transfer from soil to hydroton

[vonwolfen]

I have a few Green Crack clones, and UK cheese clones I got yesterday. They are in soil, and I want to put them into a 3" cup or directly into the hydroton(in a 2 gallon bucket). How would I go about doing this without shocking, killing the plant or damaging the roots? I needs to get all the soil off or it will get into my pumps.

 

[paulycali]

It can be done but not reccomended. You will have many problems occur and might really hurt the plants. I would say take your time, wear some gloves and rinse off all soil. Put some vitamin b12 all over the gloves so when you remove the soil from the roots it will help them with the shock. if its your only option then transplant away. Good luck and let me know how it went

Oh yeah you should be growing in soil anyway. Go organic! Its the way to be

 

[vonwolfen]

thanks paulycali
I decided to wait on the transfer until they go into flowering 12/12. Otherwise they will need to be transferred twice.
B12 and superthrive will be the words of the day for transfer...Thanks for the quick response.

 

[The Joker]

I've done it a number of times. The sooner the better! Take it from experience. Get a paint strainer bag for latex paints from a professional paint store or hardware store. It has larger holes than the bags for oil paint. It will keep the dirt from clogging your sytem and the roots will grow through.

I grew in hydroton for five years and did this many times. I transferred from beer cups though and let those roots develop asap.

I'm organic soil now, but not because it tastes better. If you know what you are doing, your hydro can be indistinguishable.

I changed because if you need to break down your set up, dirt is way easier than pulliing apart a complex hydro system. Also, dirt is half the work and half the difficulty.
It's really hard to screw up an organic dirt grow. Thee soil life does all the work.

Good luck, you will get a bigger yield the sooner the hydroton is full of roots.

 

[michiganmedical]

It's very do-able, as long as you know what you're doing and have the patience to do it. I start with taking apart the container that is holding the clone (cup, small planter, ect.) and maintain the root mass in one hand and sift the loose soil out of the roots. After you have the majority of the soil gone start getting your net pot/hydroton ready by lining the bottom, have a glass of PH'd water (I add my rooting nutrient as well only 1-2ml) and I dip the roots into the cup and allow the rest of the dirt to rinse off the roots, transplant directly into hydroton and put them under the lights. I have lost a few plants, but that's a risk of transplanting, knock on wood I haven't lost a transplant in about 6 months.

Give it a try if you still think its doable, but keep in mind the clones I would transplant were only 2-3 weeks from cut, with 2-4'' root beards so the development of your clones will determine how easy or difficult this process will be for you.

 

[Curb Feeler]

I have actually done this with UK Cheese. I had them growing in soil in growbags and moved them to hydroton buckets in an ebb and flow system.

Just take a bucket of water and soak the plant roots until you easily and gently get the soil off the roots. Take your time, the slower and more carefully you go, the better chance the plants will survive the transfer.

The UK Cheese is a great, tough plant, all of them survived our transfer from soil to hydroton.

good luck !

 

[2DogWalker]

WOW,

I knew I could find this if I searched long enough. Awesome, am very interested!
Currently holding some plants in my cloner and they need to be moved, which is full of dirt. Waiting on getting the hydro system setup so I need to move my rooted clones to keg cups, and then will do the transfer to Hydroton.

I wonder If I should do a heavy perlite mix, then it would wash off really really easy.
Well I am gonna run with a 75/25 perlite to soil mix for the keg cups.

Any advice I am open, thanks much. I will keep it posted. subscribed.

 

[phenotyper]

I do this all the time. In fact, I often get my plants to have a gigantic rootball in soil before transferring to a hempy bucket. I like it that way. I often think making them slightly rootbound really makes things easier. The plants every so desperately want to expand outside of their pot, and you're about to give them the space!

What I do is fill a 5 gallon bucket with cold water and add b12 and liquid karma. I make sure the plant has been watered with the same solution so that the rootmass is wet and easy to remove. I then top the pot upside down while minimizing any strain on the rootmass or stem, and gently tap until the rootball comes free. Then you can dip the rootball into the water, with one hand on the stem and the other supporting the rootball. Ever so gently swish it around and try to encourage soil to break free. I usually do this for a few minutes until it is clear that further removal of the dirt may damage the roots. After that, it goes into the perlite or the hydroton. After transplanting, hit the new medium with b12 and liquid karma. I never have transplant stress, EVER.

 

[weedfarm]

i have done it a few times, no biggie. I did not remove every last bit of soil of though. I washed off what would come off, then transplanted. A little soil running through the pump isnt going to hurt it, not in E&F. Maybe some other systems would be more sensitive, not sure. But think about it, hydroton is constantly wearing and putting off red dust that sits in the res and table

 

[2DogWalker]

Pheno: Awesome, thats a great point. I think I am going to go with Earthbox's (pre-built hempys from what I can see) that I have had for my tomatoes at my old apartments. Layer the bottom w/ perlite and fill the rest with a mix of promix bx and perlite. Thanks so much for the advise!

Weed: I was thinking/hoping the same thing on the dirt. I would rather clean the system of the little dirt that might get in it, than damage the roots severely trying to get the dirt off them. Thanks for the advise.

I used superthrive and great white (to get the life going), and seemed to have very little stress during my dirt to dirt transplants.