How to Transplant

July 1 2024 2:16am • Est. Read Time: 4 MIN

Why transplant?

If you have larger plants growing in your Garden (like tomatoes, cucumbers, or strawberries), it may be a good idea to transplant them into soil when they’re large enough to allow them to keep growing. Otherwise, you’ll have to frequently prune down these plants to keep them from growing too large. Additionally, if you have plants that are currently growing in soil that you’d like to transplant into your Rise Garden, this is an option too.

Please follow along with this guide if you are interested in transplanting some plants. 

 

How to transplant plants into soil:

If you believe that your plants are ready to be planted into soil, please follow along with this guide:

Step 1

Remove your plant from its tray by carefully untangling the roots from close-by plants. This can be tedious, so be careful to only break as few roots as possible. 

tap_roots.png

An important step in separating roots is to identify the TAP ROOT. This is the main root that comes down from your plant. It is thicker than all of the other roots, and is vital to the plant’s water uptake. 

The other roots surrounding the tap root are the FINE ROOT MASS. You can break 20% of your fine root mass, and your plant will be perfectly healthy. However, if you break your tap root, it can cause plant health issues. Don’t break your tap root!

 

Step 2

Once your plant is safely removed from the tray, you can make a decision about your net cup: Do I leave it on the plant and dig it up later? Or, do I cut it off the plant now?

Why should I bury my plant in the net cup?

Why should I cut the net cup off of my plant now?

You won’t have to tear any roots apart right away

Your plant roots will grow around the net cup

You won’t have to dig up the plant cup later

The roots might be weaker and more pliable right now

 

A note on burying plastic:

Our net cups are made from ABS plastic, and therefore NOT biodegradable. If you decide to plant your net cup into your garden, you must pull it out when you harvest your plant.

ABS plastic will not destabilize, so it can’t leach chemicals into your soil. In order for ABS plastic to leach, it would require heating the plastic up to 400º C.

Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/ybrr43vp

 

Step 3

If you are planting your plant outside in an outdoor garden, you’ll have to consider whether you might shock your plant during transplanting. In order to keep your plant from experiencing shock upon transplanting outside, you must “Harden Off” your plant. This means that you must put your plant into an environment that is at a half-way point between the environment (temperature and humidity) of your house and the environment (temperature and humidity) of your garden. 

The best way to harden off a plant is to place it in a pot with soil, and leave it in a sunny area (like a porch or a shaded area outside) for at least 2 days. This will acclimate the plant to a soil environment, and you’ll be able to control the moisture level better. 

It is important to water the plant immediately upon transplanting in order to keep the roots of your plant alive. Your plant has not yet developed its water-root system, because it has lived its whole life in an hydroponic environment. So, you’ll have to help it learn how to find water.

NOTE: It is perfectly natural for your plant to “flop” during this process as a result of moving and killing root mass. To combat this, please make sure to water your plant if you see this happening.

Once your plant has acclimated to soil, you can choose to keep growing it inside this pot outside, or you can plant it into your garden.



How to transplant outdoor plants into your Rise Garden:

In general, we normally do not recommend moving soiled plants into your Rise Garden. It could introduce unwanted pests (and a variety of other problems) to the plants you already have growing in your Rise Garden. However, if you’d like to give it a shot, here are some recommendations from us:

 

Step 1

The first thing you want to do before moving a plant into your Rise Garden is to make sure that this plant will be short enough to fit under your Garden’s Grow Lights.

  • In a Family Garden, there are 18 inches of vertical growing space in the bottom shelf of your Garden, and 12 inches of vertical growing space in the top shelves of your Garden.
  • In a Personal Garden, there are 12 inches of vertical growing space. 

If your plant is going to grow higher than 18 inches, you will have to prune down the top growth of your plant to encourage the plant to grow ‘wide’ and not ‘tall’. You may also have to train your plant out and up the side of your Garden.

 

Step 2

After you’ve confirmed that your plant can fit into your Rise Garden, you need to check your plant for pests. 

Whether you got your plant from a reputable garden store, or your own garden, the outdoor environment contains many pests. Outside, there are also predators that keep those pests in check! When you bring those plants into your home, you’ll need to be careful that those same pest populations don’t get out of hand. 

For more information on what to do when you find pests in your Garden, please follow THIS GUIDE on our website. 

 

Step 3

If your plant is free of pests, you can continue on to cleaning the roots of your plants. You’ll need to remove all soil, because it can clog your Garden’s plumbing system.

Once the roots are free of soil, gently thread the roots through a new net cup so the roots hang down into the water. 

PRO TIP: You can use a Seedless Pod to surround your new plant. Then, you can secure your plant in the net cup so it doesn’t fall over.

 

Step 4

Once you’ve planted your new plant into your Rise Garden, be sure to enter in this plant’s information into your Rise Gardens app. NOTE: you should edit the age of this plant so your app knows how much nutrients it needs!