Overwatering in soil at transplant

[HerbChambers]

Hello all,

I’m growing in soil (Coast of Maine stonington blend) and recently I seem to have a problem with overwatering at transplant.

I’m upsizing well rooted solo cups into 2 gallon fabric pots and three or four days after transplant the pot is still super heavy, the soil still feels very moist and the plants are wilting and the leaves are much lighter in color.

Temps reach 80 during the day and 69/70 at night. The humidity is around 50%.

Can anyone share their watering for transplant tek? Is there a general rule of thumb like x gallons of water per y gallons of soil? Should I added smaller amounts of water over a longer period of time? I hear people say water until run-off, but if I did that my pots would never dry.

It’s quite frustrating. When I get the transplant right the plants take off on their own and mostly stay out of the way, but when I have these overwatering issues everything turns into an ordeal.


Thank You

 

[Ace Rothstein]

I use plastic pots but fabric is not that different. I make up my pots with an empty solo cup with drain holes placed where the transplant is to be placed. Do this ahead of time and water the empty cup with about two times the volume of the solo cup. Let it soak in.
If the soil is moist to begin with leave it at that, if the soil is very dry to begin with repeat the watering one more time and let it soak. Remove the empty cup gently loosen the roots with your fingers and place the transplant into the hole. water it in with 1 cup of water and wait 3 or 4 days to give a light watering. Continue until roots are established and they are drinking.

 

[Ace Rothstein]

The run off refers to established plants that are grown into the pot. Plants don't like wet feet.
Also I go from 16 oz solo to 1 quart to 2 gallon. Roots today=Buds tomorrow.

 

[Easy7]

Water less when roots are small. Fabric pots do not matter much as the oxygen is a little needed.

 

[Easy7]

I know there is a feeling of security in over watering. That way you can post bond lol.

 

[Teddybrae]

Mate ... I 've been growing in soil for years ... but not manufactured soils. If the soil in yr seedlings is not the same soil as yr pots the transplants needs time to adjust to the new soil. Adjusting should only take two days. There used to be heaps of posts here about that problem.

Another way of looking at yr problem is that your soil is not draining adequately. Are you sure drainage is ok? I 'd add material to assist drainage. It's better to water the fuck out of well drained plants than it is to worry whether you are giving them enough/too much.

 

[moses wellfleet]

Ace Rothstein is on the money, the more you let the plant get root bound and pot up the better, more steps better roots!

And yes watering to the point of run off is intended for well established plants, as mentioned above! You want those roots to go in search of moisture, if you bring too much moisture to them too soon they become lazy and will go nowhere. Think of it that way!!

 

[Vanilla Phoenix]

I water at transplant to run off. Imo, if you water the container at transplant to run off and the soil stays wet too long and the plant droops....you need to mix in a lot more perlite into the soil prior to transplanting. That is, if soil aeration is your problem and you’re not misdiagnosing something. Perlite is cheap, easy to mix in, and can make your soil mix a lot easier to work with and more forgiving.

I go from solo cups, to 1 gallons, to 5 gallons...

 

[thailer]

someone using the stoneyton blend long ago said that it was a heavy mix and needed extra perlite.

 

[GreenGuy]

80 degrees and 50% humidity could make those well rooted solo plugs drink lots of water, depending on light wattage and soil type..

I'd guess that your freshly transplanted plugs are drying up faster than the soil around them.. Causing you to think they are over watered, when the real issue is too dry (in the plug).. Could always dig one up and check

If my solo plugs were going through water every 2 days in the same or similar environment before transplant, then I'd continue to water them every 2 days after transplant as well.. continuing the same irrigation cycle.. and that would be watering to runoff, thoroughly saturating the soil.

I find the plugs don't necessarily absorb or wick the moisture from the surrounding soil until the roots have a chance to grow into it. Up until that point, I continue watering the plugs as if they were still in the solo cups.

Good luck!

 

[h.h.]

You soil shouldn't stay wet.
Add perlite or preferably anything but perlite. Rice hulls, pumice, char, zeolite...
I do an occasional deep water.
Two gallons of soil?

About a quart of water, maybe two, with an occasional three.
Just kinda guessing.

 

[Bjorn to farm.]

Ive learned that an up-potted plant can be suffocated by overwatering......until the roots hit the sides.