Herb's Re-potting Guide

[Herb]

For my first post I thought I would try do something useful!
it is only a re-potting guide and for many will not be new information or needed but if a few found it useful, great

I made it a few years ago and forgot about it, never shared it so I may as well!

I made the guide using a young plant which is now well & truly gone.

Please bare in mind that I have up always grown with the light in the sky and basic products, not even canna nutrients or soil etc.

Right, enough rambling on & lets get to the point.

Also please look out for my diary which I will be starting tonight.
Cheers

-Herb

Herb's Re-potting Guide​

Step 1 - Get your pot and place It on the floor close to your compost.

Step 2 - fill the compost level up. Leaving around the height of the pot the plants are currently in. remove the largest chunks of soil or pieces of organic matter or crumble them up. You can bring the worse of the chunks to the surface by shaking the pot from side to side.

Step 3 - Make a small hole in the centre of the pot with your hands about the width of the current pot your plants are in.

Step 4 - Squeeze the sides of the pot that your plant is currently in to loosen it.

Step 5 - Grip the pot with your left hand and place your two middle fingers around the stem to support the plant when you remove it from the pot.
Tip the plant to the side so it is almost upside down and tap on the bottom of the pot to cause the plant to come out of the pot into your hands & as it does, make sure not to snap the stem and gain control of it via the rootball that is now exposed.

Step 6 - Now that you have got your plant out of its pot you will have the rootball visible. Begin to GENTLY loosen the roots, mainly on the bottoms but some of the main ones on the sides too.

Step 7 - Once you have completed step 6, place the pot into the small hole you made earlier in your new pot and compost.

Step 8 - Begin adding soil around the sides of your rootball until you start to cover the top of it, keep doing so until it have completely submerged it with an inch of soil.

Step 9 -Try & get the stem and rootball supported as best you can without compressing the soil,

Step 10 - Repeat step 9 by, filling the compost level right to the very top & again trying to stabilize the plant without compressing the soil.

Final Step - Now all you have to do is give them a really good soaking in with some luke warm water (mix hot with cold)..the water should be dripping out of the bottom of the pot, then you have watered them adequately, they will not need watering for a few days after the repot and soak in.

Minor Edit due to feedback from b0b_b1tch1n

 

[Captain]

Nice post mate and welcome to AFN

What day did you transfer your plants ? I was told to wait till you see the roots at the bottom then transplant . Im currently on day 6 and im using the same wee pot as you .

 

[GCase]

:thread:

 

[Grow-Da-Herb]

 

[thud]

I always water well an hour or two before I transplant. This ensures the root ball soil will stick together and slide out of the pot. Dry soil can crumble when removed damaging the root system.

 

[Epic Genetics]

actually thud wet soil will crumble far easier then dry , the wet will do it due to weight from being wet , dry will only do it if YOU mess up

to the OP , a couple points i disagree with ,,,,,,

1: compressing the soil , you dont want it compressed , roots struggle to grow in compressed soil and thrive in lose soil , any of us who have been growing for decades remember making the mistake of compressing our soil and wondering why the harvest had such a low yeild , watering the plant is more then enough to compress the soil , try it , leave the soil loose and airy , then water and watch it settle

2: mixing cold and hot water to get warm water , never use hot water , it contains heavy metals/minerals cold does not , if you want luke warm water (and yes you/we do) simply leave a jug or jugs of water sit at room temp depending on how many plants and size of pots to determine how many jugs , leaving them sit also benefits those of us in cities who use a lot of chlorine in the water

otherwise , thanks for the read

peace

 

[Herb]

@Captain

Cheers,

To be honest Captain, couldn't give you a definitive answer to that as I just go by my instinct/what my heart says when I grow however what you have been told is a good measure. I would probably wait until you see roots coming out of 2 or 3 of the drainage holes.

Thanks for the reply
-herb


@AS

Cheers AS


@ GTH

:five: :dance2:

@Thud

Cheers for reply/feedback Thud,

I find squeezing and tapping on the pot always gets the rootball out in one & as b0b said after you, a wet rootball is worse as it breaks up/is more maluable and can even snap off entire sections of root ball but if you find that works for you then awesome, stick with it:gthumb:

@ b0b

Cheers for fairly in depth feedback

I agree with the soil being wet or dry but I suppose things are not black & white and Thud definitely wont be the first or last to use that method.
I suppose my guide is more for the actual techniques of doing the job, people are obviously free to improvise or change sections that may not be entirely for them.

In regards to your points though I have to say that the compressing only refers to the very top 2-4CM where very little roots exist & that i only do this as to make the plant firm in the pot & be able to withstand wind until it's stem has thickened, always had higher than average yield so I think compressing is fine but i do agree if you were to do it too much or too forcefully this would be counter productive & could damage roots but almost definitely make it harder for the roots to expand around the pot.

With the hot water/metals issue, have to admit I was unaware of this so thankyou & I will where possible try and modify how I do things just incase.
Cant say as it has ever caused an issue for me but perhaps it could have but has not been significant enough to be noticed.

You are most welcome for the read

Peace
-Herb

 

[Duck Commander]

Welcome to AFN Herb Good idea but remember as bob said better to have dry soil rather than wet soil after doing it many times both wet and dry i find dry works better
The same goes for the compressing the soil thats a big no no just fill the pots with a general pat of the medium when you have waterd a few times ten simply top up the medium.. You dont want it that tight the roots have to fight to get through:smokebuds:

 

[Epic Genetics]

plants actually use the top of the soil the way we use a toilet , they send their poop up , i wouldnt wanna restrict that in any way , also , compessing the top is less hazardous then the entire pot , but remember , pressure is pressure and does effect further down then one would be atempting

its not only restricting to the roots , but i forgot to mention there is nowhere for air

thanks for bein cool bout it Herb , welcome to the site , you will fit in nicely

peace

 

[Herb]

@ si1984 - I always use dry soil as you can see by how dry it is when I took it out of the original pot, it works better in my opinion too.
With regards to the other feedback, I have made a couple of minor edits to steps 9 + 10 & credited b0b for giving feedback

@b0b - I have made changes now due to your feedback, cheers for pointing out.
Wonder how much yield I lost out on in the past, still got way over average so makes my mind boggle a little!
thinking about it though, I did use to squeeze/shake pots to stop the soil getting too compressed/settled but what if any impact that would have made i'm not sure.

Cheers
-herb