Transplanting aquestion

Hello!
I've done some searching, but, again, came up with nothing.... Trust me! I love searching, but hate wading through the uselessness of some of the threads!
Do I transplant a seedling (5 nodes right now with roots coming out the drainage holes) from a red solo cup before lights on or right after lights off?
From the red solo cup, they'll be going into, roughly, a 1/2 gallon nursery pot and then into a three gallon smart pot... not that you care!...

So it sounds like you should move those girls right into the smart pots honestly. I will move mine over from solos into 5gal smart pots when they are about 6-8 inches tall and roots just got established in the solo. I would just transplant while lights are on but I really don't think the variable of light or darkness matters much at all.

Rufus the 13th said:

Hello!
I've done some searching, but, again, came up with nothing.... Trust me! I love searching, but hate wading through the uselessness of some of the threads!
Do I transplant a seedling (5 nodes right now with roots coming out the drainage holes) from a red solo cup before lights on or right after lights off?
From the red solo cup, they'll be going into, roughly, a 1/2 gallon nursery pot and then into a three gallon smart pot... not that you care!...

Click to expand...

makes no sense to transplant twice. why not go directly into 3 gallon pots. lighting does not matter when you transplant. just be a gentle as possible to reduce shock

THAT, my friend, would be perfect! However, I am running 9 regular seeds and only have room for, max., 5 plants...
My plan was to top them, lst and sex them in the 1/2 gln. pots and then transfer the females in the fabric pots (root pouch, I think...)

Would what I want to do still be ok? If it's the size of the 1/2 gallon pots, I have bigger ones... just figured I could keep better control with those... If its the shock, I think I can deal with that... if it's just a recovery time thing...

if it helps i go from a 1/2 gallon pot directly to a 20 gallon pot . and i day it when ever i feel like it . no matter time of day .

I personally prefer to do it just before lights off

I'm run in them 19/5, so I was thinking right before lights out as well...
Back to the container size issue... is that 1/2 gallon going to be big enough to top, lst and sex them? And then, will it be ok to transplant them into the fabric pots, then keep in veg for another 2 weeks before I flip to 12/12?
This is my third, and most focussed, grow. The their two were bag seeds with no Ph-ed water, high temps and cheap tomato fert's... they went fine, but now I really want to focus on getting everything dialed in!

Transplant after the roots take up a large portion of the cup and simply transplant after lights on. It's not really anything complicated you're not going to shock your plant that easy.

mauricem00 said:

makes no sense to transplant twice. why not go directly into 3 gallon pots. lighting does not matter when you transplant. just be a gentle as possible to reduce shock

Click to expand...

Why not? Up potting as the plant grows gives the roots loads of room to grow and ensures a solid root ball for your plant to absorb nutrients from. Moving up to slightly larger pots as you go also goes a really long way in preventing unnecessary and over watering.

Cyrus420 said:

Why not? Up potting as the plant grows gives the roots loads of room to grow and ensures a solid root ball for your plant to absorb nutrients from. Moving up to slightly larger pots as you go also goes a really long way in preventing unnecessary and over watering.

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every time you transplant it puts the plant in shock and takes a couple of days to recover. when plants become root bound in smaller pots growth slows down.roots need to spread out to find nutrients in the soil.it is not hard to avoid over watering.this is a newbie mistake that usually only happens once.once a seedling is established in a small pot it should be moved to the pot it will finish in.this reduces time needed to veg and risk of shock related mutations.

mauricem00 said:

every time you transplant it puts the plant in shock and takes a couple of days to recover. when plants become root bound in smaller pots growth slows down.roots need to spread out to find nutrients in the soil.it is not hard to avoid over watering.this is a newbie mistake that usually only happens once.once a seedling is established in a small pot it should be moved to the pot it will finish in.this reduces time needed to veg and risk of shock related mutations.

Click to expand...

Every time I transplant my plants suffer zero shock and continue to grow.

Becoming root bound is only an issue if you leave your plant in the container it's roots are taking up, the container being full of roots for a day or so will not hurt your plant.

Yes it is true over watering is easy to avoid but it's even easier when you have your plant in an appropriate size container for it's current state of growth.

One can decide to move straight to the final pot or not but it's possible to up pot through several different containers without causing transplant stress. I've never once dealt with it.

I'll definitely be transplanting twice.
Once, out of the solo cup into the next size (1/2 or 1 gallon???), then into the 3 gallon fabric pots... there is no question about that... I have 9 reg's going but only have 5 fabric pots and only enough room for those 5 fabric pots...