The Real Truth about Rootbound and Transplanting

here my casey I just transplanted 10 days ago into the 8 inch ...showing signs off root boundness...main fan leaves are starting to turn yellow

Its transplanting time again into 10 inch potter

good show bro, keep us updated

colonuggs said:

here my casey I just transplanted 10 days ago into the 8 inch ...showing signs off root boundness...main fan leaves are starting to turn yellow

Its transplanting time again into 10 inch potter

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I hope you scored the rootball before as you upcanned?

Uncle Ben said:

I hope you scored the rootball before as you upcanned?

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You beat me to the punch Unc. I was thinking the very same thing.

word to that, gotta make sure you break up that rootball, the best way for me i showed a couple of times in the thread. it took me about 15-20 minutes to do this, its very time consuming i know... but for me its better than taking scissors or a knife to the roots. but its all about personal preference and what works best for you, time wise and work wise. just make sure you break that shit up! hehehe!

Zaehet Strife said:

word to that, gotta make sure you break up that rootball, the best way for me i showed a couple of times in the thread. it took me about 15-20 minutes to do this, its very time consuming i know... but for me its better than taking scissors or a knife to the roots. but its all about personal preference and what works best for you, time wise and work wise. just make sure you break that shit up! hehehe!

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Just use a razor knife or a sharp knife. There's less damage to the fine root-hairs than breaking up a root-ball by hand ... but either way will work. One is just better for the plant.

i know what your sayin brick and im not sayin your wrong, i just would like to bring up a few questions. wouldnt useing a knife to cut the roots sever a lot of the roots you were trying to grow? dont the severed roots start to rot once they are cut off from the main root? i dont understand how gently shaking and breaking apart the rootball, can be worse than cutting the actual roots off. i mean you cant save those fine roots if the actual root is severed right? not trying to argue im just asking questions because i dont understand ya know.

ive done experiments like this with 4 plants.
1.just took it out and set it in without doing anything
2.broke it up by hand like i normally do
3.used a knife to cut an x on the bottom and 4 lines in the sides
4.washed away all dirt by dipping rootball into water

next grow im going to do it again because i need to do more testing before i can prove to myself what is the best way, but the growth on the plant that i stuck in the water and washed everything out, it recovered the fastest and had the fastest growth of them all. could be genetics im not sure, thats why i have to keep experimenting.

Zaehet Strife said:

i know what your sayin brick and im not sayin your wrong, i just would like to bring up a few questions. wouldnt useing a knife to cut the roots sever a lot of the roots you were trying to grow? dont the severed roots start to rot once they are cut off from the main root? i dont understand how gently shaking and breaking apart the rootball, can be worse than cutting the actual roots off. i mean you cant save those fine roots if the actual root is severed right? not trying to argue im just asking questions because i dont understand ya know.

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For one you are not cutting deep. It is not like you would cut way into the root-ball severing a lot of roots that would then begin to decay. Cutting the roots is rather like topping. Where cut the roots will grow out and will spread out.In a way it is like air root pruning pots. The root tips reach a point where there is enough air and the root tip dies but then it splits off into two new roots that head off in different directions.

The fine root hairs are what take up/in nutrients and the more of those you damage the less can be taken up/in. The fewer of those that are damaged the better condition the roots will be to continue doing their job supplying the plants with all they need.

As I said, both ways will work, one is just better if a plant is root-bound. Now if a plant is not root-bound and you re-pot and you can gently cause a little soil to drop off ending up with some undamaged dangling roots, that's different. But without loosened root ends a root-bound root system will not quickly spread out into the new soil and will instead keep tangling. Scoring is the quickest easiest least damaging way to do it in cases like that.

thank you so much brick, cant wait to experiment with this

Uncle Ben said:

I hope you scored the rootball before as you upcanned?

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that I would do if it was needed but I never do that and get great results as you can see from my pictures in the earlier posts in this thread ...my trans from the cup to a 8 and the quick results

When I was a landscaper i would have to score the rootballs of trees and bushes before planting....I know what you mean by scoring your rootballs but in a 10 day period the plants dont have solid rootballs...they are just starting to show signs of root compactness

When your tearing into a rootball with ur hands.. wouldnt it tear out a lot of roots? when i harvested last year i shoveled up around the roots and i tried to loosen the roots and they all tore a lot.. so i figured I wouldnt try to do it when it ACTUALLY matters ya know?I was trying to be gentle haha

yep that's why it took more than 15 minutes for me to do it, because of how gentle i am trying to be with the plant. i have to wait for the soil to try out considerably or the soil is just too compact to break up without damaging the roots too much. really the soil kinda just falls off if you let it dry out (takes a lot of shaking, kinda like im vibrating my hand against the rootball really fast to knock the soil off without tearing the roots) wish i could make a video and put it on here. buuuut when i move ill be doing a couple experiments.

1.start by seed, 1 start and finish in a 5gal pot, the other transplant from 16oz to 1gal to 3gal to 5gal. to watch and record the differences in growth

2. get a couple plants the same strain and similar growth to watch what the difference in growth is if i take 15min. to break up the rootball by hand very gently, or just take 1min to take a dagger to it.

maybe i can do both experiments at the same time, by adding one more plant in the mix i can do each transplant differently, really thankful for this thread because i might not have thought of these ideas. thanks guys.

im not going to say it works or it doesnt work until i try it out for myself not just once, but multiple times...i think thats how everyone should be.

Zaehet Strife said:

not arguing the fact that you can keep them healthy. but that transplanting is the best thing for the plant. and how to identify when your plant is STARTING to get rootbound. that plant in my thread is ready for a bigger pot, no it may not be rootbound to the extent you all think, but its ready for a bigger pot.

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Said like that I agree with you Zaehet Strife, to me that explains what you're trying to get across. This thread got completely carried away with nonsense, and I think that quote would have spared a lot of it

FriendlyGuy said:

wow ima just hop in for a second and continue to read more, just have to say... what an asshole.. good job OP

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You're an idiot.

The last thing you want to do is break up the rootball of an annual - pot. Taking a razor blade and scoring about 1/2" deep 4 times around the ball is the best way to combat spinout because it induces new output.....and a more fibrous root system able to uptake more water and salts. In the field I use Felco hand pruners and clip the very bottom of the ball on all 4 sides, only takes a few seconds. They come out of small square pots. If I had to guess, I've transplanted about 20,000 annuals and perennials in the last 10 years.

UB

im still gonna do the experiment... but ty for the info!

Hubert said:

Said like that I agree with you Zaehet Strife, to me that explains what you're trying to get across. This thread got completely carried away with nonsense, and I think that quote would have spared a lot of it





You're an idiot.

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Apperently im an idiot for calling out an asshole in defense to the OP.

Hubert..Your a dick.

nine days since transplant





cant wait to see those gigantic colas

bro those plants are fuckin crazy we had the same set time and my mother fuckers dont look NEARLY as mature as yours. than again i planted out in ground where there isnt really a consistent sun shining. But they still lookin good though... lol

thanks bro ill be posting pics of her throughout the thread, i should post a pic of the trifoliate plant i was trying to make male (turned out female ugh) she has 9 tops and she looks sooo cool. this grow im just trying to keep everything as healthy as i possably can throughout the whole grow. a lot of people say that cutting out nitrogen the last couple weeks will help, but i dont know ill make a thread asking that question ----> https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/425391-starving-nitrogen-last-weeks-flowering.html#post5599509

yes i am 1000% sure that girl would not look so beautiful or get that big in such a short amount of time without the transplant. i still have those 2 girls im keepin one in 6oz solo cup, the other girl i transplanted in a 1gal. pot, so i will post pics of those aswell. i have never actually tried to do a good job at taking care of a rootbound plants needs, so i am going to do my very best to keep her as healthy as i can. pretty excited about this experiment.

(starting to have to water the solo cup 1cup of water /i get a considerable amount of runoff even when watering very slowly/ about every 36hours so far) -one of them im overwatering to see what happens with the growth aswell.

Root constriction hydro experiment: Two water farms. One WF is standard '2 gal res'. The 2nd has the bottom cut off and is anchored in a 12-14 gallon tote. So, the 2nd WF will have up to 7 times more volume. Both will have a clone of same strain and be close to the exact same size. I will be adding air stones to the 2nd WF to try and equal the air distribution of the 1st. As well, the nute mix will be equal. I will not go over 800 ppm on either set-up, this should rule out nute burn issues.

This is not a exacting experiment, and will take months for any type of results. I'm just trying to get a ballpark idea.

My assumption is that growth should slow on the 1st WF within 120 days. Another assumption is that I'm going to have a monster of a mom in the 2nd WF