Moving from Soil to Hydro.

[ronniedeb]

Hi. Due to a rushed start to the season, I ended up sowing my seeds in soil, despite the fact that I need to move them to an ebb and flood in expanded clay pebbles. So now I need to transplant seedlings from soil to pebbles. I was thinking of doing this in 2 steps.

1. Move from soil to 3 inch rockwool cubes with their holes filled with a coco/perlite mixture (I thought this might reduce the transplant shock as coco/perlite mixture would be structurally more like soil.)
2. When roots grow through coco/perlite/rockwool transplant rockwool cube to expanded clay in ebb.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[jepa]

Your method sounds pretty good. Also you can literally take them to a shower after pulling them out from soil. But first gently clean the roots with hands.

Bubbler itself is also a good washing method..  Just switch the waters everyday as long as there is soil in roots or dissolved in water.

EDIT:

I think that in longer distance with just cleaning and shovering the roots and put them in to ebb also cleans the roots, but you have to chance the waters more often and check the overflood pipe sometimes (if it's possible), that there are not any soil to block it..

Second question is: Does soil in ebb system cause alga (or seaweed  don't know the word)

P.S. Im not pro, but these are the thoughts came in my head, hope they are helpfull.. And sorry my english 

[ronniedeb]

Your method sounds pretty good. Also you can literally take them to a shower after pulling them out from soil. But first gently clean the roots with hands.

Bubbler itself is also a good washing method..  Just switch the waters everyday as long as there is soil in roots or dissolved in water.

Thanks Jepa.

Yeah, I'll give them a wash after I take them out of the soil. Others have recommended washing with a weak hydrogen peroxide (H2o2) solution. I'm also gonna wait until they have a few sets of leaves before moving them. The general consensus seems to be to move before they get too big.

[jepa]

Aaa they are young plants? More better! Then there wouldn't be any problems with them  If they are bigger plants with more roots, then it's gonna take longer to get all the soil away from that root jungle.. But absolutely not hard to get work! The weak hydrogen peroxide you mention is also good stuff to use weekly. If the plants allow that  If they don't like it that often, the answer is simple: not so often.

[ronniedeb]

Aaa they are young plants? More better! Then there wouldn't be any problems with them  If they are bigger plants with more roots, then it's gonna take longer to get all the soil away from that root jungle.. But absolutely not hard to get work! The weak hydrogen peroxide you mention is also good stuff to use weekly. If the plants allow that  If they don't like it that often, the answer is simple: not so often.

Great. Thanks Jepa.

Yes they are only seedlings at the moment, with 1 set of true leaves. I'll move them when they get 3 sets of leaves or so, into a rockwool cube like this: http://www.bloomandgrow.ie/rockwool-3-inch

...filling the hole, with the perlite/coco mixture

[bluesman]

One plant moved to a passive hydro (2010 diary).

http://chilifoorumi.fi/index.php?topic=6715.msg89467#msg89467

The same plant in August. No bubbler or aeration whatsoever. Passive hydro.

[ronniedeb]

Thanks Bluesman. That looks good. Where do you get those passive hydro pots?

[jepa]

This is how much there are roots atm. assuming that your plants are about in same situation.. I pulled it out from rockwool and planted it to it's own wool cube. I germinated about 4 seeds in one cube.

So there is not too many roots to wash Luckily..

EDIT:typo

[ronniedeb]

Thanks Jepa. Yeah I reckon the sooner the better. Let me know how they get on by the way.

[Larski]

I moved a couple of seedling plants from soil to bubblers a year ago. None of the four plants seemed to mind the change. The plants actually did quite well very soon after the planting.

I moved them pretty much like you described. The only exception was that instead of filling a hole on top the cube with perlite/coco fiber I hollowed out a hole inside the cube and filled it with coco fiber. I first split the rockwool cube in half and then carved a small cavity on the insides of both of the pieces of the cube so that the cube would have a hollow pocket inside when the pieces were put together. I then filled the cavities with coco fiber and fit the plant on the other half of the cube so that its roots were on the coco fiber. Then I just put the two halves together and fit the whole thing into a net pot. This way you can plant the seedling deeper into the cube and maybe help it grow sturdier from the beginning.

Cleaning the roots and filling the hollow with coco fiber. First I just cleaned most of the soil off of the roots and then rinsed the roots.



Fitting the seedling on the cube.


Ready for a bubbler.

[ronniedeb]

Thanks Larski. Did you do it this way so that the coco was contained withing the cube? What difference would it make to my idea of filling the hole from the top of the cube?
Thanks

[bluesman]

There is a company Orthex in Finland that manufactures these pots with a removable bottom part. I don´t know if they are available in Ireland.

[ronniedeb]

Ok. Thanks Bluesman. I'll have to look for something similar.

[Larski]

Did you do it this way so that the coco was contained withing the cube? What difference would it make to my idea of filling the hole from the top of the cube?

I thought that the rockwool cube might not stay intact if I dug a hole in it. I also wanted to make sure that the coco fibre didn't end up in the bubbler and that the seedlings would stay firmly where I planted them. Then again I suppose doing it your way would work just as well.

[ronniedeb]

Did you do it this way so that the coco was contained withing the cube? What difference would it make to my idea of filling the hole from the top of the cube?

I thought that the rockwool cube might not stay intact if I dug a hole in it. I also wanted to make sure that the coco fibre didn't end up in the bubbler and that the seedlings would stay firmly where I planted them. Then again I suppose doing it your way would work just as well.

Ah yes. Thats what I thought. I might do a few your way and a few mine for a comparison! Thanks for your advice.

[Miksaa]

I don't see any benefits with coco fiber/mixture. Jus carv rockwool cube and place seedling there. Or put seedling straight to pebbles. Just remember keep pebbles moist and you are ready to go...

I put always my cuttings to pebbles(ebb and flood), after they have 2-4cm roots already.

[ronniedeb]

I don't see any benefits with coco fiber/mixture. Jus carv rockwool cube and place seedling there. Or put seedling straight to pebbles. Just remember keep pebbles moist and you are ready to go...

I put always my cuttings to pebbles(ebb and flood), after they have 2-4cm roots already.

Ok. Thanks Miksaa. It was just my understanding that the transition from soil to rockwool might set the seedling back a bit due to their different structures. As I said. I'll give it a go anyway

[jepa]

I pushed a hole to the wool cube with nail and rolled it a bit larger.. Then i set the roots in that hole with the other side of that nail. And then i filled the hole with little peace of that same wool, to support roots and plant.. I used that method during this season, with all my plants and none of them are dead, yet All of them got on just fine and there are lot of roots after few days.. Even my method is a bit violent.. Cutting the cube in half is propably a better way.

[ronniedeb]

OK. Thanks for all the responses. Very encouraging. Next week I will transplant my seedlings, so will report back on how I fare.
Thanks again.