When to Transplant Seedlings

[Johnnysiqq]

i have 6 seedlings in red plastic cups you usually find a partys and stuff.
today is there 6th day and they are still pretty small, i was just wondering how old until you need to put them in bigger pots

 

[beenthere donethat]

When the rootball is semi-moist turn the cup upside down...holding onto the plant (obviously!) and CAREFULLY slide the rootball out for a look.

I transplant when I see the roots trying to "wrap" around the bottom of the cup. This means they are searching for room/depth and are trying to send out their taproot. IMO, you should go into a 1 gal pot...possibly a 2 gal from the solo cup it's now in. (depending on how large you want the plants to be at finish) I woulds also advise using about 40% perlite in your soil mix if you can. This will "lighten' the mix and allow the roots to flourish and spread out easily.

hope that helps

bt dt

 

[the widowman]

once the roots come out the bottom of the pot.

 

[Johnnysiqq]

ok thanks. is there a downside for puting them in a big pot when they are small?

 

[babygro]

ok thanks. is there a downside for puting them in a big pot when they are small?

Yes, they don't develop their rootball properly, I don't agree with beenthere on this one. You should progressively pot up plants incrementally, so 1Litre, 3Litres, 6Litres 12 litres or whatever, so each time you pot up to a larger pot size the roots continue to fill that pot, then the next one and so on, this way you get a much larger root mass than if you went from a tiny cup to 2 or 3 gallon pot which is a bigger size than I use to flower in my plants in.

Bigger rootmasses = bigger plants and yields, because they have larger root capacities to uptake nutrients and water and therefore to grow more quickly and bigger.

It's a commonly reported fallacy on here that bigger pots automatically = bigger plants and yield. You will only get that in bigger pots if you've allowed the rootball to develop properly by regularly potting up into incrementally larger pot sizes.

It's pointless going from a 3 or 4 inch pot to a 2-3 gallon container.

 

[Johnnysiqq]

so i should let the roots almost out grow the pot until transplanting

 

[festeringcow]

I'm growing outside entirely, and i currently have a plant growing with morning glories. I'm going to move the greens to a wood site located 15 minutes from the sprouting site. The plant is currently one to two weeks old. When should a move it? and since i cannot flip the container it is located in, how should i uproot it?

 

[jdizzle22]

Question about the root ball and transplanting into bigger pots
What if you use pots that have tons of holes around the sides?
I got some superoots air pots, and if I understand how they work correctly, then I wouldn't need to transplant as much, and could plant seeds in the big pots?

 

[wakebakeworksleep]

I know this is old but I thought I'd school a veteran. It's pointless to build up to larger pot sizes slowly. Once a decent root mass is obtained in a 16oz solo cup up to a 1/2 gal pot, that can and SHOULD go directly into the size of pot you wish to end the plant's life in, for most of us that's a 5 gallon.
What kind of advice is multiple transplants?
I've had seedlings with full root mass in solo cups go straight into 5 gallon buckets and after harvest looking at the roots there wasn't room for more root mass.
I think some of you just want to make this hobby as complicated for others as possible.

Of course bigger or taller plants is meaningless in yield outcome, it's all about the buds and roots, but this increment myth is just that, a myth. I'll gladly transplant once from a solo to a 5 gal then do it 3-5 times. Just ridiculously bad info.
And if you're not flowering your plants in at least a 5 gal then I don't know what all this root mass talk from you is. Ugh

 

[Dont Fear The Reefer]

I totally agree, why disturb them a bunch of times....and dont wait till you are sure they are root bound a week or 2 is plenty in a solo cup.

 

[GREENLEAF DA GROWMAN]

i agree with you on the one pot up instead of multiples, and i have another question on the subject of solo cups. im using them now but i dont know when to take the plastic off of the top. they are looking pretty lush with excellent leaf growth, working on third leaf set now. they are still close noded and the leaves are huge, but when should i remove the plastic?

 

[GREENLEAF DA GROWMAN]

by the way im not using soil im using rockwool then i plan on straight dwc from there under 12/12 light.i want to keep them short but still have a nice yield.

 

[SimonD]

...i was just wondering how old until you need to put them in bigger pots

Rule of thumb, 2 weeks.

Simon

 

[Nukebisket]

Yes, they don't develop their rootball properly, I don't agree with beenthere on this one. You should progressively pot up plants incrementally, so 1Litre, 3Litres, 6Litres 12 litres or whatever, so each time you pot up to a larger pot size the roots continue to fill that pot, then the next one and so on, this way you get a much larger root mass than if you went from a tiny cup to 2 or 3 gallon pot which is a bigger size than I use to flower in my plants in.

Bigger rootmasses = bigger plants and yields, because they have larger root capacities to uptake nutrients and water and therefore to grow more quickly and bigger.

It's a commonly reported fallacy on here that bigger pots automatically = bigger plants and yield. You will only get that in bigger pots if you've allowed the rootball to develop properly by regularly potting up into incrementally larger pot sizes.

It's pointless going from a 3 or 4 inch pot to a 2-3 gallon container.

Definetly some of the dumbest advise here! Put those suckers in a big pot ASAP!

 

[Nukebisket]

i agree with you on the one pot up instead of multiples, and i have another question on the subject of solo cups. im using them now but i dont know when to take the plastic off of the top. they are looking pretty lush with excellent leaf growth, working on third leaf set now. they are still close noded and the leaves are huge, but when should i remove the plastic?

With those solo cups remove the celefane or plastic wrap as soon as the seedlings break ground. If there in a dome I'd take them out, the high humidity is only good for sprouting and rooting clones.

 

[Oscar Zeta Acosta]

If they are in rockwool and have sprouted with 4 leaves already, when would you take them out and into soil. The rockwool are the typical small cubes btw.

 

[stumpjumper]

Yes, they don't develop their rootball properly, I don't agree with beenthere on this one. You should progressively pot up plants incrementally, so 1Litre, 3Litres, 6Litres 12 litres or whatever, so each time you pot up to a larger pot size the roots continue to fill that pot, then the next one and so on, this way you get a much larger root mass than if you went from a tiny cup to 2 or 3 gallon pot which is a bigger size than I use to flower in my plants in.

Bigger rootmasses = bigger plants and yields, because they have larger root capacities to uptake nutrients and water and therefore to grow more quickly and bigger.

It's a commonly reported fallacy on here that bigger pots automatically = bigger plants and yield. You will only get that in bigger pots if you've allowed the rootball to develop properly by regularly potting up into incrementally larger pot sizes.

It's pointless going from a 3 or 4 inch pot to a 2-3 gallon container.

Bullshit... sorry... I transplant from a solo cup to a 3 gal pot and my plants flourish. I've potted up like you suggest and it makes no difference.

Letting your roots constantly bump into a wall rather than having freedom to grow unrestricted makes no sense at all. Who pots the plants up in nature and why do seem to form a healthy root mass all on their own?

 

[diet coke]

Old thread, I know. But I have a question. When transplanting can you bury more of the stem? The sprouts have about 3 inches of st up to the cotyledons. If transplanted could you bury the plant close to cotyledons ? Would this be advantages for creating a larger root mass?
I still have a coulple of weeks before they can go outside.
Day 7 3 inch peat pots

 

[ThirstyRoss]

Yes you can bury part of the stem, that's fine and normal.

 

[acellular]

I would definitely pot up slowly. I went from 2 gallon to 7 gallon and the pot stayed wet for way too long and you run the risk of root rot. That was using Ocean Forrest. If you're going to do that you better ad a ton of perlite so it will drain faster and i'm sure it would be o.k. Also when watering it seemed to fry the plants because when you use that much Ocean Forrrest there is a lot of "nutrient charge" in the soil. I will never do that again. From the research I've done you can easily go from 1 gallon to 30 gallon pot in Coco but I wouldn't do it with potting soil.