Newbie Transplant Questions. +rep for help

Hi, I'm what you might call an advanced Newbie. I have seven 6 week old plants that are about to outgrow their 5 gallon pots because I treated them with Mycorrhiza 3 weeks ago.

I'll be transplanting from a 5 gallon to a 10 gallon container all my myself which is not going to be easy, but I think I have a plan.

I just need to know how wet the soil should be to help it stay together better. I'm using 2/3 FFOF & 1/3 perlite.

+rep for an answer to this question that's so basic I'm almost too ashamed to ask it.

Thanks.

grab the stock, turn the plant upside down, tap the pot against something in a downward motion, root wad should slide right out. good luck

Its all good, I like my soil medium (?), not too wet and not too dry. I have to look up what that stuff was you feed it, never heard of that before.

Got Pics?

DannyGreenEyes said:

Hi, I'm what you might call an advanced Newbie. I have seven 6 week old plants that are about to outgrow their 5 gallon pots because I treated them with Mycorrhiza 3 weeks ago.

I'll be transplanting from a 5 gallon to a 10 gallon container all my myself which is not going to be easy, but I think I have a plan.

I just need to know how wet the soil should be to help it stay together better. I'm using 2/3 FFOF & 1/3 perlite.

+rep for an answer to this question that's so basic I'm almost too ashamed to ask it.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

well first you want a descent sized root ball before you transplant the roots will hold the soil together. Now, as far as how wet, you have your differing opinions. I would transplant them pretty dry to make them lighter, but if they are wet before you transplant they are suppose to experience less shock. So if it were me I would transplant dry and water pretty heavy with water when I'm done with some superthrive or some kind of stress reliever. You'll be good

2much said:

grab the stock, turn the plant upside down, tap the pot against something in a downward motion, root wad should slide right out. good luck

Click to expand...

Well said, your soil should be moist as well.

DannyGreenEyes said:

Hi, I'm what you might call an advanced Newbie. I have seven 6 week old plants that are about to outgrow their 5 gallon pots because I treated them with Mycorrhiza 3 weeks ago.

I'll be transplanting from a 5 gallon to a 10 gallon container all my myself which is not going to be easy, but I think I have a plan.

I just need to know how wet the soil should be to help it stay together better. I'm using 2/3 FFOF & 1/3 perlite.

+rep for an answer to this question that's so basic I'm almost too ashamed to ask it.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

this may not be the answer you are looking for. but if they are ready to be transplanted i would assume you have some nice roots which will hold the soil together. i usually like my soil to be damp all the way through.. so maybe if you water at night transplant the next day or after they have gotten some light and dried up a bit. I dont think you will really do too much damage if your soil is too wet or too dry, but if the soil is damp all the way to the bottom and on all sides then you should be good. ive had some really root bound plants and have had to rip apart some of the roots to encourage outward growth. also i have transplanted with a poor root system and too dry of soil which caused the bottom part of the soil to crumble away and damage and the roots. in both cases the plants were fine and did not seem to be stunted. anyways damp soil should do the trick. i like to just hold the plant upside down and loosen the pot and slide it off. hope this helps.. sorry for rambling

2much said:

grab the stock, turn the plant upside down, tap the pot against something in a downward motion, root wad should slide right out. good luck

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help +rep.

But I just flushed them, and that really loosened everything up. I have them tied with that green wire tie just to keep them from leaning over.

I'm gonna cut the bottom of the pot away and use a towel to keep anything from falling out the bottom.

Cut up 2 sides opposite one another and use tape to keep it together.

Put it into the new pot and carefully remove the towel.

Add dirt around the sides and remove the tape carefully as the dirt reaches the level of the tape.

Once the dirt is to the top of the 10 gallon I'll then remove the 2 sides of the old planter 1 at a time.

If I do it the normal way, after loosening up everything with the flush, I'm likely to have a major screw up.

2much said:

grab the stock, turn the plant upside down, tap the pot against something in a downward motion, root wad should slide right out. good luck

Click to expand...

Perfect, but try to disturb the root ball as little as possible or you will break the microscopic hairs that do all the work and it will take a couple of weeks to get back up to speed.

jesus of Cannabis said:

Its all good, I like my soil medium (?), not too wet and not too dry. I have to look up what that stuff was you feed it, never heard of that before.

Got Pics?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. +rep

I'm guessing you mean moist. Like give them a light watering and wait 12 hours. Sound about right?

That's not a nute btw, it's a micro organism. You can read up on it here, it kicks the root growth into overdrive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza

Pics? I have a couple. But the folliage hasn't caught up to the roots yet because of pH problems, pH fluctuation, taking clones, nute burns, and 3 bug infestations (spider mites, fungus gnats, and white flies)

First pics is from 12-5 (3 weeks old), the day before FIM & root treatment, they're about 6" to 8". Second pics are from yesterday and the day before yesterday (6 weeks old). The Diesel is 14" and the Blueberry is 16".

Dr.GreenBuds said:

well first you want a descent sized root ball before you transplant the roots will hold the soil together. Now, as far as how wet, you have your differing opinions. I would transplant them pretty dry to make them lighter, but if they are wet before you transplant they are suppose to experience less shock. So if it were me I would transplant dry and water pretty heavy with water when I'm done with some superthrive or some kind of stress reliever. You'll be good

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help +rep

I'm not concerned with the weight, I'll be using the old pot to help keep everything together while I transplant, but I'm worried about the towel I'll be using to keep the stuff in the bottom. I need the dirt to hold itself together at least a little bit.

I'm not sure how big the root ball is till I cut the bottom off the old pot. When I flushed I saw roots at the drain holes which means I'll need to transplant being that I water light where there's little to no run off (I'll be changing that after seeing how much they liked the flush), and being that I have 10 more weeks till harvest. I want to give them all the room they need to grow, check the pics.

The Mycorrhiza is also good for the shock, I figured I'd use that so I can treat the roots again at the same time.

Thanks for the help, it shounds like for my purposes, wet is better.

norcaliiguy said:

this may not be the answer you are looking for. but if they are ready to be transplanted i would assume you have some nice roots which will hold the soil together. i usually like my soil to be damp all the way through.. so maybe if you water at night transplant the next day or after they have gotten some light and dried up a bit. I dont think you will really do too much damage if your soil is too wet or too dry, but if the soil is damp all the way to the bottom and on all sides then you should be good. ive had some really root bound plants and have had to rip apart some of the roots to encourage outward growth. also i have transplanted with a poor root system and too dry of soil which caused the bottom part of the soil to crumble away and damage and the roots. in both cases the plants were fine and did not seem to be stunted. anyways damp soil should do the trick. i like to just hold the plant upside down and loosen the pot and slide it off. hope this helps.. sorry for rambling

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help +rep

I can't do it the normal way though, and I'm not sure what I'm gonna find exactly when I cut away the bottom of the old pot. This is kinda uncharted territory, most don't seem to know about the Mycorrhiza where I can see pics or get info. I'm just kinda letting logic tell me what to do and hopefully it's right. lol

DannyGreenEyes said:

Thanks for the help +rep

I'm not concerned with the weight, I'll be using the old pot to help keep everything together while I transplant, but I'm worried about the towel I'll be using to keep the stuff in the bottom. I need the dirt to hold itself together at least a little bit.

I'm not sure how big the root ball is till I cut the bottom off the old pot. When I flushed I saw roots at the drain holes which means I'll need to transplant being that I water light where there's little to no run off (I'll be changing that after seeing how much they liked the flush), and being that I have 10 more weeks till harvest. I want to give them all the room they need to grow, check the pics.

The Mycorrhiza is also good for the shock, I figured I'd use that so I can treat the roots again at the same time.

Thanks for the help, it shounds like for my purposes, wet is better.

Click to expand...

Yeah your right wet is better but it won't hurt your plants and if there are roots in the drain holes you'll have plenty of root mass and if they are only in 5 gal buckets you shouldn't need a towel or tear apart your bucket. you can turn it upside down and pull the bucket off if you can that'll be the easiest. If you're worried about dirt getting all over the floor or the root ball coming apart all you really need is a tarp on the floor for easy clean up and add alittle more dirt to the bigger pot and slam her in that will actually be a good thing you wont have to break the ball up before you put her in big a bigger pot. I have a feeling whatever you do will be good enough to keep up the grow.

Dr.GreenBuds said:

Yeah your right wet is better but it won't hurt your plants and if there are roots in the drain holes you'll have plenty of root mass and if they are only in 5 gal buckets you shouldn't need a towel or tear apart your bucket. you can turn it upside down and pull the bucket off if you can that'll be the easiest. If you're worried about dirt getting all over the floor or the root ball coming apart all you really need is a tarp on the floor for easy clean up and add alittle more dirt to the bigger pot and slam her in that will actually be a good thing you wont have to break the ball up before you put her in big a bigger pot. I have a feeling whatever you do will be good enough to keep up the grow.

Click to expand...

I don't think I'm root bound like the guy in the pic, at least I hope I'm not. I don't wanna have to cut the root ball to get it to grow outwards again. So the root ball probably isn't gonna hold it together like in the pic.

Plus the recent flush really loosened up the dirt. I have the green wire ties holding the plants upright so they don't slant, that's how loose the dirt is right now. It is 1/3 perlite, plus the FFOF had more perlite, wood chips, etc....

I'm really trying to transplant it before it gets all root tied so it grows into the 10 gallon freely. The roots in the drain holes tells me it's about that time to transplant before it gets root bound, especially since up till now I've gotten little if any run off when I water. That tells me that the roots are about maxed out and if they haven't started that circle thing yet (hopefully they haven't) then they're about to. Keep in mind, I still have 10 weeks to go.

Thanks though, I think I got my answer. Soil should be wet but not saturated. Give them a light water then let them sit under the lights for 12 hours and I think I should be ok.