Outdoor starting 50+ autos indoors for the outdoors

[Boggieman]

Hello i have alot ( 1000+ seeds ) of Mi5 F2. I want to grow as many as i can under my 2ft 4 lamp T5 for a head start for outdoors, the plan is to grow them for 2 weeks, transplant outdoors, then plant new batch of germinated seeds and repeat the pattern until early july.

My question, would it be better to start alot in cups or say 12 in 6inch pots? Would starting them in cups reduce alot of early growth resulting in a shit yeild? I will water with a kelp extract to help reduce stress and they will be transplanted into 5 gallon pots. Any and all advice would be well appreciated and much thanks.

 

[Dr Who]

I think that starting in 1 to 1.5 litres is a reasonable compromise between size and number of plants. I also feel that using a bigger pot could lead to later transplanting, I like to do it soon after showing sex, if not before (e.g. for feminised seeds). I also think that the root ball will contain the soil in a smaller pot, and make for easier transplanting, compared to transplanting a plant of the same size/age from a larger pot. Dry soil makes for an easier transplant, and a smaller pot will dry out more quickly than larger one for the same plant size.

 

[Boggieman]

Thanks Dr Who for the reply, im going to take your advice and skip the the cups and my 6" x 6" pots, this will allow me to fit 12 under my T5 instead of about 50. I have only grown photos, however i understand we want to maxamize growth in their short veg time to maxamize yeild which is difficult when working with numbers for the obvious reasons (moving outdoors, limited indoor space). Im unsurr yet how im gonna go about this, how long to veg before transplanting outdoors without stunting too much growth in such small pots and od course doing everything with the least amout of stress possible.

 

[Dr Who]

I would usually aim to transplant when the seedlings have between 3 and 5 sets of true leaves. I think that smaller plants are perhaps a bit less tolerant of lower temperatures that can occur early in the season. They definitely want to be planted out before they start to do any stretching, and don't forget to harden them off first as best you can.