very newb question

[call_of_ktulu]

Hey everyone,

I usually don't post very often, but i'm on the site everyday trying to educate myself. I've never grown a single thing in my life and I probably won't for another few months as my living situation changes. In the mean time, im getting ready by reading as much as i can on MP .

Anyway, my question is why do you start growing in a small container(small pot or even a cup) and then transfer the plant to a large container? Everyone talks about how stressful this is on the plant, so why not put the germinated seed right into the large container and never worry about tranfering and potentially shocking the thing???

Thanks guys!

 

[jeffca]

one reason is to save on electricity. lets say you have 5 1000 watt hps lights (each light can light 10 plants in a large container say), and say you have 50 plants, instead of putting them all in a large container and turning on all 5 lights, you could put them in smaller ones and only turn on 1 or 2 lights.

some people say electricity isn't much of a problem for them but where i come from i had a 600watt hps and it costs about 300/month to keep it on 24/0

 

[Bukshot911]

well sure you could just do it i a big pot but most of the time you dont know what is going to properly germ and what wont. so it is easyer to use smaller containers for ease of transport and less waste amoung a few other things. plus transplanting plants isnt very stressful to plants if done properly.

 

[HippyInEngland]

The reason is this .... if you put a tiny plant in a 10 gal pot and water it, where is the water?

15 inches below the seedlins root!

In small pots you can control the amount of water and the amount of nutrients a plant gets before it is then tranferred into its final home.

 

[Growdude]

some people say electricity isn't much of a problem for them but where i come from i had a 600watt hps and it costs about 300/month to keep it on 24/0

I find this very hard to believe. that would be $1.44 per killowatt hour.

 

[Hick]

I find this very hard to believe. that would be $1.44 per killowatt hour.

Uh-huh.. even when I run 1400 watts, I only see slightly over a $100 escalation.

 

[Tater]

30 dollars a month maybe to run a 600 watt. Were you generating power by burning money lol? There are lots of reasons to use smaller pots and transplant into larger ones. Watering is one, getting the soil to dry out is another, space can be a concern but mainly its about maximizing your root ball and forcing the plants to grow as efficiently as possible.

 

[SirSmoke-a-Lot]

The only thing that makes sense to me is the water getting to the roots... if only growing a few plants. I just put them straight into their homes after germinating and the pots are a little small.. around 2-3 gallons and I don't expect them to get higher than 2-3 feet so it shouldn't be a problem for me. I would just put them from germing to small cup, then to their final home... only 1 transplant.

 

[jeffca]

i dont know, this makes me wonder, my land lord knew i was running it and charged me for any extra money the bill was. so im wondering if maybe he threw in that it was more than it was.