What is the biggest pot I can start off in?

[HigherTheHigh]

Im in the middle of a grow and it seems my "feminised seeds" both turned out to be male so im re-ordering seeds and id like to know which is the biggest pot i can start off with as i dont want to transplant for as long as i can.

Is 11 pots too big as iv got some of those and i could leave them in there till i flower them.

Another question id like answered is, would drilling 20mm holes in my pots help my roots at all? was thinking 20mm hole every 80-100mm cross lapped.

Thanks.

 

[Old Salt]

You can start them in any sized pot. The reasons for starting in a small pot are to save space, and power for the lights. It also helps in root development. Small pots to start also show problems before a large one does with the same size of plant, allowing you to correct it faster. If you are going to transplant at all, you need to do it before they are root bound. If they do get root bound, I cut through the roots circling the pot in four places to encourage the roots to grow into the new medium. This is pretty much standard practice for other plant species at nurseries.

I grow in coco/perlite and start in 4" pots with about a 1/2 l volume. I wait after topping until the branches reach the rim of the pot before transplanting. The plants are not root bound at this point, and then they go into my 11 l caged grow bags for the remainder of the grow. It doesn't take much time, only about 15 minutes for 4 plants, including cleanup.