Transplanting coco & perlite mix - Falls apart! How to?

[cnile]

I was looking at my little seedlings today and noticed the leaves pointing up all of a sudden. I guess some people call it praying.

I thought that might be right, that they were all happy but i dont think it was. i couldn't stop thinking about why they were pointing up so much more than any other day so i was looking around reading and then just went in to check on them and noticed roots coming out the drain holes on the bottom of the half solo cups. i think they were telling me something was wrong, so i transplanted and the roots were in their circling the bottom of the cup. so i transplanted.

the coco was like almost falling apart and was real hard to transplant. am i going to have a hell of a time getting them out of 70%coco/30%Perlite mix to transplant to 5 gallon buckets?

how do you guys transplant coco without it falling apart is there a trick??


heres some photos hope it helps

 

[Islandgrow]

Re: transplanting coco/perlite mix - falls apart! How to???

I was looking at my little seedlings today and noticed the leaves pointing up all of a sudden. I guess some people call it praying.

I thought that might be right, that they were all happy but i dont think it was. i couldn't stop thinking about why they were pointing up so much more than any other day so i was looking around reading and then just went in to check on them and noticed roots coming out the drain holes on the bottom of the half solo cups. i think they were telling me something was wrong, so i transplanted and the roots were in their circling the bottom of the cup. so i transplanted.

the coco was like almost falling apart and was real hard to transplant. am i going to have a hell of a time getting them out of 70%coco/30%Perlite mix to transplant to 5 gallon buckets?

how do you guys transplant coco without it falling apart is there a trick??


heres some photos hope it helps

No experience with coco but you can leave them a bit longer imo . They are still young . When the leaves reach the edge of the cup they should be ready for transplant just before becoming rootbound. That way the roots hold the coco together better. And it is better to transplant when moist not wet.

"carpe diem"

 

[cnile]

Re: transplanting coco/perlite mix - falls apart! How to???

ok thanks

so you say just before rootbound, what exactly is rootbound. when i pulled a couple out the roots were circling the bottom, not all the way around but just about around the full circle. Is that even close to time to transplant? how many times can those roots wrap around before i will start having trouble?

i think in this coco perlite if there was tons of roots in there it would be easy to transplant.



this rootbound people talk about so if i wait too long then the roots will never be able to expand to a new container?

what will the plant do when it starts to get rootbound? how will it tell me?

by the way im not sure if u can tell but those begining solo cups that are cut that the seeds were first in are about as much soil as a little jiffy peat pellet thing that expands for seeds. i cut them way too short, it was my first time. ive learned better now though

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

re: Transplanting coco & perlite mix - Falls apart! How to?

Root bound would look like some think like this... as an example only !

What i've found out about root bound plants is that they generally drink more water, helps to stunt plant growth pros 'n' cons about that tho.


At the end of day ya could of got away with about 2 to 3 weeks before needing to transplant or pot up on average.


Ok germination process is different from one person to another, i start out like this & once sprouted.

I move em into these pots only about 5 cm by 5 cm tho.

Two weeks later.

You should have a suitable root mass for potting up into final pot size with out stuff falling apart !

 

[cnile]

re: Transplanting coco & perlite mix - Falls apart! How to?

couldn't have asked for a more complete answer. thanks for the pictures and explanation it clarified a lot.

thank you!!!!