How To Choose The Right Pots For Your Cannabis Plants

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT POTS FOR YOUR CANNABIS PLANTS?

Pots come in all shapes and sizes. So, how do you know which ones to use for your cannabis grow? Below we’ll take a look at the main types of pots you can use to grow cannabis, as well as touch on some other considerations to keep in mind when choosing pots for your plants.

WHAT TYPES OF POTS CAN YOU USE TO GROW CANNABIS IN?

Most of the pots available to you as a grower fall into one of the following categories:

- Standard flower pots: this is a tried and true method that’s ideal for growers who aren’t too fussed about maximising their yields or manipulating every aspect of their plants’ growing conditions. Standard flower pots made from plastic or clay can be found at any gardening store at a decent price. Just make sure your pots have holes at the bottom to allow for drainage. It can also help to put some small rocks at the bottom of the pots to further help with drainage.

- Nursery pots: as the name suggests, these are the kind of pots nurseries tend to use for their plants. They are made from thin black plastic, come in a variety of sizes, and are super cheap. They work just like regular flower pots but are much more fragile.

- Smart pots: they are a step up from your regular flower pots and are usually available at specialised grow shops. These pots have been specially designed to stop plants from getting “root-bound”, which a common problem for growers working with regular pots. Smart pots aren’t completely closed off, allowing small amounts of air and light to reach the roots. This encourages the roots to grow down through the soil, rather than around the soil like they do in regular pots. This encourages constant root growth and maximises your plants’ use of their soil. Smart pots allow more air to reach your soil, thus dry it out. This means you’ll need to water more often. Smart pots are usually made out of fabric or plastic, and are sometimes also called “air pots”.

- Hempy buckets: they almost create a kind of makeshift hydroponic setup. These long, tall buckets have drainage holes a few centimetres from the bottom and are usually filled either with a perlite/vermiculite mix or clay pellets. Because the plants won’t be growing in soil, they’ll need to be fed with nutrient solutions. Due to the high drainage holes, some of the nutrient solution will pool at the bottom, meaning you can water less frequently. However, you’ll need to make sure the leftover solution doesn’t become stagnant as that can damage your grow. We generally don’t recommend hempy buckets for rookie growers as they are a little more complex than the other options mentioned above.

- Hydro pots: as the name suggests, these pots are designed to be used in hydroponic setups. They are usually partly open so as to hold the grow medium in place while still allowing it to make contact with the water for nutrients.

HOW TO CHOOSE ONE POT OVER ANOTHER?

Above we’ve covered the main kind of pots you can use to grow cannabis. Now, it’s time to pick one type over another. To do so, it helps to look at the pros and cons of each container.

If you’re looking for the cheapest possible pot, nursery pots are the way to go. They’re available at most nurseries or specialty cannabis grow shops and are by far the cheapest option out there. Just keep in mind that you get what you pay for; these are cheap, thin plastic pots. Don’t expect them to last forever or hold up to really harsh conditions, but they’ll get the job done.

Regular flower pots are good if you want a cheap, more durable alternative to a nursery pot. They are also relatively cheap and can be found virtually anywhere plants are sold. The downfall of these pots (this also goes for nursery pots) is that they don’t encourage the healthiest root systems.

If you want to give your plants the best possible growing conditions, we recommend smart pots. These promote really healthy root growth and will usually get you through numerous harvests. Finally, if you’re looking to get into the world of hydroponic growing, hempy buckets are a good starting point. However, we don’t recommend trying this method of growing if you haven’t first done some solid research on growing cannabis with nutrient solutions.

WHAT SIZE POT SHOULD YOU USE FOR YOUR CANNABIS PLANTS?

Cannabis plants like plenty of space. Plants that have the ability to build large, complex root systems will grow the healthiest and consequently produce the best possible harvests.

Unfortunately, cannabis plants also grow unpredictably. Some plants can grow tall, with long, reaching branches, while others can stay short and stocky. Giving your plants extra-large pots can leave you with really big, hard-to-manage plants that are more likely to attract unwanted attention.

Some sources suggest that cannabis plants grow roughly 30cm per 7l of soil, but this is a really rough ballpark figure. Some plants can grow to 80cm in a 10l pot, while others might only reach 40-50cm in the same size pot. This all has to do with the individual genetics of each seed.

In general, we suggest starting off your vegetative plants in 5l pots. Keep an eye on their vegetative growth, and also check on their roots. Once you see the roots reaching the outside of the soil, it’s time to transplant to larger pots of at least 10l. Most growers will use pots of at least 20l–40l depending on the amount of space they have to work with.

Now, you might be reading this and wondering whether it’s possible to grow cannabis in small pots. Maybe you’re working with small amounts of space or you just don’t want your plants to grow too big. Well, the answer is yes, cannabis can grow fine in small pots. Growers can get fine results using 10–15l pots. Just keep in mind that smaller pots will result in smaller plants, less vegetative growth and, of course, smaller yields.