need to transplant from soil to hydro bonsai mother

[arne564]

I need to transplant my bonsai mother that's in about a 40 oz container from soil into a SWC system. The bonsai mother is very important to me and if I am risking it's life if I transplant it then it's not worth it... so I'm looking for a 100% success method if there is one.

I'm also looking to keep the container the same size(so it doesn't get too big to be grown effectively with CFLs).

Do you still need to water the soil when your plant was originally in soil but was transplanted to a DWC/SWC system? Would the soil mess with anything like the PH?

 

[freeradical]

I would recommend simply taking a cutting and use that for your future mother. Having soil in a water culture system will deposit solutes in the water (depending on what's in it), throwing off your ec readings. Hydro is not convenient for mothers anyways, unless you have the equipment to make it low-maintenance. If you're using cfl's, chances are it won't grow much faster in hydro anyways.

 

[arne564]

I'm trying to keep this mother for personal reasons and I need to transplant it to hydro. Is there any way that I can remove the soil or something and put it into a hydro system without risking it's life? thanks for the reply, i appreciate it.

 

[freeradical]

Best way I can think of is to cut the root ball down to a size that can fit in a netpot, and put it in a netpot using some sort of fine mesh/screen (non absorbing) between the netpot and the dirt to keep dirt out of the solution. This won't work if your soil is heavy and can be overwatered (peat, lots of EWC, etc).

 

[freeradical]

If the method above is not an option, you could do the following:

Note: this method will cause a LOT of stress to the plant, and I'm not sure of the success rate of this would be.

Cut the edges of the rootball away, including the bottom. put the rootball in a garbage bag and shake as much dirt off as you can (or just do it outside). After you have shaken most of the dirt off, you should be able to see most of the roots. Next, simply put the roots in a netpot and fill it with hydroton. You'll have to play around to fill it with hydroton while having the roots distributed throughout the hydroton.

 

[JohnnyToke]

ive done this. i took the mother out of the soil container and took it outside and ran water over the root ball to loosen up and remove the dirt around the roots. it took a while but almost all the soil came free. then I dropped it in a net pot full of hydroton. it looked a little beat up for a week or so but came through it well.

hope this helps.

JT

 

[justanotherbozo]

censorship sucks!

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I need to transplant my bonsai mother that's in about a 40 oz container from soil into a SWC system. The bonsai mother is very important to me and if I am risking it's life if I transplant it then it's not worth it... so I'm looking for a 100% success method if there is one.

I'm also looking to keep the container the same size(so it doesn't get too big to be grown effectively with CFLs).

Do you still need to water the soil when your plant was originally in soil but was transplanted to a DWC/SWC system? Would the soil mess with anything like the PH?

Get a 5 galllon bucket of warm water.

Loosen the root ball and drop it out into your hand.

Lower the ball into the bucket, plant and all.

Let it sit for about 30 seconds.

Hold the root mass about midway down in the water and gently massage the roots.

Keep doing this until you can feel that most of the crud has been worked out of the roots. (THe water will be so muddy you'll not be able to see anything)

Set the plant aside and change the water in the bucket.

Do the same thing again only this time you'll be able to see what you're doing.

Gently work the rest of the crap out of the roots and massage the dirt film off the roots.

Be gentle but also be prepared to break a few roots off. It's ok. Just don't break off all the main taproots.

Once you've worked as much of it out as you can, go ahead and throw her into your SWC setup. She'll LOVE it

I've done this many many MANY times and never lost a plant.

Enjoy

 

[arne564]

Get a 5 galllon bucket of warm water.

Loosen the root ball and drop it out into your hand.

Lower the ball into the bucket, plant and all.

Let it sit for about 30 seconds.

Hold the root mass about midway down in the water and gently massage the roots.

Keep doing this until you can feel that most of the crud has been worked out of the roots. (THe water will be so muddy you'll not be able to see anything)

Set the plant aside and change the water in the bucket.

Do the same thing again only this time you'll be able to see what you're doing.

Gently work the rest of the crap out of the roots and massage the dirt film off the roots.

Be gentle but also be prepared to break a few roots off. It's ok. Just don't break off all the main taproots.

Once you've worked as much of it out as you can, go ahead and throw her into your SWC setup. She'll LOVE it

I've done this many many MANY times and never lost a plant.

Enjoy

thanks man. I did exactly as you said and everything seems to be working out well. it took a lot longer then i thought it would to remove all the gunk from the roots(about an hour), but she seems to be doing fine in her SWC system! I lost around 3 very small roots.. your method works very well! Now it's time to see how she's going to deal with the stress. I hope that she'll be okay.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

thanks man. I did exactly as you said and everything seems to be working out well. it took a lot longer then i thought it would to remove all the gunk from the roots(about an hour), but she seems to be doing fine in her SWC system! I lost around 3 very small roots.. your method works very well! Now it's time to see how she's going to deal with the stress. I hope that she'll be okay.

You're entirely welcome. I'm sure she'll be just fine. If it took an hour to do then she's really hydrated from the soak and you shouldn't see any wilting at all.

If you do see any it will likely be a leaf here or there single-style. They're the ones that were directly feeding from the roots you broke off. (cool, huh?)

They'll perk back up within a few hours as they transfer their supply lines to the main feed.

I've found hydro to be the best way to save plants that would otherwise be toast if they remain in the soil they're in. Once it's recovered you can do a root trim, let it recover for a week and then re-plant into new soil.

I've also nursed seeds from shell to plant without any medium at all, using just a piece of foam egg-tray floated in a cup. (I do this when the seeds are old or heat damaged as the success rate is waaaaaay higher)

Congratulations

Now make sure you take a cut and put it in soil for a new soil mum, if you have the space. SWC is great but soil still lasts longer in a disaster and keen genetics are a bitch to re-acquire.

 

[HeadyPete]

Because those roots were soil roots they are not able to live submerged in water and expect stresses and problems till that plant grows new water roots that can survive full submersion. Root hairs developed for soil will rot and die in water.

Taking a cutting and starting it from the get go in a hydro type cloner would have been the best route.

Good luck and I hope your plant survives.

 

[JohnnyToke]

Because those roots were soil roots they are not able to live submerged in water and expect stresses and problems till that plant grows new water roots that can survive full submersion. Root hairs developed for soil will rot and die in water.

Taking a cutting and starting it from the get go in a hydro type cloner would have been the best route.

Good luck and I hope your plant survives.

they for sure look beat up for a week or two after switching from soil to hydro. I wonder if you could give the roots a good haircut since most of the soil roots will die off anyway before growing new water submerged roots. this might cut down on the couple week recovery time.

JT

 

[MeltingPot]

Johnny T + Hydro-soil...
GREAT ADVICE...couldn't have said it better...Way to help Arne out!
MP

 

[useless people]

ive done this. i took the mother out of the soil container and took it outside and ran water over the root ball to loosen up and remove the dirt around the roots. it took a while but almost all the soil came free. then I dropped it in a net pot full of hydroton. it looked a little beat up for a week or so but came through it well.

hope this helps.

JT

this method always works for me

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Because those roots were soil roots they are not able to live submerged in water and expect stresses and problems till that plant grows new water roots that can survive full submersion. Root hairs developed for soil will rot and die in water.

You're talking a big huge root mass. I wouldn't advise that either. For small rootballs it works just great.

If you need to transfer a larger plant you're going to have to trim it back, let it recover then do the transfer.
During the transfer you're going to thin out the roots in the middle. Leave all the main taproots and thin out most of the really thin roots.

It will take longer to recover but it will definitely survive.

I've never had soil roots rot off and die. Then again, I've never done this to a plant larger than 12-16" before either.

I have definitely left crap in the roots that caused problems later on. If you clean the roots completely then there won't be any problems.

It's amazing that these plants will take so much abuse in so many ways but can still die in 3 days or less if you screw up the right way.

 

[growDaddy]

I've dug up a mother, washed off the dirt, planted in my hydro system and all is well after a couple of weeks freaking out

 

[HeadyPete]

good to hear these transplants survive. Trimming the roots also makes good sense to avoid the overload of rotting root mass in the water.

All the best Arne.

 

[Bulénath]

Cool,
keep us updated with your mothers post-transplant progress

 

[CornDog]

any pictures or word on weather or not your plant survived, i always heard that going from dirt to hydro doesn't work but ther are alot of people here saying it can be done.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

any pictures or word on weather or not your plant survived, i always heard that going from dirt to hydro doesn't work but ther are alot of people here saying it can be done.

The one I transplanted a few days ago is doing fine. Had one wilted leaf that's perked back up again. Also sported some fresh white hairs this morning when I opened up. (She's 2 weeks into 12/12 as of yesterday)


The key is to go slow and take your time washing off all the roots.

I really wouldn't recommend doing this with LARGE plants unless you're willing prune it back hardcore, let it recover and THEN do this. Cutting off all the roots except a double fisted size ball.
It will take time to recover but it will definitely survive.




I really don't understand where people picked up that this doesn't work. I did it many many MANY times for years. Then I looked it up and found out that it was impossible/difficult/not-recommended. LOL