How full should my flowerpot be?

How full should my flowerpot be? This is a question that many novice growers ask themselves, and many other growers think that it’s okay to use less soil but that soil you’re not using is extremely important for your plants and has a clear repercussion on growth and flowering.

Cannabis plants are hundreds if not thousands of different strains, but the relationship between plants and their roots is always the same. Right from the beginning roots try and get as deep into the pot as they can, and once they reach the bottom they expand and clime up the walls of the pot. Plants tend to grow the same shape as their roots do; when the root is growing downwards, the plants grow upwards, and once the roots touch the bottom of the flowerpot they become thicker and spread out, which is when plants tend to grow their branches out a bit wider.

Not filling the roots enough in growth:

If you plant just a few centimeters lower than you should your plants roots will have much less space to grow and the plant will be much smaller and less productive. Also, due to the fact that the first few days of the seedlings life it will be under the soil, having it lower down could limit how much air can get to the plants so they take longer to grow, making for a slow photosynthesis process. Humidity in the flowerpots and shade from the pot itself makes water evaporate and be absorbed by the leaves, meaning that having it planted lower down will not be good for the plant and it will grow much slower than any other plants.

Not filling the roots enough in flowering:

When you switch your plants from growth to flowering indoors you should always transplant your grow so they can flower properly. This can also be done outdoors, transplanting around the beginning of or mid-June to prepare your plants for flowering. You should transplant to a pot twice the size of the one it’s in; so if it’s in a 3.5l growth flowerpot, transplant to a 7L pot and so on.

Plants need almost twice the space they have when they begin flowering because the roots need to grow quite a lot; the more you fill the flowerpot, the more the roots will grow. If the plant doesn’t have enough space it will fill the pot up with roots straight away and it will be as if you didn’t transplant it. Many leaves will begin falling off and the remaining leaves will become stained as if they had a sort of deficiency; yield will also decrease incredibly.

Planting in flowerpots that aren’t full enough can provoke this effect. Depending on the size of the plant it might be too buried in the soil and you’ll get the same kind of effect in growth; it will put a break on flowering, it might not flower or it might even cause rot in the buds due to it being so buried in the humid soil of the pot.

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If you want to use less substrate you’ll need to use smaller pots but fill them to the top, allowing your plant to sit as high as possible; never use big pots that are half full, as it will grow terribly. We have a whole other article about how to transplant and what flowerpots to use, so go check it out.