soil help + rep for good suggestions :)

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GimpDoctor420

Active Member
i have a seedling about a week old, and when i was filling its pot, i accidentally made it too compact. so now it has terrible drainage qualities. so im worried that whenever i water there wont be enough oxygen for ny baby's roots :(

i was wondering is there any way of fixing this, because im worried about transplanting when the plant hasnt become rootbound.

i would go by general instinct, to take away some of the soil and fluff up the rest,
but im worried about damaging the roots :(

thanks in advance for any help :D
 
Serapis

Serapis

Well-Known Member
If you potted in a solo cup or something similar, just gently squeeze the sides in together, all around the cup. If you need to, gently remove soil and plant and break up soil gently with hands as you allow it to fall from your hands and back into pot. Justy quit breaking it up when you are close to the roots.
 
G

GimpDoctor420

Active Member
tje22 said:
If you just transplanted it you sould be able to take it back out and fluff the soil without damaging the roots.
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yeah but if you transplant when its not rootbound, would it not be risky not to either damage the roots, or accidentally pluck the stem off, especially seen as how its a seedling only an inch high

Serapis said:
If you potted in a solo cup or something similar, just gently squeeze the sides in together, all around the cup. If you need to, gently remove soil and plant and break up soil gently with hands as you allow it to fall from your hands and back into pot. Justy quit breaking it up when you are close to the roots.
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ok ill see if i can try that. should i let the soil fully dry out first? cos the reason im worried is its almost flooded at the top of the soil, and probably bone dry at the bottom.


but rep for all!!! :D
after all this is a weed forum, and what better way to celebrate the cannabis culture :D
 
dojaguy

dojaguy

Active Member
GimpDoctor420 said:
yeah but if you transplant when its not rootbound, would it not be risky not to either damage the roots, or accidentally pluck the stem off, especially seen as how its a seedling only an inch high



ok ill see if i can try that. should i let the soil fully dry out first? cos the reason im worried is its almost flooded at the top of the soil, and probably bone dry at the bottom.


but rep for all!!! :D
after all this is a weed forum, and what better way to celebrate the cannabis culture :D
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just make sure you dont start stabbing hole in the soil... seen many people do this... i would wait till its dry buddy (not completely dry)
 
Serapis

Serapis

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the REP! Another thing you can do is use a bamboo stake or a pencil, and make holes in the soil around the perimeter of the pot and gently break up soil that way too. Also make sure you have drainage holes in the bottom. You can add perlite to your soil in the future to avoif compaction.
 
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GimpDoctor420

Active Member
dojaguy said:
just make sure you dont start stabbing hole in the soil... seen many people do this... i would wait till its dry buddy (not completely dry)
Click to expand...
Serapis said:
Thanks for the REP! Another thing you can do is use a bamboo stake or a pencil, and make holes in the soil around the perimeter of the pot and gently break up soil that way too. Also make sure you have drainage holes in the bottom. You can add perlite to your soil in the future to avoif compaction.
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haha im just absolutely lovin the mixed feedback :D
yeah no i wouldnt prod holes in it because that will make dry pockets. when my soil dries out enough ill jus try fluffing it up a little.
oh and no prob for the rep and + rep to you too dojaguy. what else it for?? :D

and i have some perlite in it (not as much as i would've liked) but the reason its compact is because i made it that way thinking more root mass + nutes(cos i have no nutes for feeding) making it a little bit more compact wouldnt have done much badly but i think i just went overboard completely forgetting about drainage. and yeah there ae drainage holes in the bottom. actually thinking, would it be possible to take soil out straight from the drainage holes?? hmmmm....
 
dojaguy

dojaguy

Active Member
GimpDoctor420 said:
haha im just absolutely lovin the mixed feedback :D
yeah no i wouldnt prod holes in it because that will make dry pockets. when my soil dries out enough ill jus try fluffing it up a little.
oh and no prob for the rep and + rep to you too dojaguy. what else it for?? :D

and i have some perlite in it (not as much as i would've liked) but the reason its compact is because i made it that way thinking more root mass + nutes(cos i have no nutes for feeding) making it a little bit more compact wouldnt have done much badly but i think i just went overboard completely forgetting about drainage. and yeah there ae drainage holes in the bottom. actually thinking, would it be possible to take soil out straight from the drainage holes?? hmmmm....
Click to expand...
.

YOU DA MAN

my i recommend FFOF? it has great drainage... im really lovin this stuff...
 
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GimpDoctor420

Active Member
well like the soil i have now is fine. i have some nutes in it i just dont have any liquid nutes.
well i thought of a trick anyway, ill pour my runoff back into my water that im using, that way any nutes that are washed out are replaced, and also itll solve any ph problems along the way. genius right? :D
 
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GimpDoctor420

Active Member
right i gently squeesed the sides this morning cos the soil was a small bit drier. whatever way the plant is positioned and the roots were growing, when i did this it made a big hole in the middle of the pot so i decided to try and sort of grab out the seedling gently from under its roots.

when i was doing this, i think i broke a few of the small roots the tap roots there still so im hoping it'll still be o.k. right?

so the soil is fine now i put it in a wider pot like half way up to promote outward growth - because it will reach the bottom quickly and have nowhere to go.

Is there anything siginficant i can do now to promote root growth rather than foliage?
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
GimpDoctor420 said:
Is there anything siginficant i can do now to promote root growth rather than foliage?
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The best thing to do, is to make sure the new soil is moist, so that the roots can spread out and fill the new pot. The damaged roots will be replaced by new ones. Keep the temps from being too high or too low, then all you can really do, is wait. Some people claim stuff like Superthrive, will speed things up, but personally, I think it's BS. Just give them an environment they'll thrive in, and no additives are needed. Then, let nature take over. :leaf:
 
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GimpDoctor420

Active Member
k thanks man will do. the soil now is moist but really well airated so im hopin she'll do fine :D
if roots are broken is it a plant resonse to replace them as a priority or will she just sort of continue as normal?
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
GimpDoctor420 said:
k thanks man will do. the soil now is moist but really well airated so im hopin she'll do fine :D
if roots are broken is it a plant resonse to replace them as a priority or will she just sort of continue as normal?
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There is a balance between rootmass, and foliage mass, so if the roots have been damaged, they'll be focused upon by the plant, for repair, before the foliage really takes off again. The roots are undersized for the foliage, now that they've been damaged, and must be regrown, before the plant comes back into 'equilibrium', and starts growing normally. It won't take long, so no worries. You should see it take off within a week, or a tad longer. :)
 
tyke1973

tyke1973

Well-Known Member
The seedling's should still be in small pot's,well thats the way i like to do new seedling by squeezing the pot's side's,pushing them in you will find that this will force some of the soil toward's the surface take out a bit if need's be but normaly by doing what i have said above will solve the problem.If the soil has 20% perlite i would have said it will be fine,just do not over water................tyke............................
 
G

GimpDoctor420

Active Member
jawbrodt said:
There is a balance between rootmass, and foliage mass, so if the roots have been damaged, they'll be focused upon by the plant, for repair, before the foliage really takes off again. The roots are undersized for the foliage, now that they've been damaged, and must be regrown, before the plant comes back into 'equilibrium', and starts growing normally. It won't take long, so no worries. You should see it take off within a week, or a tad longer. :)
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k thanks for the info man :D
i knew there was some sort of "balance" but didnt know that it was a necessity for the plant.
well im hopin the best for it anyways for the future. i was just worried because it was so so small :(
 
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