PURPLEMANE
Member
How can you tell?????
How do you know when its time to change your soil?
- Thread starter PURPLEMANE
- Start date
PURPLEMANE
Member
Im growing outside and using pots.i heard that you are supposed to change your plants soil at one point. I wanted to know if thats true and if it is how can you tell when the soil needs changing
you dont have to change the soil at any point... your just not suppose to use old soil that has all the roots left in it from the previous grow. You transplant if thats what you mean... from a small pot to a larger one, and at that point you will add more soil to cover the old root ball.
jsteezy1290
Well-Known Member
you mean root bound>?
PURPLEMANE
Member
Thanks 4 the feedback
Brick Top
New Member
Oh .. you want to know about transplanting.
　
Ok, well if like most people you began your seedlings in a plastic cup or some small container you soon found that you have to repot into something larger because the plant’s roots are running out of room to grow in.
　
The below soil mass/area/size of a plant is very nearly always close to being equal in size to the above soil mass/area/size of the plant. Because they take such different shapes it is hard at times to imagine that being the case but it is.
　
Once roots begin to circle a pot the plant is under some degree of stress. The longer the circling is allowed to continue the worse the stress the plant is under becomes. Among some of the problems root-bound plants can have are stunted growth, stretching, smaller and slower bud production, needs often watering, is easy to burn even if using low percentage nutrient solutions and wilting.
For future reference .. when you repot follow the following steps.
　
Select the pot size you will be transplanting into. (I suggest growing in nothing smaller than 5-gallon pots and I normally use 7-gallon pots and I start out my plants in them and never repot.)
　
Allow the soil in the pot your plant is in to dry out and slightly pull away from the sides of the pot.
　
(The following applies if you are right handed. If not reverse the hand position/use instructions)
　
Partially fill your new larger pot with quality soil so when you insert your plant into the new pot and fill in around the rootball the top of the soil will be at the correct level.
　
Pick up your old pot with your left hand.
　
Place your right hand on top of the soil with the main stem between your first and second fingers.
　
Gently tap the edge of the pot on a countertop or a workbench or something similar. The entire rootball should slide out in one piece, possibly with a slight amount of soil loss, but no damage to or loss of roots unless the plant was so root-bound that the roots had grown through the drain holes. If that is the case clip them first.
　
Your plant and rootball are then securely held in your right hand. Inspect the rootball and if it is tightly packed/twisted/root-bound slightly score/cut the edges of the rootball and also slightly score/cut the bottom of the rootball.
If you do not score/cut the root-ball that the roots will want to continue to follow their circling pattern and their growth progression both down and to the sides into the fresh deeper soil will be much slower. Each cut root will push out new roots and they will go both out and down into the new soil.
　
Place the plant into the new pot.
　
If the surface level of the old rootball is to low or two high remove some soil or add additional soil.
　
Next fill in around the edges between the rootball and the sides of the larger pot.
　
Water thoroughly to cause the soil to settle without compressing it too much by packing it down by hand. If needed add additional soil and water again.
　
Normally plants will undergo very little to no shock when transplanted in this manner but it would not be an injudicious thing to do to use a product like SuperThrive or something with the same general properties because they will reduce plant stress helping them to overcome it quicker and easier.
　
　
　
　
　
　
Ok, well if like most people you began your seedlings in a plastic cup or some small container you soon found that you have to repot into something larger because the plant’s roots are running out of room to grow in.
　
The below soil mass/area/size of a plant is very nearly always close to being equal in size to the above soil mass/area/size of the plant. Because they take such different shapes it is hard at times to imagine that being the case but it is.
　
Once roots begin to circle a pot the plant is under some degree of stress. The longer the circling is allowed to continue the worse the stress the plant is under becomes. Among some of the problems root-bound plants can have are stunted growth, stretching, smaller and slower bud production, needs often watering, is easy to burn even if using low percentage nutrient solutions and wilting.
For future reference .. when you repot follow the following steps.
　
Select the pot size you will be transplanting into. (I suggest growing in nothing smaller than 5-gallon pots and I normally use 7-gallon pots and I start out my plants in them and never repot.)
　
Allow the soil in the pot your plant is in to dry out and slightly pull away from the sides of the pot.
　
(The following applies if you are right handed. If not reverse the hand position/use instructions)
　
Partially fill your new larger pot with quality soil so when you insert your plant into the new pot and fill in around the rootball the top of the soil will be at the correct level.
　
Pick up your old pot with your left hand.
　
Place your right hand on top of the soil with the main stem between your first and second fingers.
　
Gently tap the edge of the pot on a countertop or a workbench or something similar. The entire rootball should slide out in one piece, possibly with a slight amount of soil loss, but no damage to or loss of roots unless the plant was so root-bound that the roots had grown through the drain holes. If that is the case clip them first.
　
Your plant and rootball are then securely held in your right hand. Inspect the rootball and if it is tightly packed/twisted/root-bound slightly score/cut the edges of the rootball and also slightly score/cut the bottom of the rootball.
If you do not score/cut the root-ball that the roots will want to continue to follow their circling pattern and their growth progression both down and to the sides into the fresh deeper soil will be much slower. Each cut root will push out new roots and they will go both out and down into the new soil.
　
Place the plant into the new pot.
　
If the surface level of the old rootball is to low or two high remove some soil or add additional soil.
　
Next fill in around the edges between the rootball and the sides of the larger pot.
　
Water thoroughly to cause the soil to settle without compressing it too much by packing it down by hand. If needed add additional soil and water again.
　
Normally plants will undergo very little to no shock when transplanted in this manner but it would not be an injudicious thing to do to use a product like SuperThrive or something with the same general properties because they will reduce plant stress helping them to overcome it quicker and easier.