding your legal grow in your area. In legal states, you are limited to different plant counts. In some states, they allow you higher plant counts.

Indoors a good start is with any grow in 3-gallon pots in soil minimum for flowering. Indoors, you could grow, a big, single female in your tent and prune it by using nets and ties(scrogging) and can use a 13-gallon pot and get a massive yielding single plant that yields a pound or two under a 1000-watt light. What is important is that you utilize all of the space that you are growing in and are able to get a sufficient amount of medicine without wasting too much water and electricity so that you, the grower, can pay a minimal amount for the maximum smokage to enjoy!

3-gallon pot

The good news is that you will improve as time goes by and learn all there is to grow. Much of that will be through trial and error.

   Some questions I ask when using only organic amendments to my soil. Is this plant going to get enough oxygen to the roots? Should I add more perlite to aerate it better? Should I mix in some Coco for aeration? Will my plants get root bound in a one-gallon? Will I have to water every day in smaller pots? What nutrient line should I use? Should I top-dress the soil?

These are just a few of the questions you will ask yourself when determining pot size.

Will my plant double or triple in height during the flowering phase? Will the Taller Sativa plants block out the light for the shorter Indicas?

5-gallon pot

I am using a mix of organic and some passive hydro with coco-coar and synthetic nutrients. My yields are higher using coco than in organics. I enjoy the flavor and smell more with using organic soil. But the yields are better to me grown in coco with nutrients. You can water more and run more water and nutrients, which helps the roots hold more oxygen. 

I still experiment with different methods, soils, and nutrients because I am searching for something better to improve. In a smaller container with organics, you can put some fertilizer at the bottom of the pot to provide nutrients toward the end of flowering. Use layering techniques or nutrient spikes to help provide extra nutrients in smaller containers. But you get the point. There is no set way. You will grow better from learning and trying different things. You will gain new knowledge with every attempt.

When deciding on container size, remember airflow, pests, light, grow space, plant count, medium, and other factors. If you do, you will be well happy with your result!

3 gallon Pot

Flowering Cannabis

     

    Flowering marijuana is the most enjoyable stage of growing for me and others. It's most enjoyable from the halfway point. On average, the flowering time is from 7 to 9 weeks. Depending on the strain you have. Indicas or Indica dominant hybrids tend to take around 7 to 8 weeks. Some heavy-yielding Indicas can take up to 10 weeks to flower. Pure Sativas and Sativa dominant hybrids can take up to 3 or 4 months to flower. 

When growing weed outdoors, you have the sun to signal the plant to start flowering. It does almost everything for you. With indoor growing, you have to simulate the sun cycle indoors by reducing the hours of light from 16 to 18hrs of light to 12 hrs of sunlight. Another important thing is to have an indoor light that is either a High-pressure Sodium bulb or a Led light with a red spectrum of light to simulate the end of summer and fall light cycles. Many good led lights have blue and red ranges within them to grow several light spectrums during the veg and the bloom stages.

     During flowering, the calyx, pistols, and preflowers will form. Flowering has started. The buds will appear as the plant is still growing. From the start of flowering to about week 3, there is a stretching period where the plant can double or triple in height. It's necessary to allow room for the stretch. Sativas tend to stretch more than Indicas. Indicas will sometimes double in height and don't stretch a lot.

    Around week four, you're usually about halfway through the whole process. During this phase, the plant will stop stretching and will put its energy into forming buds. You will see more buds and pistols until you reach a point where their hairs are pale and fluffy. It is around the halfway point and the peak period where reproduction would be ideal. When the female is ripening, you will slowly see a transition of the pistols slowly dying. The pistols are the fuzzy hairs that pop out of the bud itself. They want to get pollinated by the male. To get some of the most potent buds and most resin, it's better if it doesn't get pollinated by a male. Better bud without the seeds unless you are a breeder. Toward the end of the flowering phase, there will be buds swelling, the buds themselves growing trichomes on each bud, and more of the plant's terpene smells getting more pronounced.

    Flowering is the most exciting part because you see the buds form and stack. By observation, you can see how much the plant will yield. You can also see the structure and how frosty the buds will get. Finally, you can measure how strong-smelling the terpenes will be by the very end.

    Something to do when flowering begins is to keep feeding them higher nitrogen as you do during veg. After that change, their nutrients have higher levels of phosphorus and potash. The plant is forming the buds and stacking on that weight. Other nutrients during veg and flowering are Calcium and magnesium. 

    Another thing to consider is not to over-prune during this phase. You can stress out the plant, stunting its growth and affecting its potency. Don't prune more than a third of the plant matter during flower. 

                                                              Lunar Cookies

    During the final two weeks of flowering, you want to stop nutrients and give the plants water. Flushing allows for cleaner smoke because the plant will use the nitrogen in the leaves. That's why in the fall the trees turn yellow. With cannabis, this is natural and is the end of the life cycle for the plant.

By week seven, the buds will be swelling, and the trichomes should change colors.

    Week 8 is when the plant is ready to be harvested. I go by when about 80 percent of the hairs have died and curled back towards the bud. I use a loupe to look at the trichomes to know the colors. When they are clear, you will get more of a head high. When they are cloudy, they are at their peak potency. Some prefer to wait until the trichomes have turned amber, so they can get more of a couch lock effect when smoked or more of a messed up feeling because as the Trichome goes amber, the thc is degraded and is weaker smoke. 

The choice is yours on when you prefer to harvest. Waiting for the plant to be fully ripe and not harvesting it too early is difficult for most.

The Vegetative Phase

 

                                                                Topped Plant

    Once the young, vegging plants, roots are sufficiently developed, the cannabis plant will be able to uptake water and nutrients. The plant will develop quickly, resulting in an explosion of vegetative growth easily doubling in size week after week. This phase is called the Vegetative Stage.

vegetative growth

    The vegetative stage for as long as the light cycle is over 12 to 14 hours every

day. So to be safe, you want to ensure that

your plants are getting at least 14 hours of light a day if you want the plant to keep growing larger, and getting larger is what the vegetative stage is all about. 

    The plant will only focus on developing more

stems and leaves during this time canvas plants also like an environment of around 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit a relative humidity range of 50-70 percent during the stage of growth, this makes the vegetative stage pretty

straightforward. You will only need to keep the plant growing until you are satisfied with the plant size.

     Several things can be done during this stage of growth to maximize the potential of the plant in any given space

Transplanting to a Larger Container

    The vegetative stage is when you want

your plant to move into its final container.

This means transplanting the plant into a larger container size.

    For others that started the plant in its final container, you can skip this step. To transplant a plant from a seed cell or small planter, you will need to remove all the plant roots and grow medium out of its original container and then bury it into the new container the transplanted plant from a nursery bag you can bury it directly into the pot without having to

remove it since the roots have no problems growing through this bag as for what planter size to go with this is tied to the size of the plant you plan on harvesting since the size of a

the plant compared to the size of its root structure.

    A three-gallon fabric pot can easily support a small to medium-sized plant a five-gallon fabric pot can easily hold a medium to large size plant. 

    Use a seven-gallon to grow a larger plant. It does not apply to plants growing with soil that has nutrients built into it. With these, the larger

the container, more nutrients can be taken up by the plant over time.

    The more nutrients available, the longer it can feed the plant.

Daily Routing and Feed Schedule

    You will need to feed your plant a growing

fertilizer rich in nitrogen. 

    Nitrogen is the primary nutrient needed for leaf development.

    Most organic potting mixes will have plenty

of nitrogen that is built in to start.

    If you are feeding with liquid fertilizer, I recommend starting at 25% of the stated dosage in the first week of the vegetative stage and then each subsequent week increase the dosage by 25 percent until you're at 100 percent.

    When you notice your lower fan leaves

starting to yellow at a fast pace, you should increase the fertilizer dosage.

    If you notice your fan leaves turning dark green with the tips of the leaves dying off or clawing downwards you should decrease the fertilizer dosage

healthy vegging planting

Plant Training (Topping & Low-Stress Training)

    Plant training is any technique that manipulates the plant's growth pattern to fit a given space. it's needed because if left alone

cannabis plants grow similarly in shape to a

Christmas tree. It focuses all of its energy on

the tallest part of the plant. So a typical cannabis plant will have one maintop stem and several smaller side stems. Outdoors this is perfectly sufficient since the sun can still provide even lighting no matter where the side stems are resulting in a balanced growing plant.

    Once the flowering stage begins indoors this is not the case as their need for light intensity will decrease exponentially. The further away you go from the source resulting in a large bud

on the top stem and much smaller buds further down the plant.

    For most indoor grow spaces, the shape

is also a waste of space as most grow spots have plenty of extra horizontal room to spare. If the plant does not utilize this space light will not reach the lower nodes of the plant. So

training a plant's growth horizontally instead of vertically can ensure that the top canopy is even throughout the entire grow space which

will result in not just an increase in yields at harvest but also more consistency in the harvested bud sizes the two most popular ways to train a cannabis plant with topping and low-stress training topping means cutting off a part of the top stem to prevent the growth from

continuing through the main trunk. It will instead direct the growth to the next node down and since each node sprouts two stamps on either side, they will naturally produce

two new top stems after one topping also has the added benefit of lowering the height of the plant as the side stems are perpendicular to the main stem

    While the plant can take a few days to

develop the branches on the highest node, the lower side branches will continue to form, allowing the lower stems to catch up to the top stems. A lot of times it means that just by

topping once, you get an even canopy of four

main stems.

    You can top multiple times to increase the total amount of stems, although each time a plant is pruned, it takes a few days for the plant to recover. Constantly topping a plant will extend its growing timeline next, we have low-stress training which is the technique of physically bending a stem in the direction you want it to grow without breaking the stem. Tie plants using a twist tie and work great when used in conjunction with the fabric pot due to the built-in grommets that can hold the ties in place train an entire canvas plant to just bring down the main stem to the same height as the side stems. It is called low-stress training which in turn takes advantage of the fact that a canvas plant focuses its growth on the main stems located on the top of the plant. It will trick it into focusing its energy equally among all the side stems that are now suddenly at the top you can also low-stress train individual stems and bring down any stem that starts to grow higher than the ones around it low-stress training does have its limitations. Only the top

few nodes of a cannabis stem are flexible enough to be bent. 

     If you are considering utilizing low-stress training, you have to start early in the plant's vegetative stage and then continue applying it to any new growth if needed as the plant develops a trellis net is another form of low

stress training that automates the process by dictating a set-top canopy.

    So anytime new growth appears above the

trellis net, you can push it below the netting positioning it to fill out any space that is not needed yet.

    Once the trellis netting is completely

filled with plant stems, the plant can then be flowered, ensuring that all the horizontal space is used.

                       Leaf Defoliation

        As the plant gets larger, it will start to

produce significantly more leaves than needed since in the wild several will get damaged by nature and due to the unpredictability of where the plant might be. You'll want to

ensure that it's able to capture plenty of sunlight from any side in a controlled environment, however, we know exactly where the plant is getting its light from, and because the top canopy is typically blocking all the

grow light from reaching the lower leaves. Unless you are supplementing your grill with the inner canopy lighting these leaves are going to be using up the plant's resources without providing much in return an overabundance of fan leaves will also, cause them to start overlapping trapping moisture between them and this will block airflow from reaching the inner part of the plant both of these problems will promote the growth of mold and mildew as well as creating an inviting home for pests so a light defoliation needed

any time the vegetative growth starts to

become unwieldy.

    When choosing which leaves to remove,

always go with the bigger ones first.

It's easier to remove one big fan leaf than three smaller leaves touching it.

    You also want to start from the bottom

up since the top leaves at the plant canopy are the ones taking in the most light. A good rule of thumb is to remove enough vegetative growth so you can see through the bottom half of your

plant.

When a Flowering plant will on average, double in height in the flowering stage, so it's necessary to flower the plant.

    Once it is half the size of your available grow

space to ensure that it doesn't outgrow this

space.

    It's also needed to solve any plant issues in the vegetative stage before it starts to flower as a delay in growth during the vegetative stage will just result in the plant taking a couple more days to recover while delaying growth during the flowering stage will impact the final

yields.

                                                                almost ready to flower

Determining The Sex Of Cannabis

    

                                                               female hairs and buds

     In order to determine the sex of cannabis you will check your plants between 4 and 6 weeks after germination. You want to check the branches near the top of the stalk for sex organs. Female buds will have a calyx with two white hairs coming out of them. While males will have these ball-like sacs or oval-shaped pollen sacs. They almost look like footballs. I usually need to get a magnifying glass or a loupe in order to get a good look.

male flower

            Another way to determine is that females have thinner stalks and have more leaves while males have thicker stalks and fewer leaves. It is not an exact science. I have had males that didn't show their sex until they were in their flowering. I have also had males show sex while vegging and actually dropping pollen.

 

If you don't want seeded bud, then it is advisable to shop the males immediately after determining. As soon as you see those oval-shaped sacs start forming. If you have any doubt then you can wait until you are positive about the sex of the plant. Most of the time I would say, the males are taller naturally.  In nature they usually get taller and release their pollen in order to pollinate the shorter females however, this isn't always the case. I've grown strains where the females are taller so look at the clues as guideposts but not always the case. There are always exceptions in nature. Nodes are where the stems and stalks meet. This is where you want to check for sex.

Sometimes the organs appear fourth down at the nodes so it helps to start checking your plant within the timeframe of 4 to 6 weeks in vegetative growth.

Example of a Male

               Since cannabis is dioecious, It is either male or female. Female plants are what produce the buds and are prized for their higher resin production and potency compared to males.

You can toss the males in the composter or make tea with them. Some people smoke them. Seed breeders test out the males for potency to get an idea of genetics that will carry over from the male's genetics.

You also want to check your females for any sign of hermaphroditism. That is where the plant has both sex organs. Some sativa landraces are naturally that way to survive however, in the grow room look out for any balls or sacs appearing at the nodes of your plant. Many times certain females with male sacs when are stressed by several factors. It is best to toss out any females that begin to grow pollen sacs otherwise, you will end up with a bunch of seeds. Sometimes the pollen that appears in banana-looking sacs also can wreak havoc on your garden and seed your females so it's a good idea to examine each plant carefully and check all the node sites just to be on the safe side.

Lab testing is another more expensive option. There are many companies and breeders that lab test by taking a small sliver of the leaf up to a week after germination.

Many people like to buy Feminized seeds so they can avoid the work that comes with sexing the plant. They use hormones and think that will stress a female to produce male sacs and they collect the pollen and pollinate another female which in turn makes feminized seeds. There is a slim chance you can get a male but another problem some have is having Fem seeds produce Hermies. Some breeders swear by Fem seeds. I personally go by the stability of the strain. People stress test females and males and put them under harsh conditions and breed only with the ones that don't hermaphrodite.

There are many factors in determining the sex of your plant. Usually with regular seeds, you get a 50/50 ratio of males to females but it can vary. Good luck with your determination quest. Once you get used to checking gender it's not all that difficult to identify.

                                               male example

                                              hermaphrodite

                  Female Pistols  (Spider Duck- Photo Don Manning)