Your plants will start to get tall and fill your pot ( their leaves will stretch beyond the edge of the pot ). That’s when you know it’s time to transplant. You want to get your babies in a new home, where their roots have space to grow. Transplanting can cause a bit of shock so you want to be careful. Follow our guide for a successful transplant. Remember to leave us any questions in the comments section and we’ll be happy to help.
* Top tip: do your transplanting in the late afternoon or at night. It helps reduce the shock and gives your babies time to recover overnight before the scorching sun comes out. *
Prepare your medium
1. Get a large bucket or bowl ( it needs to fit 60L ). If you don’t have something this big, you can break it down into 2 smaller ones.
2. You’ll also need around 30L of filtered watered for the coco and another 10L afterwards. Remember you can get your bottles filled at Fruit and Veg at a very reasonable price.
4. Pour half the water into the bucket/ bowl ( around 15L ).
5. Add all the calmag ( it’s in the little brown paper bag ).
6. Mix well until dissolved in the water.
7. Add the coco brick and push down into the water to submerge.
8. Leave to soak and absorb. Add extra water as needed. You can help break the coco up, with your hands.
9. Once the coco has fully absorbed all the water, you want to fluff it up with your hands. ( You want the coco to be light and fluffy ).
Filling the new grow bags
1. Get one of your new grow bags and start to fill with coco. ( Don’t pack the coco too tightly, the roots need air to breath ).
2. You want to pack around 15 - 20cm of coco into the base of the bag. ( when you place your 3L grow bag inside, you want the seedling to just be peaking out the top, of the new bag ).
3. Remove the ice cream stick, skewer and any plant wire from your 3L grow bag.
4. If your seedling has stretched a bit you can gently pinch off the bottom 2 sets of leaves.
5. Then you want to get your seedling in. Here, you have 2 options. Option 1: You can leave your seedling in its original, 3L natural grow bag and just put that straight into the new pot. The roots can grow through these bags into the next one, it just takes a bit of time. Option 2: cut the original grow bag down the side and gently remove it. This method is slightly more tricky but once you get the hang of it, it’s not bad. This is our preferred method. Don’t try to roll the bag off and keep it, it’s not worth it. Watch the video, it’s easier than the instructions.
6. Once the seedling is placed into the new grow bag, start to pack coco around the outside of the pot and then around the base of the stem.
7. Gently pat the coco around the stem to keep the seedling upright and firm.
8. Fill to around 5 - 2cm from the top of the new bag.
9. Put the ice cream stick in your new bag so you know who is who.
10. Repeat so all 5 seedlings are in their new homes.
11. Save any extra medium to use at a later stage. If you don’t have an airtight container big enough, it can stay outside in a bucket in the sun, just rehydrate when needed.
Aftercare
As we said, transplanting can be a bit traumatic for the babies. You’ll want to give them some extra care afterward to help them bounce back.
1. Make a foliar spray with the kelpak. ( The kelpak is the green liquid in the little bottle with the white lid ). Add 1ml ( the size of the cap ) to 1L of water in your spray bottle and shake to mix.
2. You can spray your leaves each evening with the kelpak spray, for the first week. Just make sure to give the leaves a spray of plain water afterwards, so they don’t burn. The mix will keep for a week in a cool, dark place. Shake well before each use.
3. You’ll also want to give your babies some water. This helps to fill any air pockets in the medium. You’ll want to give each plant 500ml - 1L of plain water, slowly around the edge of the bag.
4. If you see your babies starting to wilt, give them a top up of water later and another little spray with the kelpak. The first 24hrs are critical, after that your babies should be very happy in their new homes.
You'll want to start feeding your plants in 2 - 3 days times. Stay tuned to see how to feed these babies so they can grow nice, big and strong.