Help a fellow grower out!

I am very aware of my surroundings when im in the bush. Just recently Ive noticed what seems to be human traffic beating down some heavy trails awfully close to my plot. I got paronod and loosened up some dirt around the entrances to my plot and 3 days later I found a small foot print, size 7-8 boot print. I assume its younger kids with feet that size lol but you never know.
Ok-so my question is how hard would it be to transplant them, uproot them from the ground, I know for sure I wont be able to get all the roots, but If I get the main root ball and stick it in a 5 gallon bucket do you think that it would take. All the plants are between 5 and 7 feet tall lol and just started to hair a week ago approx. ten plants in total, I know its physically possible, I'm just not sure if the plants are up for it. I know that roots stop growing once flowering starts and thats what scares me. So does anybody else have any experience with transplanting plants that are already in the ground in flower. I have about a 2 week window to transplant, I assume anybody willing to steal plants would wait until the bud would at least get them high which is still a ways away. If I could get some feed back that would be great. thanks alot, happy toking guys

If you're serious about moving them all you're going to need a moving truck, which will cost some money but, get an air conditioned uhaul, and move when youre in the 12 hours of dark because obviously the inside of the truck will be dark. it shouldnt be that hard to transplant them i do it with normal garden plants. dig the root ball, have a pot filled with the soil and nutrients youll need to keep it from being overly stressed. soil at the bottom, some of the soil from where you were growing them then more new soil ontop of the old soil is how i do it. i dont know how much this will help so anyone else with knowledge please correct me, and help him out.

lol I thought that was sarcasm at first with the moving truck. No not possible Its 2-3 miles away from the closest fourwheeler trail, let alone public roads. Ten plants in total I just want to stick them in 5 gallon pots and probably transport one at a time. My real question is how much can a marijuana plant take when you take her out of the ground, I know Ill be able to get a nice spade full of roots from underneith the plants but I can guarantee Ill miss alot of the deeper roots but will that just cause plants to go into shock for a bit? Just started hairing and roots stop growing once that happens. Anybody else personally had to transplant average to big marijuana plants straight from the ground while in bud? thanks alot.

You don't have any choice. If they die, they die.

If you leave them there, they're 100% gone. Move them, or forget them

peace
doublejj

First step, water the Plants well. The soil remains stuck to the roots better when damp. Also, use some seaweed with this water, it's a rooting stmulator & will help decrease stress. Next, find the new home, dig the holes for them, square holes, round hole causes roots to go 'round & round, not outwards. Don't "dig out the root ball", you want to dig out the dirt away from the rootball, the same size as the 5 gal bucket. Make a 5-gal size mark on the ground around the plant, take the soil way outside the mark til you get the vast marjority of the bottom of the rootball. Don't use the narrow spade to lift it, use both arms. Once in the bucket, it can remain there, jus away from the site. What I'm saying is you don't have to carry it the entire distance, just away from the immediate area. Priorty is getting them out of the immediate area first. Take newspapers, once the plant is inside the bucket, you DO NOT want the roots to be exposed to air & dry out. Wet newspaper will help. It can be done. This is what "Superthrive" was made for, extreme stress, like an IV med. for acute cases of stress. You'll need good gloves to carry the buckets with. Don't worry about cutting the feeder roots,, they will grow back just fine. Good luck.

Damn man, bummer. I've never grown outdoors, but I'd imagine it's similar to transplanting indoors. Best of luck to you.

Man this sucks to have happen. I personally have never had good luck digging up and moving plants. Maybe i just did it wrong. Browndirt's method of planting inside a bag in the ground would be handy in this situation.

do you have any way of just four wheeling over there?! take some clippings for cloning in case this all goes down crapper. i find that plants grow 1.5 times the width of their actual root ball. so if your plant is 3' wide then dig a 2'ft diameter around them and about 2.5' deep. you have to do this its all part of the ups and downs of growing.

this is gonna be labor intensive, do you have anyone to trust... a growing friend. a son maybe? anyways, the only feasable way is to go out there with a wagon(bigger then radio flyer hopefully) and a spade. in order to make this accomplish-able your going to have to sacrifice some of those roots, its just too much weight. cut a 2' circle around the trunk, and dig out one side so you can shovel deeper into the soil. pry and cut your baby out, the main root mass will be able to support her enough to see a harvest. shove a few of your plants into the wagon and start walking to wear ever... either to a nearby road or find another place to put them... i can guarentee your plants wont like this but they'll survive no problem.

if possible get em home and plant em... or spray off all the dirt and shove it into a bucket full of water, and start prepping for a hydro grow(not very expensive).

look one time i uprooted the wrong plant visciously right, it lost 80% of its roots but i filled a bowl up with water and stuck the plant in it... it never wilted because of the direct water to roots thing. this was a 2' tall plant and it root mass got reduced to the size of a party cup. sooo you can do it, it just depends on how much you want these plants. believe me you can do it. if the jew ran 40 miles through the snow in rags you can do this. thats what i always tell my self when hard stuff comes around.

I've received a lot of flack for suggesting how to save as much as possible in your situation.

Here it is, anyway.

You won't like it.

It is the least stressful method I've found to save large plants.

Plants are a balanced system. This method is intended to maintain that balance, through serious trauma.

Wet the root zone as much as possible.(Add Superthrive to the water. The stuff helps.)

Dig the largest root ball you can handle, and place it in a pot, smart pot or burlap bag.

NEVER LET THE ROOTS DRY OUT.

Estimate the percentage of roots lost, like 10%, 20%, etc.

Remove enough whole branches to match, or slightly exceed the percentage of root loss.

Keep the remaining foliage and roots wet/damp until they're transplanted.

If any wilting occurs(watch closely), spray the foliage with water and water the roots. If it persists, remove another branch or two.

Yes, you'll lost some of their potential, but you should still get a good harvest.

Removing whole branches forces the plant to feed the remaining foliage/buds without trying to recover the pruned portions. Removing the tips stresses the plant.

Make brownies with the removed branches.

If you allow the plant to wilt before doing this stuff, the plant will experience shock, making everything more stressful to recover.

Take a look at my transplant tutorial on pg. 38 of my 2010 grow thread, linked below.

Good luck!

PM me if you have questions.

well since your moving them on at a time try it out with your worst plant and see how it goes is your only option

yea thanks for all the help guys, double jj is right either they gotta be moved or die so probably tomorrow I will transplant the smallest one first and see how that takes after a day or three. I appreciate all the help guys, happy toking