Transplanting

[billgee]

Do plants like transplanting?
or
Is transplanting a shock young plants dont like to endure and it slows them down

There is a lot of difference of opinion.

Please register your opinion by entering a post not just viewing

Personally, I crack em in a paper towel, move them to a plug, move the plug to 16 oz double cup and never transplant them. Then I move the inner bottomless cup to a 3 gal softsided or airpot for their final destination.

 

[señorsloth]

there is no difference of opinion...transplanting shocks plants, and slows them down, if done really well you can hope at best that your plant will not notice it at all and continue normal growth.

it can be a good thing though if the pot they are in is much too small, although thats not really saying a lot...it's like saying that breathing can be a lot of fun and enjoyable if you just hold your breath till you almost die...in your normal life breathing is just a thing, sure it keeps you alive but it is not something people generally receive great joy from doing unless it is taken away from them and they recognize the great discomfort of not breathing. on that same note, a plant isn't going to notice any benefit to transplanting unless you stunt it in a small pot for several weeks first...a GOOD transplant will be plants that have no idea they have ever been transplanted and will then have received no benefits to a program they didn't even know was happening. one thing is for certain: Transplanting itself will not improve growth over a plant that wasn't transplanted but also had plenty of space to make roots.

for instance if the pot they are already in is ten times too big for it them, and you arbitrarily transplant them to another pot that is also much to big for them, they will not enjoy it in any way. the best you can hope in that situation is that you do such a good job that they don't know they were transplanted, and will continue normal growth without stunting.

there is no transplanting in nature, and marijuana has evolved for hundreds of thousands of years to grow in nature, not some kinda hokus pokus transplanting program that does nothing for them.

i don't think it's a contested thing at all, the purpose of transplanting is to make sure the size of the plant is suitable for the pot it is in. this ensures that it dries evenly and fairly quickly to avoid nutrient problems and ph swings that occur when you only water once a month...

of course this is why i'm an advocate of bed growing. just one pot, one big bed, perfectly fitting the bottom of your grow, 8-10 inches deep, grows the BEST plants in my opinion sog style. my plants never get close to rootbind, no ph swings, no nutrient problems, no dealing with a thousand leaky pots and transplants! i transplant fresh clones in rapid rooters once a month and throw into flowering immediately...it has all the benefits of growing with the correct sized pot, along with the ease of use that growing in bigger pots has(no transplanting, stable soil chemistry, and ease of use!) you cannot imagine how much easier it is to grow 70 plants in 2 beds vs 70 plants crunched in the same space with individual grow bags!

so transplanting is not good or bad, it's just necessary at times, and the fewer times you do it, and the less the plant knows it's been transplanted the less the plant will be stunted from it.

 

[billgee]

YES

thanks

 

[northstate]

In my opinion a proper transplant is very helpful and gives a plant more room to grow into and renewed growth & vigor, when done correctly they dont even realize what happened. I see people all the time with issues from root bound pots, not getting the growth or yield they want. Bump up the final pot size and most are very happy with the results. Dont massacre root balls, throw in some Mycos and water well. Done.

 

[Sat X RB]

I 'm with Senor Sloth!

if you do transplant make sure no roots are disrurbed. that is: lift a lot of soil with the seedling.

cheers!

 

[GadgetGuy]

I'm still pretty new to growing (2 years and some change), and still learning daily. In fact, I just in the past few months have I finally had some decent success with cloning so I am no expert. Your comment about leaving a post and not just viewing is what drove me to this because I usually just read read read here and don't post much. FOR ME, it helps to move pot sizes. It gives me a better idea of how much my roots are using up the container they are in. It also helps me move through the cycles of life.

Small plants or clones usually come to me in tiny 3"x3"x3" square pots, or maybe smaller occasionally. I let them sit in there until I see roots coming out of the majority of drainage holes or they start needing water more than every 3 days in average temps.

Then they usually get moved to a 3 liter or so pot, which I've been using netpots for my smaller plants lately because I have gotten a collection of them through getting teenager plants from a friend. They shoot up nice and tall and skinny in these pots. I used to use 2.5 liter pots that were shorter and wider and get shorter bushier plants in these. Net pots are sweet because the drainage is king, lots of air to the roots, and usually the plant is 10"-18" tall in these pots so I literally just pick them up and dunk them in a 5 gallon bucket of water/nutes/etc. to water them. No pitcher etc. depending on how you water.

Then when I decide to flower them shorter they go into a 2.5 gallon shorter/rounder bucket. I transplant into this bucket and put into flower after 1 week in the pot. They seem to do pretty well and only occasionally get rootbound enough for it to be a real problem where I need to address deficiency issues (I'm still very new to recognizing these problems as I'm a new grower so take my advice with a grain of salt).

I usually let my plants finish at around 3'-3.5' tall and generally pull 2.5-3.5 ounces a plant flowering 10-12 plants in a 5x8x8 space with 2kw. I go for more indica oriented plants. They are preferred by myself and the very few patients I have.

That said, I am thinking of going with more smaller plants in the area. A good recommendation has been about a plant per square foot, thrown into flower at about 1.5' tall. In this case I think I will go with aeroponic rooted clone-small square pot (2 cups or so capacity)-3 liter net pot-3 gallon grow bag a week or two before flower ending up with 15-20 plants that finish at about 2'-2.5' tall. I use FFOF and Old Age bloom. I need to start experimenting but as a base plan this plan helps me produce a decent yield and quality meds. When i see a deficiency I'm not always sure of how to correct it but showing my rootballs fresh FFOF every 8-10 weeks seems to bandaid me through it.

Sorry for the long post. It's just what works for me. I put out great weed, I just think I could utilize my space/wattage better.