soil Transplanting from Hydro to Soil

Uncle Eckley · Apr 9, 2019

I'll be moving some of my Kratky plants to dirt soon, whether in the ground or grow bags. Things I should know? Or am I making too much of it? I do that pretty consistently.. I figure it can't be quite the same proposition for the plants as a simple pot up.

solid7 · Apr 9, 2019

It's a simple pot up.

You're going to get some leaf drop and ugliness. It will bounce back.

That's all.

Uncle Eckley · Apr 9, 2019

Thanks.

CaneDog · Apr 10, 2019

I haven't done much of this, but I had terrible shock and resultant delayed growth from an older plant I moved not long ago - like I said though; limited experience here and I've heard from some people doing this claiming only limited shock and delay. Never had any issue with younger plants with only a few sets

GPR posted about how he left some roots hanging out into water through the bottom of the new container so they essentially got double-cup treatment for a while as they transitioned. I tried this a few weeks ago on an older 7 Pot Chaguanas I took from Kratky to dirt and it did awesome. Didn't skip a beat.

Discussion of the process started in PaulG's world
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/70220-paulg-2019/?p=1608885

willard3 · Apr 10, 2019

I have transplanted many young plants with no setback from aeroponics to soil.

Siv · Apr 10, 2019

I've no experience to share as I've never done it but I'm going to - I have a large number of starts that are in hydro and will eventually go in soil. What I read is that the soil should be kept as wet as possible to lessen the shock. This may be difficult as I'm going to grow bags so I expect the soil will dry out pretty quickly - maybe I'll try watering every day for the first week while they get established.

solid7 · Apr 10, 2019

Siv said:
What I read is that the soil should be kept as wet as possible to lessen the shock.

On the contrary, this will maximize the shock.

The soil/soilless mix should be kept *sufficiently* moist.

Siv · Apr 10, 2019

solid7 said:
On the contrary, this will maximize the shock.
The soil/soilless mix should be kept *sufficiently* moist.

So treat the same as if you're potting up from soil?

I have some plants in kratky setups so I'm wondering if I should wait until the water level gets low and the majority of the root mass is used to air before transplanting to soil. Or if I should just get them in soil quickly? They grow so fast in hydro that I want them to get a good head start before they're put into their final soil location.

solid7 · Apr 10, 2019

The plants want the same thing whether they are in hydro, soilless mix, or soil - specifically, that is lots of oxygen in the root zone. That means you don't drown them. The hard part with hydro is temperature. The hard part with soilless mix, is making sure that it's light and has lots of oxygen holding structure.

You can take a plant out of a hydro setup, and if you put it in a wet or heavy soil, you drown/suffocate it. Guaranteed every time.

If in doubt, stick to a known mix of something light and fluffy. Or, roll your own. 75% peat or coco, 25% perlite. You can add quality compost - up to 5% of the total volume of the container mix - with no problem. And then, don't overwater it.