Root shock lasting too long.

[cruzzfish]

I replanted everything into large pots about three weeks ago, and they promptly got sunburned. That happens every year, but it's been three weeks and they haven't entered a phase of explosive growth to get their leaves back. Temps have been high seventies to low eighties, partial sun, not much rain but waterings about once a week. I think the roots got more damaged than usual, but anyone have any ideas when they should resume normal growing speed?

 

[Phil]

It could be awhile. I've seen them go a month or more, especially if the roots weren't very well established when transplanted... and by that, I mean young enough to allow most of the dirt to fall off of the root ball.

 

[cruzzfish]

It could be awhile. I've seen them go a month or more, especially if the roots weren't very well established when transplanted... and by that, I mean young enough to allow most of the dirt to fall off of the root ball.

Yeah, I didn't water them before transplanting this time and a good bit of dirt did leave the root ball.

 

[Dan Piepho]

It sounds like you took your naked babies to the beach without shade or sunscreen. How many sets of leaves did they have before the sunburn damage?

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     It can take a while, like Phil said. Give them some time to build some roots in their new home. Once they're happy with the amount of roots they've grown, you'll know. 
     I planted out in mid May (I think. Sometime around then...) and I have one OW that is just now starting to take off. It's in a 25 gallon bucket, though, so I'm patient with it. Another OW of mine is in a 20 gallon pot and has just started to stretch in the past week or so. 

     Oh, yeah. The point of what I was saying....  It's not so much "root shock" as it is a reprioritization of your plant's resources. It's not that your plants aren't growing - most of the growth is underground so you can't see it.

 

[CAPCOM]

Yeah, any kind of transplant shock sucks. You are probably lucky for the weather you have had. Things could easily have gone sideways on you weatherwise.

 

[Phil]

     It can take a while, like Phil said. Give them some time to build some roots in their new home. Once they're happy with the amount of roots they've grown, you'll know. 
     I planted out in mid May (I think. Sometime around then...) and I have one OW that is just now starting to take off. It's in a 25 gallon bucket, though, so I'm patient with it. Another OW of mine is in a 20 gallon pot and has just started to stretch in the past week or so. 

     Oh, yeah. The point of what I was saying....  It's not so much "root shock" as it is a reprioritization of your plant's resources. It's not that your plants aren't growing - most of the growth is underground so you can't see it.

 
Bingo. They're going to work on establishing roots first, then foliage.

 

[geeme]

I agree with everything said above, but here's a tad more. I give my transplants some starter fertilizer (something to promote root growth) after transplanting them and then again a week or two later. That seems to really minimize transplant shock. The fact that you let them get sunburned, however, probably hit them a bit harder than usual. Still,  you might give them some root stimulating fertilizer to help them out. Even with that, don't give them the full strength - half max, since you'll be giving them more fairly soon.

 

[96strat]

Always put a teaspoon of sulfur in the hole and jellyfish root transplant dip for the transplanted pepper plant

 

[flexy123]

Every time I repot plants, I add some root stimulator to the first watering right after repotting. I can't "prove" it but I swear that root stim helps them after repotting.
 
When small plants are in rock wool, and as in my case you grow in perlite/vermiculite, re-potting is even easier. The rock wool holds everything together and the perlite etc. just falls off, unlike soil. No root damage at all. I repotted some plants which didn't show any halted or stunted grow at all