OK. Transplanting is bonehead stuff, I know. However, I have figured out a little transplanting technique that really works well for me. I wanted to share it with anyone that might benefit from it, and who knows, maybe I'll score a couple of rep points for it! For me, successful transplanting is all about not disturbing the root mass. If you don't disturb it all, then the plant can continue growth without missing a beat. If you mess it up, it could take weeks for the plant to catch up to where it was, or worse. I picked a clone that wasn't ready yet – no roots showing out the holes. I did that on purpose to show how well this technique works. Normally you need to wait until roots appear to know that the roots will be adequate to hold the soil mass during a transplant. If the soil falls apart and crumbles away, you have instant root stress that your plant now needs to recover from. I am also doing this while the soil is still a bit too wet. Normally, you should wait until the soil is slightly dry – so it doesn't crumble away like wet soil during transplant. I'll show all the steps of the transplant, but the intention of this post centers on the method I use to transfer the plant from the one pot to the other without disturbing the soil mass around the roots. Here we go… Get the stuff you need. Moisten the soil in a bowl first. That's good there. Now stuff soil in the pot and pack it slightly. Get it up to the level you need by placing the smaller pot inside. I know, everybody already knows all of this! This is the first step that's part of the technique – pack the soil enough so that you can lay the pot on its side without the soil coming aloose and dropping down. OK, back to stuff everyone knows. Place your hand so that you can support the plant and soil when you turn it over. Turn it over and pinch and squeeze and do whatever you do to loosen the soil block away from the old pot. The old pot should eventually slip right up and off. These next two handoffs are the basis of my technique. The plant is now upside down in your right hand (my right, you may be a lefty). Simply lay it on its side onto your other hand. Now lay it onto another side back into your right hand, but make sure the plant is pointing upwards along your arm with your fingers about even with the bottom of the soil block. And here's where the magic happens! Just put the plant sideways into the pot and then tilt it back upwards. Is that cool or what?! Now carefully fill in the gaps around the soil block with loose damp soil. Do it loosely and carefully all around before you start packing it down. Don't pack hard – compaction is something that roots don't like. But enough so it will all hold together for the next transplant! That looks pretty good right there. Pack it down gently, get it all nice. Now water right away and all around. Enough so you get a little runoff. Ta-da!!! Grow baby SH-16, grow! Hope that helps at least one of you out there!
good info bud. It's true this is basic stuff, but I think it's the basics that people tend to mess up the most + Rep!
This will be exactly what I do for my transplants. Thanks for requesting it MX, things should go alot smoother now. +rep
It's cool that this thread pops up and helps some newbies now and then. This thread is a bit old, and I was really quite the newby myself back then. I still use that hand-off technique, but here's what I would change: I make it sound like I pack my soil down a lot! I don't and it's a really, really bad thing to do to your plants' roots. So just very lightly to make it neat and stay together. OK? For that first watering, I don't water until I get some runoff anymore. Since you ALWAYS use evenly moistened soil when transplanting (right?), you hardly to need water it at all really. In a #5 smartpot (5 gal), I use less than a cup of water after transplanting and that's pretty much all right over and around the old root ball. Don't water again until the pot's light, and then give her a full watering. Good luck with your grows!