I plan on transplanting a plant from some crap premix soil to a homemade soil mix Should I scoop the plant out with a lot of the premix dirt still attached to the roots or should I knock off the dirt before planting in the new soil? I'm afraid of killing it lol
Do the transplant dry so the root ball slides right out. wet rootballs fall apart and get stuck in the planter fucking up the roots..
You should transplant the whole pot... this is standard transplanting process for any plant... 1) let the medium dry out almost completely 2) ensure that the roots have filled the pot you are transplanting from... if you don't then it will all fall apart when you remove the plant 3) place your hand on top of the dirt and brace the base of the stem between 2 fingers and flip the pot and plant upside down. 4) gently wiggle the whole mass dirt and rootball loose from the pot so that it all comes out as one "piece" if the plant is severely rootbound it may be necessary to loosen and break some of the roots that are clumped together (don't worry this will help avoid shock) 5) fill new pot up with dirt so that when you rest the transplanted plant on top it is just about .5 inches below the lip of the pot, and then center your plant and fill around the edges 6) gently compact the dirt as you fill in but not too much, just enough to prevent massive settling 7) once all the dirt is in place water heavily You can use some fertilizer in the hole or root stimulator or something but I generally just use water. If done properly there is no such thing as transplant shock.
To teach my friends how to transplant I grab a plant and flip the root ball right out then stick it back in the pot. I have not seen a case of root shock in years.