I am not known for being gentle. It’s just not one of my traits.
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I suppose that means I’m in good company.
I’m a massage therapist, but you’d never know it to watch me wrench those poor seedlings from their homes.
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LOL, I have never been able to figure that out. My wife loves when I get her the spa treatments and she get’s pampered. One day I got to give in and learn to accept such things. I have a hard time accepting folks touching me. It’s a mental block, lol.
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Not that uncommon actually. My pop doesn’t get it at all!
Canada has extremely high standards for licensure as well: The US average is 750 hours of training vs. Canada’s 3,000 hours.
There are myriad approaches to Bodywork, and spa massage is one of the least interesting. Obviously I’m biased, but if you experience pain that you’ve normalized as “part of getting older”, a good massage therapist can change your whole paradigm.
<Steps down from soap box, gives the wheel back to the captain>
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I don’t disagree. Living with pain is just my existence my brother, it’s how I survive.
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I paper towel germinate, then into a small 1/4 filled 2-3 ounce cup, holed to drain, as they screech, I back fill each up to the faces.
Then once rooted about 2-3 weeks, I like to make sure right before I up pot them.
I give them, either tea/water (both myco enriched) to them.
Wet roots come out easier from tiny cups, from 4" nursery pots, or the 1 gallons they go into.
I then boof them up a while, getting them ready to flower, about a week before 12/12, they go to 18/6, get up potted to the 3 gallon pot.
Just my way.
Those 3 1 g’s are going into 3 g’s today.
All the best to ya!!
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Lots of good info above 
Personally I go from 4” square pot to 1g square pot, to 3-5g pot.
Two thoughts I would add:
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By transplanting like this, versus just starting in a 5gal, your sprouts and seedlings do not take up as much floor space, thus you are able to fit more plants into your veg area. This can be important if growing Regs as it lets you cull the males at the 1gal stage, and even with Fems it lets you only keep/up pot the most vigorous plants.
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I have found that transplanting goes much more smoothly for me if the plants are relatively dry when you transplant. I find the soil separates from the sides of the pot much more easily if dry, and the root ball is less likely to rip/fall apart. Sometimes the weight of wet soil can cause it to fall apart.
But there are as many growing styles as there are growers.
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Based on everyone’s thoughtful input looks like I’ll be making a trip back to the store for some 1 gallon pots! As mentioned in this thread, also pick up some additive like Mycos to promote roots after transferring.
I had similar (though much less unrefined!) thoughts about the roots maybe getting “lost” in a big space and their structure suffering if going from solos to 5 gallons @DougDawson. The watering issue makes a lot of sense too. Not as efficient use of water keeping in mind the relatively small root mass being transplanted. You’d still want to water enough to see the runoff at the bottom of those 5 gallon containers right? And at this time the seedling is such a small mass in the pot.
I’ll be sure to check BOG out, thanks @Gpaw.
What is the science or technical advantage using the hrownbags @DougDawson? But if I do use solo cups the idea of @BigMike55’s idea with the clear solo cup inset is cool.
I can write novels too sometimes and yours was full of great advice @Upstate !
Space and logistics considerations as you hit at @Dirtron are other good reason not going into the big final pot from solos. Still trying to figure out if I need to put a folding table in the tent so the seedlings in the solos can be close enough to the lights. I’ve seen some until plants are big enough to grow on the ground without being too far away. Maybe on the ground after transplanting into the 1 gallons?
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The two cup idea works well, it’s nice to see root development.
The advantage to the grow bag for seedlings is it get’s planted right into the next pot. It’s just convenient and you mess with the plant much less than if you pulled it out of a container.
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When not using an Octopot, I do the dual cup Solo thing, then 1 gallon, then 3 gallon.
I buy “All Purpose” Pro-Mix from box store/garden center. It contains no nutes but does have Myco, I add a little extra perlite and a handful of EWC, then use that same mix all the way through the grow.
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Cool @BarefootAndBlazed , I’m using Pro-Mix HP which does contain a small amount of nutes for initial root health. Seemed like one of the most straightforward mediums for a first time grow. Would like to explore organic at some point in the future though!
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I stick to a max of 3 transplants personally to promote root building
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Very true. In addition to this using grow bags made of fabric will air prunes the roots when they reach the edge of the containers. Basically Roots don’t like so much air as is found on the edges of a container because they dry out too quickly. In a fabric pot where there is lots of air on the edges this encourages the roots to turn around and go back into the middle of the soil which gives you a fantastic root system with virtually all the soil being used by The Roots.( In the end this will give you bigger plants, healthier plants and bigger fruits). Between that and the transplanting you won’t even believe the root mass when you finally take plant out after harvest and check it out. It’s so thick it’s difficult to break the root ball Apart. I use a machete to chop it up. When using a plastic pot the roots reach the outside of the container and they just circle and circle and choke themselves off eventually. A condition called being rootbound, which I’m sure you’ve heard about. There are many many less roots on the interior of the root ball using a plastic pot.
It’s easy to get advice and harder for some folks to follow it LOL. With your attitude you’re on the road to success😁
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If you do that your dry-back cycle will take waaay too long.
It is best to try to get dry-back/water everyday or every other day when possible.
And if you water a small rootball until runnoff/runout in a 5 gal. you may not need to water for a week or more for proper dry-back.
The soil where the roots are will dry fast, but the rest will stay soggy.
Soggy soil is not the friend of rooting plants.
Wet dry cycles are what is important to a good root system.
Good luck
shag
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