Grow Room First tiny pot plant - not draining well

[MIAutomatic]

Hi all, I am growing my first plant in a tiny pot. It’s about a 20oz clay pot, so it wouldn’t count as a solo cup grow. I saw another grower mention that they put 1-2 in most of their grow tents to take advantage of the “photon spill” as they put it. That sounds cool and practical, so I thought I should give it a try

Plant is doing really well, growing on canna coco with full canna line watering to runoff twice a day. Plant is a Mephisto CDLC that’s 24 days old, showing pre flowers and just starting to flip. Until yesterday the pot had been draining fine, but when I watered it yesterday morning water just pooled on the surface of the pot. It did eventually drain, but very slowly and it took a long time. My first thought was that it was drinking too fast and the coco became hydrophobic . After it drained I checked for saturation and the soil was not hydrophobic. Next I checked to see if the drain hole had somehow gotten blocked by packed coco, but that was also not the case. Is this normal for a tiny pot grow? Does the root growth eventually get so dense that it slows drainage? Or do I potentially have something else going on in my root zone?

Thanks!

here she is:

 

[Shugrows]

cdlc is some dank man. Easy grow decent yield and loud and great high. I would guess the roots are slowing the water down.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Hi all, I am growing my first plant in a tiny pot. It’s about a 20oz clay pot, so it wouldn’t count as a solo cup grow. I saw another grower mention that they put 1-2 in most of their grow tents to take advantage of the “photon spill” as they put it. That sounds cool and practical, so I thought I should give it a try

Plant is doing really well, growing on canna coco with full canna line watering to runoff twice a day. Plant is a Mephisto CDLC that’s 24 days old, showing pre flowers and just starting to flip. Until yesterday the pot had been draining fine, but when I watered it yesterday morning water just pooled on the surface of the pot. It did eventually drain, but very slowly and it took a long time. My first thought was that it was drinking too fast and the coco became hydrophobic . After it drained I checked for saturation and the soil was not hydrophobic. Next I checked to see if the drain hole had somehow gotten blocked by packed coco, but that was also not the case. Is this normal for a tiny pot grow? Does the root growth eventually get so dense that it slows drainage? Or do I potentially have something else going on in my root zone?

Thanks!

here she is:
View attachment 1467702

This is not a common problem I think as long as the drain hole is open it must be the mass in the pot. Most coco growers run 20% or more perlite to help increase the drainage profile of the coco. You might try adding a little surfactant to the water even though you don't think it is getting hydrophobic.

The plant looks great!

 

[MIAutomatic]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Now that I have done several more waterings I think all is well. Pots always drain a bit slower as the roots fill them up, and the effect seems to accelerate more quickly in a smaller pot, which makes sense. She seems to drain fine, just slower than I am used to.

@Mañ'O'Green - I have some rice hulls mixed in with the coco, I try to avoid perlite because the coco ends up in my outdoor garden beds.

thanks all!