Transplant

[Mr Pot]

Hi guys,
I'm transplanting from a solo cup to a 4-5 gallon smart pot in a few days and I was wondering how should I water my growing medium. I've seen a tutorial from Nebula that says it's better to water the smart pot before the transplant and the solo cup as well, but the next step it's to water a bit more after it's done.

I'm thinking about watering the solo cup 2 days before then split 1/4 gallon+ of water before and after the transplant on the growing medium. I'm kinda confused about how much water to give but the 1/4 watering technique has worked so far. Anyone has thoughts on that? And I'll transplant a 2 week old from germination plant, is she old enough?

PS: I run with a MH 250W on coco coir.

[Canuck147]

As you are filling your smart pot with you medium, just fill it to 1/4 add some water and mix it all around. Do that 3 times til its full, but mix it everytime. Give it a couple days to dry and settle some and your pot is ready. That's what I do. I just use soil.

[PuravidaC]

You want medium in solo cup to be moist enough to hold root ball together when you take it out but not so dry as to fall apart when removing. You don't want a mud ball in your hand either. I just make a hole in new soil, a little bigger than root ball, stick it in, fill area edges and press down with hands to gently firm in place. Then I water around new transplant with enough water to moisten room ball and adjacent soil but not entire container. Want to get roots exploring new home but they need some air too. It's easy. Just be gentle and keep root ball in one piece and you'll be fine.

[yamiacaveman]

If you are using the plastic solo cups, I find it easier to cut 2 slits, opposite each other, on the rim of the solo cup where the plastic is the thickest. scissors are fine, Then just gently rip the cup in half, rather than trying to bang the plant out.

[Mr Pot]

Yeah but if I prepare the soil with water a couple of days earlier, water the solo cup 1-2 days before transplanting and also water the growing medium after the transplantation won't I overwater my plant?
I'm asking what's the best combination for not drowning new transplanted early vega plants..
I mean, if I add 1/4 gallon of water to this new transplant before and aftet it, should it be enough?

[yamiacaveman]

Let me first say, that watering your plants is somewhat of an art. Getting to know when and how much water to give them may take some time.

From what I read here, for newbies growing weed besides the PH of the water, over watering is one ofthe biggest mistakes, It's like people with aquariums and fish - overfeeding is the biggest killer.

No matter which way you transplant, you are the one that is going to have to decide on how much water to give after transplanting, and perhaps you will decide to wait a day or 2 before watering.

I would think if you follow Nebula's way after 1 but especially 2 days the soil in the smart pot is probably going to feel more on the damp side than on the wet side, and depending upon how many drainage hole you had in your solo cup, well it should be more damp than wet or soggy feeling.

Don't get hung up on that 1/4 gallon watering technique. Over time your plants daily watering consumption is going to change, if your tent gets hot and humidity get low, things change and you have to be able to adjust. You might give a 1/4 gallon one day and then 3 or 4 days later a 1/2 gallon.

When i was a kid in 7th grade, my first real paying job, was working in a greenhouse. This time of year, I was given geranium plants, I would cut clones off of them dip them in some white type of hormone powder, and I think I stuck them in 2inch pots. After so much time I had to take the now rooted geranium plants and put them in 4 inch pots. When I started to do this the 2 inch pots were very dry and the 4 inch pots had no dirt in them. You would take the plant, put the stem in between your 2nd and 3rd fingers, flip the pot over, tap the bottom, in one shot all together the plant and dirt came out - you would flip the plant back over hold it over the 4 inch pot, and fill up the plant with dirt around it. water it once and then the next one. Watering the plants afterwards went like this, I don't know how many days went by but you could see that they were so dry that a lot of the dirt pulled away from the walls of the pots. I would go through with a hose soak every one then go back to the beginning and do every one again.

So the moral of this story is: In 7th grade I got a dollar an hour, plus they took taxes out of that, after 3 years, I asked for a raise and he said no. So how dumb was I, so you might want to wait to hear more responses before listening to me, lol.