Transplanted and roots broke off

So i was transplanting my plant and the soil was packed more than i thought and the roots broke off in the soil did i just kill my plant
 
Also plant is only 10 days old and the roots were about 2-3 inches long and now there 1 inch long maybe so do i just keep going the way i would if i didnt break the roots and wait a couple days because i know it will stunt it and make it more bushy which i wanted in the first place a small bushy plant
 

LetsGetCritical

Well-Known Member
It might live or it might die but you are God of Pot so you should be ok, just put your hand on it and wish it back to life. Seriously man, I have no idea.
 

kinddiesel

Well-Known Member
next time give us a pic, if you feel all the roots broke off just put it into a cloner,, hydro preferred for large plant. or put it into a jiffy cube, it will grow roots, or cut it up make a few more clones out of it, 2 is always better then 1 ,
 

dl290485

Well-Known Member
So how exactly did you break the roots because "the soil was packed more"? That should of made the roots safer- not more at risk.

It sounds to me like you used an incorrect method of removing the rootball from the pot. Sounds to me like you just grabbed the trunk and yanked at it?

Let me describe to you a better technique for removing a plant from a pot

  1. Place the palm of one of your hand and fingers on top of the soil. You need to try to cover as much of the soil as you can like as if it's trying to escape because...
  2. Next use your other hand to pick the pot up and then turn it upside down. The idea is you don't pull the plant out, it falls out.. but don't let the soil just fall everywhere- that's why you are supporting it in your hand. That's also why I say more tight soil (or root mass) is easier to repot than something loose.
  3. Slide the pot up and off the rootball/soil- which will be now upside down in your palm. If the pot is stuck, find the edge of a bench and lower the pot down with a little force so just the pot hits the top of the bench (just the pot edge, not the soil too). This usually will jolt most pots out unless really root bound.
  4. Now the tricky part... it's upside down but you have to put your free hand on the bottom (temporarily top?) of the rootball/soil and turn it around as you hold it over the pot to drop it in. Again if the soil is loose... this part can be a bit fucked. Thing is though you can have soil spill out and shit and still have the roots relatively undamaged (albeit disturbed).

I've done this countless times working at a wholesale nursery. The basic concept of the technique is what you will find in a gardening text book, although personal touches and tweaks can be expected. If you use a technique like this, you will never kill a plant or separate the greater part of it's roots from the trunk like you described (even when you fuck up). Best case scernario (if you are good at it) the plant won't even know you done it. Worst case, the small young roots at the bottom of the rootball will break away with a chunk of soil as you try to turn it over and put it in the new pot- but even that won't be heaps of root and the plant won't mind much (you may not even see the difference without some kind of clone to compare to).

Never pull a plant by the trunk- ever.
 

ThorGanjason

Well-Known Member
I will say, I had some plants that were very small (like a week old) that I transplanted into new soil. 3 of them broke like you are saying yours did. I kept them in certain colored pots so I could see the difference. They didn't grow at all for a few days, but wound up exploding and passing up my other plants. Not sure if the root damage caused the plant to focus all its efforts into roots or what, but definitely didn't stunt them for too long.
 
Letsgetcritical lol but yah rookie mistake i did just pull it by the trunk and the there werent that many roots and they werent big enough for a root ball the longest root was only 3-4 inches now there 1 inch and was only 10 days old but i did transplant it into moist soil and giving it light it hasnt droped that much actually one stem ontop of the first node grew more so i dont think its gonna die and i hope it does explode because im putting it in 12/12 in a couple days
 

budfever

Active Member
Letsgetcritical lol but yah rookie mistake i did just pull it by the trunk and the there werent that many roots and they werent big enough for a root ball the longest root was only 3-4 inches now there 1 inch and was only 10 days old but i did transplant it into moist soil and giving it light it hasnt droped that much actually one stem ontop of the first node grew more so i dont think its gonna die and i hope it does explode because im putting it in 12/12 in a couple days
I would give it a week or two to recover before you put it into flower.
 
Hey budfever long time no see and your probably right its been 12 hours and it hasnt droped that much the stem bent down a little but thats about it leaves are dark green and all that
 

budfever

Active Member
Hey budfever long time no see and your probably right its been 12 hours and it hasnt droped that much the stem bent down a little but thats about it leaves are dark green and all that
The life of a farmer keeps me away sometimes, always something to be working on.

Now this is just my two cents, I would give a plant with that damage 3wks to recover.
It would probably be fine with 1.5-2wks.
But the extra time will insure that I have a plant that will live up to its potential.

Now I have the time and room to do this, If I didn't I would just give it 1-2wks.
If you go before 1.5wks I believe you will see some stunting in the plant and a little less yield.
Now this amount could be so small you don't even notice, or worst case it could be very noticeable and disappointing.

Keep in mind that you are not going to see much growth above the soil till it regrows its roots.
Big Root Balls = Big Plants = Big Buds = Big Smiles
 
Well with that information im gonna give it another week or 2 to recover before doing anything like putting it into 12/13 an i know how you feel not enough hours in the day to do things
 
Just an update from the first node up that stem is starting to drop to the right so i have it positioned to rgight of the light so itll bend back towards the light and am on 18/6
 
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