transplanting seedlings and small transplants

dannyboy602

Well-Known Member
so a lot of newbies like to plant one seed per pot. i can understand why. but in a pinch if you don't have enough soil mix or just are lazy like me, you can cram a few more into smaller pots, then divide them a week or two down the road.also when you get a bit more confident in your skill as a gardener you tend to take a few more chances. i took a few pix to show how ez it is. in two weeks i'll let you know if everything survived.
the second tip i wanted to pass on is up-potting to bigger pots...ppl ask when they should do it and the answer lies beneath the soil line where all the real fun stuff happens. my example is a month old blueberry which has just about grown to the point at which it needs a bigger home. i took the little rootDSC00138.jpgball out of its pot to show root development for a plant at about that age. actual results will very. this example of blueberry at one month is DSC00137.jpgabout two wks away from being pot bound. that is to say; all the roots have nowhere else to go so they just keep growing around the confines of DSC00132.jpgtheir container, in this case a 4"pot. note the root development at one month. any less and i may have waited another week to transplant. it doesseedlings 7 001.jpg help when transplanting if there are enough roots to hold the root mass together while you're moving the litttle guys and it's real importantseedlings 7 012.jpg to water befor you up-pot and for the first day or two i keep the new starts in a relatively lower light, moister RH , low stress environment. DSC00136.jpg
i think that covers it. any questions, or if you think i left anything out that should be addressed plz lemme know.:mrgreen:
dannyboy
 
DSC00144.jpg
here are the same seedlings after one week after transplant. so as you can see. it's ez to plant multiple seeds into small pots and seperate them latewr
 
How about pot sizes? Around what sizes does it start effecting the yeild? Should I put into a pot bigger then 2.5gal if Im only vegging for 4-6weeks? Or should I do it in a 5gal? Would using a pot bigger then 5gal mean more roots=more bud?
 
Yield is affected by several factors:
Water
Nutrients
CO2
Light
Temp/Rh
Transplanting from small pots to larger ones does not affect yield. It's just a transition and it's easier to work with smaller pots first. Then move up as plants root systems develop beyond the confines of the container. When you plant into a larger container first it is very easy for overwatering to happen because the amount of dry soil in a 5gal pot wants to distribute any water you add over 5gallons of dry soil at the expense of the needs of the plant. Literally sucking moisture from the plants roots.
That results in you adding more and more water until the entire 5gal pot is equally moist. But the roots of the small plant don't penetrate that deep making it a waste of energy and resources.
The stress created by moving a plant from smaller pots to larger ones stunts growth for a day or two but the plant quickly makes up for lost time.
 
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