Transplanting your Cannabis plants
The truth is that the less transplants, the better. Roots are super sensitive to light exposure, and even big plants can remain stressed out for few days after being transplanted.
But this doesn’t mean that plant should never be transplanted. So the usual strategy with cannabis plants is to transfer them into 2 or 3 pot sizes during their cycle.
The objective is to make the most of the size of their current container. Small seedlings will not occupy fast enough the whole medium of a full size pot. And these will mostly end up in non-effective watering and washing away soil mix too quick.
There’s actually not a specific time frame to consider for transplanting. It depends on different variables, from genetics to weather factors.
For seedlings
It’s not a good idea to transplant tiny seedlings with less than 2 nodes. These would be less prepared to handle the stress.
The ideal seedling transplant would be when they have already grown roots around most of its first container. The size of a small pot will vary, but a plant with more than 3 or 4 nodes will show visible root development when they’re being transplanted. And it would be noticeable how these roots will retain much of the soil mix, and there will be just a little left inside the pot or none.
Don’t remove the soil that the roots carry inside their structure after being taken out. This will exposed and remove must of their first micro biome that protects them. Leave the soil that remains from the first pot into the next.
It’s essential to have the next container at hand and fully prepared to receive the transferred plant. This includes having some percentage of the new soil mix on the bottom. The soil mix left will cover the remaining space, filling it all up. And the placement of the plant needs to correspond to its height, for the nodes to still remain on the surface after is covered.
The final pot
This is ideally the last transplant, on the final size pot in which the plant will grow until the end of the cycle. And its objective is to give the plant the most possible chances of achieving a bigger structure.
This final transplant needs to happen in the middle of the veg stage, before it’s starts showing the first signs of flowering. The plant will not grow more after the weeks of the flowering stage are clearly advanced.
Two transplants are a great idea when the cycle is started early on the season (during spring). This is when the plant can have the longest time to grow and make the most of its size, from available resources.
For health issues
Health issues can be another reason for transplanting. In certain situations related to root health, the plant can overcome problems like growth stagnation –or pests- if their soil medium is replaced, by transferring to a new container.
The success of this method will depend on the overall health of the plant. for it to endure the process of transplanting and healing.
