How to Transplant your Crops the right way

Transplanting crops is extremely important in hydroponics. In many cases, growers have to either transplant from soil to a hydroponic environment, or vice versa. So how do you make sure plants are supported well while they are getting plucked up from one place and plunked into another?

Here are some guidelines to go by when transplanting plants for hydroponics.

Avoiding Transplant Shock

Some aspects of good transplanting involve keeping good transitional environments for plants, so that they don't suffer from a shock to their systems.

One of the fundamental aspects of this is making sure that the transplant conditions match the plant original environment in terms of temperature, humidity, pH value and more. It makes sense that plants really suffer from drastic changes in their environment. They are used to one thing, and they get subjected to something radically different.

The same applies to lighting -- so think about whether plants are going from natural sunlight to powerful grow lighting, or through some other kind of difficult transitional process, and try to match the environment as well as possible.

Working With Plant Roots

For clones that have less developed root systems, some other kinds of care are necessary. Growers should carefully inspect the plant roots to see if they can handle a transplant. This includes making sure plants are not root bound, and making sure that they have the right grow media to facilitate growing. This may mean moistening items like coco coir or rockwool and putting nutrients in place.

Specific Kinds of Transplants

Other transplant tips may have to do with the specific kinds of hydro systems you're using.

For example, lots of experts recommend specific calibrations for the ebb and flow grow systems where water slides into a tray table and then drains out. It's a good idea for growers to mark the high watermark, in order to place plants at the appropriate level so that the water will get to their roots during a flood cycle. Then, add grow media as necessary.

These are just some of the delicate details that growers may have to deal with when transplanting plants into a hydroponic environment. For much more on hydroponics and everything else that goes along with it, check out Dealzer’s product pages and informational resources for growers. We're a one-stop shop for making sure you get the support you need for a hydroponic project.