Transplant problem

[norkali]

I just recently transplanted four of my Cinderella 99 babies....

The plant with the "special leaf" was the "questionable" transplant. As I was in the process of physically transplanting to the new pot, I (stupidly) took my hand off of the bottom of the rootsquare and the rootball just...fell through. The top section of the soil basically detached from the main rootball and it (the rootball) fell like 3 inches into the awaiting hole....I simply placed what was left in my hand and set it back on top gently and worked it all in.

Pic's 1, 2, & 3 - The three plants that had a successful transplant.

Pictures 4 & 5 - The lame-o. Notice the difference? Growth has slowed to a crawl compared to the other three. A bit droopy too.

I am just wondering what to do. I've never had this happen before; I don't know whether it's going to recover and start going full speed again, or if it's going to be slow and wasteful of space from now on, now that it has had it's root system fucked with. I know it still looks "good," but that's relative. The other three look so much more vigorous and strong. I feel like it might as well die. Ahhh.....I just don't know.

Also, I am realizing that ScrOG makes SO much more sense with clones (obviously) and now want to take one of these and turn it into a mother, then come back with clones and really ScrOG.

That requires home for the mother.

Home for a mom = time and $.

Opinions?

norkali Reviewed by norkali on 11-02-2007. Transplant problem I just recently transplanted four of my Cinderella 99 babies.... Pic's 1, 2, & 3 - The three plants that had a successful transplant. Pictures 4 & 5 - The lame-o. Notice the difference? Growth has slowed to a crawl compared to the other three. A bit droopy too. I am just wondering what to do. I've never had this happen before; I don't know whether it's going to recover and start going full speed again, or if it's going to be slow and wasteful of space from now on, now that it has Rating: 5

[PharmaCan]

First of all, transplanting should not involve fucking with the plant's roots at all. Zero, zip, nada! Take the pot you are transplanting into, fill it almost as full as you want it to be, moisten the medium, take the container the plant is currently in and use it to make an identical size hole in the medium in your new pot. (A container of identical size without the plant is preferable, but carefully use the one with the plant in it if you have to.) Turn the existing pot w/ plant over - supporting the pot rim and plant with one hand then give the pot a couple sharp whacks on the bottom and the plant will slide out with everything intact. Gently set this into your pre-made hole and, presto, you have accomplished a stress-free transplant. The soil in the smaller pot should be moist when you do this. Too wet or too dry are not good.

Secondly, but just as important, you should use an intermediate sized pot before the big ones. This allows more control of the environment around the roots.

I'm in week four of my first scrog right now. I like it! :thumbsup:

Mothers are an investment of time and money. However, the more you grow one strain, the better you know it and the better your crop gets, so there is that advantage, plus, it's just a lot easier from a farming standpoint. Anyway, if you've got really dank weed of your strain, it's pretty darn easy to trade for dank weed in other strains.

PC :smokin:

[stinkyattic]

That plant will survive but it's slow because it's making some new roots and getting over the transplant shock.
The danger of too-large pots lies primarily in the risk of overwatering. DO NOT drench those pots; they aren't full of roots yet and the plants can't access all the far corners of the pot, so moisture will sit in there, stagnate, and cause problems from rot to fert interactions... water lightly for now, just in the area right around the plant itself.

[the image reaper]

first off, your seedling looks fine to me, :wtf: ... second, the pot size isn't an issue, I always used to start my seeds in the same pot they were gonna finish in, grew perfectly fine (how is a seed limited in an outdoor grow ?) ... I suspect you are just 'watching the pot boil', when you look at a plant several times a day, it seems to never grow ... plus, as Stinky suggested, its normal for plants to be in a 'neutral' growth for a few days after transplanting, as it builds roots ... be patient, I think you'll be OK ... :smokin:

[norkali]

First of all, transplanting should not involve fucking with the plant's roots at all. Zero, zip, nada! Take the pot you are transplanting into, fill it almost as full as you want it to be, moisten the medium, take the container the plant is currently in and use it to make an identical size hole in the medium in your new pot. (A container of identical size without the plant is preferable, but carefully use the one with the plant in it if you have to.) Turn the existing pot w/ plant over - supporting the pot rim and plant with one hand then give the pot a couple sharp whacks on the bottom and the plant will slide out with everything intact. Gently set this into your pre-made hole and, presto, you have accomplished a stress-free transplant. The soil in the smaller pot should be moist when you do this. Too wet or too dry are not good.

That's what I did, or tried to do with this one, I think you missed my quote in the post....Much appreciated though Pharma.

That plant will survive but it's slow because it's making some new roots and getting over the transplant shock.
The danger of too-large pots lies primarily in the risk of overwatering. DO NOT drench those pots; they aren't full of roots yet and the plants can't access all the far corners of the pot, so moisture will sit in there, stagnate, and cause problems from rot to fert interactions... water lightly for now, just in the area right around the plant itself.

Thanks, never thought about that.

first off, your seedling looks fine to me, :wtf: ... I suspect you are just 'watching the pot boil', when you look at a plant several times a day, it seems to never grow ... plus, as Stinky suggested, its normal for plants to be in a 'neutral' growth for a few days after transplanting, as it builds roots ... be patient, I think you'll be OK ... :smokin:

It is looking a bit better today, but now it's just noticeably smaller than the other three.....lol, a bit overzealous. Thanks.

And what have you guys found is the best way to keep a mother? Cab. from Ikea? Any clever ideas?

[PharmaCan]

first off, your seedling looks fine to me, :wtf: ... second, the pot size isn't an issue, I always used to start my seeds in the same pot they were gonna finish in, grew perfectly fine (how is a seed limited in an outdoor grow ?) ... I suspect you are just 'watching the pot boil', when you look at a plant several times a day, it seems to never grow ... plus, as Stinky suggested, its normal for plants to be in a 'neutral' growth for a few days after transplanting, as it builds roots ... be patient, I think you'll be OK ... :smokin:

Ya know, Reaper, you are right. I grow in coco, which means the plants are watered to run-off on a daily basis, and I've found the incremental pot size to be beneficial. I got into writing about the transplanting technique and just kept rambling when I should have stopped.

PC :smokin:

[the image reaper]

PharmaCan, you aren't alone in that theory, many accomplished growers (a lot smarter than me) do the incremental transplanting, just as you suggest ... they claim doing it like that, forces the plant to push it's root system further ... it may, I don't know ... I have done it both ways, and just never seen any difference in the rootball, at harvest ... I usually tell newbies to start with a larger pot for two reasons: first, they are less likely to stress the plant with a clumsy transplant, and the larger pot helps avoid over-watering, which is still a bad habit of mine (I'm a seedling-killin' mo-fo ) ... just the other day, I saw a growing tip by no other than BOG, in a magazine, suggest transplanting in 'tiers', leaving the top half of the transplanted pot raised above the new soil level ... he says the idea is to expose the roots to more air .. ??? .. he's an 'expert', but seems to me, he's also exposing the roots to light, and possible disease ... just goes to show, there's lots of different ways to grow, but it all comes down to "it's a WEED, it'll grow anywhere, anyhow" ... :thumbsup:

[Farmer B]

Image Reaper: Check up on that technique again. There are some excellent pictures in a High Times from...oh I want to say sometime in 2002? Anywho, it's not the top half of the previous soil that is left above the new soil but rather a very small amount. To put it more plainly, it's more like small steps as opposed to one of those Mayan pyramids. And it does work nicely. I would only recommend using this technique with soil though and not something like a peat-based medium, which isn't quite as steadfast.

[the image reaper]

yeah, they just showed pics of that in 'Treating Yourself' magazine, Issue #9, page 101 ... I see lots of exposed roots there, I don't care for that ... whatever ya prefer, it evidently all works ... :jointsmile: