Is there a major risk to transplanting from a solo cup early? How early is too early? These little guys are starting to dry out rather quickly and I’d like them to be in their new homes — but still feel I’m jumping the gun. So, I’ve been giving them water with a teaspoon when they seem to need a drink — which I suspect was also the 400w of light was too close and too much. So, raised the lights a bit — about three feet away now — and reduced their power to 70%. I’m going to let them dry out now as I’m paranoid of overwatering — but also paranoid of them being too dry! I must be overthinking this.
I feel like I see new growers struggling with this often (and that’s me!). Help a soon to be stoned and hopefully not as nauseous (getting over Covid and not there yet) grower out! I’m stressin’!!!
I have found the soil may crumble and fall apart doing this. Ibhave made that mistake. Typically, in my practice, I wait till I see roots popping out the bottom of the cup then move to its bigger pot.
If at all possible, get them to grow in their forever home. Works out much better!!! Worse case is they may not survive but i have found these plants are very resilient and you really need to neglect them in order to kill them.
Using some sterile swabs I use for mushroom spores (lmk if yall are in need) and a little LST wire for the little cages. One of those GDP babies came out with only one leaf, poor lopsided little dudette.
So, I’m hearing I should wait and keep working the wet/dry cycle? Hopefully they’re resilient little dudettes?
That’s what I have done atleast. My latest seedling thatbare growing I made the mistake of doing the lose soil transplant but also let them grow too long in their humidity domes and became real lanky. Now they are doing better with a significantly higher light source. Keep an eye on the runt. Those have been some major performers in my experience!
Their birthday was 7/27, so just going on two weeks (but from germinating the seed). They’ve popped out and been growing for about 11-days now.
What do you mean by less water / easier to deal with? That they need less water in the solo cups and thus are easier to deal with now? Sorry I got a bit lost there. I am aiming for giving them a minimal amount of water, but also don’t want the cups to go bone dry either as that’s stressful on them, right?
You already hit on my next question. If I should up pot to 1gal, 3gal, or 5gal pots. They all want to end up in 5gals. I was debating going right to the 5gal and just watering carefully, skipping a second transplant.
So many options! I’ve read conflicting things about it being better for the roots to up pot slower but easier on the plant overall to just go to its final home.
I have actually transplanted when they were smaller than that not by choice I had to. And I was very careful to not break the root. And they made it just fine. Yours are much bigger than mine where. Again you just have to be gentle and make sure to get them
Back in the soil and water them with as little exposure as possible.
you are. overwatering is is wildly overrated as an issue. if you have good composition and good drainage, you’re likely set. I often water solo cups in the kitchen sink with the spray gun. until runoff. beer cups dry back nicely, and get familiar quickly if you’re doing enough “pot lifts.” they’ll feel very light when dry…
I like 5" square pots as an intermediate step between solo cup and final pot. but that’s just me, they suit my veg space very nicely.
as far as transplanting timing goes, be patient. they’ll start to get bitchy if you wait wayyy too long, but that’ll usually be well after roots come through the drain holes. otherwise, just try to give a girl some time in her final pot before you flip. and make sure your flowering pot is appropriately sized. (read–big enough)
Yo @Coffweed ! I’m a big fan of early and frequent transplanting…everybody finds their own path, for me once beans crack in the soak I transplant into very small cell plug trays (like 1/2" x 1/2"), within two to three days or so from emerging from the soil I shift them into Solo’s. Depending on the strain, most get transplanted into 1 gallon airpots after 1-2 weeks. I fill my airpots w/LS mix with an empty Solo set in place - then just lift out the solo and you have a perfect fit for your transplant. From there, I usually leave them in the 1 gallons for about 2 weeks until I can see some roots hitting the bottom screen at which point I do the same thing (put an empty airpot into a 3 gallon pot and fill w/ mix). I try to dust the receiving hole and any visible roots w/Mycor dust at each transplanting. That’s just my take, a hundred ways to skin a cat! One note, getting the moisture content in the Solo ‘right’ so the media doesn’t fall apart when you remove the Solo is pretty important for avoiding root damage and overall, bottom watering of the Solos rather than top watering seems to help speed up root growth as they seek out the moisture.
The front two rows here were just put in Solo’s…the back row are the leftover ‘runts’ which are now about ready for 1 gallon transplanting (in MY system).
@Coffweed , not sure what your medium is but I use ProMix HP.
At that age I would be giving them a cup of water and waiting until they “feel” dry before giving more.
With a well draining medium you should be able to water to run off after they use the cupful. No problems with wet/dry cycles…
I transplant into prepared holes (5 gallon pail with GroBuckets) when I see roots coming out the drain hole And the leaves have reached the sides of the cup.
I had a whoopsie where I let the tent get a little cold (almost 60F) and simultaneously left the humidifier on 90RH instead of 55RH, so got some dew! One little burned spot. Sad plants in solo cups, lol. The issue has hopefully been fixed now with schedules and whatnot, I knew dialing in the new tent would take a few days to see temp swings and how it plays. Now sitting mid 70s (F) and around 50-60RH. The cups were bone dry. I lifted them to feel how light they were. Then I slowly watered them until I saw some runoff into the tray. Just a tiny bit, but more than they’ve been getting. I’ll now let them dry out again and am hoping that they come back to life in their new environment! I’ll wait until I see some roots or it feels like it’s definitely time to transplant them.
Most of them are in Build A Soil Light. Two are in Mother Earth Groundswell.
I was actually already following your journey mo. Happy snips! I’m looking forward to getting that far with any of my plants (one Maui flowering for a few weeks now).
There do seem to be quite a few ways to start things off. Clones. Seeds into paper towels, rockwool, solo cup, solo cups, solo cups with nifty snips taken out for as is transplanting, rapid rooters, gro-cubes, sowing it right off the bat into final homes, sowing into smaller starter homes, and I’m sure the list would just go on and on and on.
I currently have some in the solo cups, one sown directly into a 3gal — and three auto seeds in paper towels. So, options and things to learn for sure!
I’m grateful for all the other experience here and help along the way. Thanks for sharing your journey as well!!
