Grow Mediums Roots getting too big for bucket

[Surfer Joe]

I have a northern lights auto growing in a 22L bubble bucket and the roots are getting too big for the bucket. They are about the size of a basketball, and the plant itself is about 20 inches tall and over two feet wide. It sprouted on Dec 1.

When I have to remove the plant to exchange buckets with new nutes, I always see a few broken roots left as it rubs against the air hose and the aquarium heater in the bucket coming out.
Is this going to cause root problems?
So far, the roots look ok to me.
Thanks for any advice.

 

[Pal23]

I think you'll be okay bro, the majority of dwc plants literally fill the bucket with their root mass so that root ball get even bigger yet, the odd root getting damaged shouldn't cause any problems but just watch for adverse affects above the net pot and monitor your ph and ec. Obviously be as careful as you can when performing res changes but there were a few times my root ball got bashed around due to limited space and everything worked out okay. The plant in the pic looks nice and healthy so don't worry TOO much. any chance you could remove the heater? Not sure if it's a necessity as the water temp should be around 20 degrees. :smokebuds:

p.s if you feel like the 20L buckets are gonna restrict growth you could try setting up a bigger tank, i've seen 50/60L tanks being used for one plant but most people get by with the buckets

 

[Surfer Joe]

Thanks. The heater is a necessity here to keep the water at 18C. Without it, it would drop to 9C, which is way too cold.
I'm stuck with bucket because there is no room in my grow area for anything bigger.

 

[dingo]

Hey Surfer Joe, nice plant you have for 6 weeks old. I do not see any buds growing and it should be by now! Is it a photo or auto?

 

[Groff]

What is lighting? And what about ambient temps? Are they that low that water goes to 9ºc? seems really, but low temperatures do hinder top side growth.

Or maybe you have the airpump outside the room? What airpump are you using btw, curiosity... but anyway, another way to heat the water is having the airpump inside the grow room to pump in hot water.

 

[Surfer Joe]

I started the plant on a 400W MH and I'm currently using a 400W hps and the tent temps run between 12 and 28C and the bucket nute temps run about 17 to 20C with tent humidity about 40 to 70%. I keep an oil radiator in the tent to keep the temps above the outside temp. The tent is in an unheated garage that goes down to 5 to 8C at night.
It is supposed to be an auto flower northern lights and started showing pistils around 3 weeks but there are no real buds yet, just a lot of leaves and the beginnings of what could be buds on the top.
Should I turn the lights down to 12/12 or would that mess it up? I started at 20/4 and have dropped to 19/5 in the last week.
Should I trim a few leaves away from the bud sites to get more light?
I have a dual spectrum 600W hid bulb that I was going to use once the buds really started to develop. Should I switch to that sooner?
I am concerned about the slow pace of development of buds for a hydro plant that shows such strong growth of leaves and pistils.

 

[vapeo]

:jaw:

 

[Groff]

Looking pretty good to me! Day 42 since sprout, sexed at around around day 21... Lookin' good!

Auto's pre-flower and show pistils, but then "halt" and start the stretch phase, where they explode in height, genetics depending... Maybe those extreme temps stunted your girl a little, but she's looking pretty nice, good structure.

Only by the end of the stretch phase do the buds start fattening up. Let her go, dont change anything! I'd leave her in the same light schedule.

One this is for sure, a night/day temperature variation greater than 10ºC will start to dramatically reduce growth. So if you can, get an extra oil heater and fire it up 1h before lights off so it has time to start warming up.

Also, in nature, root temperature is always at a constant level, so minimum water temp variation affects top growth.

I was trying to find some actual values for roots when I stumbled on to this. Great read!

http://www.canna-uk.com/root_zone_temperature_and_plant_health

EDIT:

wow.. cool extra info and even little infomercial videos

http://www.canna-uk.com/videos/water_temperature_your_plants
http://www.canna-uk.com/videos/optimum_day_and_night_temperatures

 

[Surfer Joe]

Here's an update on the grow.
The northern lights auto is around day 65 (sprouted dec 1).
I have had to trim the leaves several times to get some light to the bud sites and they keep growing back.
The root ball is big and very clean around the bottom and insides, although I'm a little concerned about some discoloration around the top.
I figure that it still has several weeks to go.
If anyone can see any warning signs, please advise.
Thanks.

 

[Pal23]

She looks real nice in those pics Joe, however I don't see a main/top cola? Was she topped or supercropped or anything? That's a sure fire way to slow auto's down, could explain the slow development

Edit: roots look fine as well mate, it's easy to worry about them when you see they are not perfectly white. Chances are by the end of a grow, or even just a few weeks in, the roots higher up and around the netpot will start to change colour slightly depending on your nutes and due to their age.. It's nothing to worry about but had me scared on my first DWC run! Just watch out for slimes forming on any roots and strong discolouration, blacks reds pinks etc, those are your warning signs.