Transplanting Autos Causes Stress. Myth?

[automan2]

Lot of myths about autos....some of us who've been growing autos long enough have seen autos live through some stupid shit that we consumers think will grow a monster.
I started off as, and remain a straight to soil grower. I fully expect 100% germ. No tricks, just do what farmers do...plant and go. Sure, there's methods and protocols but it's simple process that we seem to convolute into something that becomes gospel to a few.

 

[Steppa]

I've personally found it to be a myth!..my veg cab is/was only big enough for one decent size pot therefore one plqnt, so I've been forced to use the split solo cup method with no ill effect..And I doubt there are many guerrilla growers who plant seeds in their designated spot hoping for a seedling to sprout l wouldn't risk it!.. I've not grown too many autos tbf but last year I successfully planted out 10 or so 2 of each diff strain, after making sure they were a big enough size to cope with the outdoor extremities, roots had hit the bottom of the solo cup and a fair few sets of leaves established, some grew to 6ft tall others 1-2 feet, so maybe the transplant shocked the shorter ones?.. I put it down to strain or genetics because I didn't know what to expect,but they all grew out, and then got ravaged by mould!..
Take what you want out of this ramble, but I feel they all transplanted successfully so it won't faze me to do it again...
Easy now!..

 

[Capt.Quirk]

Back when I transplanted autos the only thing getting stressed was me. I have terrible technique is the only
reason I no longer transplant. See what I mean?

 

[Bmurrciless]

Seems to me if you are skilled enough and time it well you still reap all the benefits of up potting the root density and everything. Its something I think I want to experiment with more once I have figured my entire game out a bit. I would never start a photo in its final pot if I had the choice so once I get skilled enough to do it I want to chase the benefits of transplanting. As it is clearly a myth that you can't do it at all and or without stunting them. Does anybody have a set time they transplant or is it kinda something you read from each individual plant?

 

[pop22]

DUDE! That's drug abuse!

:smoking:

Back when I transplanted autos the only thing getting stressed was me. I have terrible technique is the only
reason I no longer transplant. See what I mean?

 

[pop22]

I made a long term project out of studying transplanting of autos, and all cannabis. This only applies to from seed plants. First rule, transplant when the canopy is as wide as the pot. From having done hundreds of auto transplants, my observation is the roots have reached the bottom of the pot at that time, usually 7-10 days in my choice of starter pot, .75 to 1L pots. 1L pots are fine, i save cottage cheese and yogurt containers for starter pots, they are perfect! The roots and little of the soil sticks to the sides ( this is why solo cups are garbage for seed starting ), the rootball slides out fairly easily compared to other pots. In these size pots, 7-10 from sprout to transplant. I recommend transplanting as soon as possible, if it's ready at 7 days if the canopy is as wide as the pot, every day you wait, roots are circling and that causes problems after transplant if excessive.

Next is the transfer process. I place my hand over the pot by sliding the stem of the plant between my middle and third finger. With my other hand I press the pot upwards against the cupping hand, then flip it over. Gently squeeze the pot a little, to loosen the rootball then lift the pot off the rootball. Cup your free hand behind the rootball, not toughing or touching VERY lightly. Do all this over the new pot. Bring your hands Close to the soil then flip the plant into the hole your prepared. Press the soil against the rootball, be sure not to leave air pockets. Done!

Using this technique, I have a 99.9 precent success rate. Not only that, but almost always, i see a growth spurt within hours of transplant! I've some plants grow an 1" in 12 hours. Even rootballs that fall apart on you well still bounce back as your likely to only see this while tipping the plant into the hole, and most often, the rootball only gets loosened, which seems to have no affect on them at all, you'll still see growth within 24 hours.

MYbe I should make this a thread!

Seems to me if you are skilled enough and time it well you still reap all the benefits of up potting the root density and everything. Its something I think I want to experiment with more once I have figured my entire game out a bit. I would never start a photo in its final pot if I had the choice so once I get skilled enough to do it I want to chase the benefits of transplanting. As it is clearly a myth that you can't do it at all and or without stunting them. Does anybody have a set time they transplant or is it kinda something you read from each individual plant?

 

[pop22]

with regular seed, yes you would need a large population. But with seed from a selfed plants or clones, growth patterns will be very similar and much more uniform, making the differences between transplanted and one pot plants apparent if it is noticeable at all. I suspect, from my anecdotal journal, that the transplants may actually have the edge, at least with cannabis. I'm soon to self some plants, I'll make a project of doing this test. Certainly, I'm not going to do 100 or more plants, But I'll tray to do 20, possibly 20 of each by going from my 3.5" pots to my 6" square pots. In fact, I'll do this this spring if I can, in the greenhouse, I can fit quite a few pots in there lol!

The biggest problem is sample size; even 100 plants is not a very big sample size statistically. I have had as many as 3 different phenotypes with four seeds of the same cannabis strain and they all grew different looking and size plants. That is why I referred to my outdoor/greenhouse vegetable and flower experiences where I have grown tens of hundreds of the same plants. Even at that there was nothing scientific about the observation. We just knew to expect better performance from field planted seed.

 

[Steppa]

What pop is saying is bang on... my auto transplanting was out of necessity and space requirements but saying that I kept them for a good couple of weeks slowly vegging with 96ish watts of vertical 2ft t5's 4×24 1 in each corner of a speaker cab... they grew slowly and steadily then I stuck them outside for 10 weeks or so... ended up with 2 to 6 foot plants!..
Easy now!..

 

[THE BEAR]

I made a long term project out of studying transplanting of autos, and all cannabis. This only applies to from seed plants. First rule, transplant when the canopy is as wide as the pot. From having done hundreds of auto transplants, my observation is the roots have reached the bottom of the pot at that time, usually 7-10 days in my choice of starter pot, .75 to 1L pots. 1L pots are fine, i save cottage cheese and yogurt containers for starter pots, they are perfect! The roots and little of the soil sticks to the sides ( this is why solo cups are garbage for seed starting ), the rootball slides out fairly easily compared to other pots. In these size pots, 7-10 from sprout to transplant. I recommend transplanting as soon as possible, if it's ready at 7 days if the canopy is as wide as the pot, every day you wait, roots are circling and that causes problems after transplant if excessive.

Next is the transfer process. I place my hand over the pot by sliding the stem of the plant between my middle and third finger. With my other hand I press the pot upwards against the cupping hand, then flip it over. Gently squeeze the pot a little, to loosen the rootball then lift the pot off the rootball. Cup your free hand behind the rootball, not toughing or touching VERY lightly. Do all this over the new pot. Bring your hands Close to the soil then flip the plant into the hole your prepared. Press the soil against the rootball, be sure not to leave air pockets. Done!

Using this technique, I have a 99.9 precent success rate. Not only that, but almost always, i see a growth spurt within hours of transplant! I've some plants grow an 1" in 12 hours. Even rootballs that fall apart on you well still bounce back as your likely to only see this while tipping the plant into the hole, and most often, the rootball only gets loosened, which seems to have no affect on them at all, you'll still see growth within 24 hours.

MYbe I should make this a thread!

That's how's it's done, nice thread @pop22

 

[Olderfart]

I have not grown anywhere near the thousands of vegetables and cutting flowers I have grown compared to cannabis. So the bulk 99.9% of my experience comes from veggies. First to the market wins - period. 30% of your yearly profit comes from the first two weeks of any harvest. If your tomatoes are 3 weeks behind the other growers in your area you lose that premium. I use tomatoes as an example but it applies to all veggies and flowers. So for that reason most crops are started in a green house to give you as much a head start as possible. They are then transplanted to the field when the weather will allow. Many crops were also followed with a seed planting directly in the field to extend the season. Now there may be many reasons and this is just observation on my part but the seeds never transplanted universally produced more and better fruit. Also I am sure a home cannabis grower will be considerably kinder to his seedlings than we were. We had several hundred plants to move every day.

I personally believe if you can plant the seed where it will grow its entire time you will get a better chance at a better plant.

Soil temperature?