Rootbound then transplanted and still having problems

Stride

Active Member
I have a 4 foot girl who was in 2 gallons of soil and I transplanted her into 5 gallons of soil but I am still having trouble with yellowing and dying leaves. When I transplanted I didnt loosen the rootball. Was I supposed to loosen the rootball? I didnt want to stress her as she is now in week 3 of flowering. I transplanted her 2 weeks ago. I have tried feeding nitrogen lots and lots of times still no help whatsoever. Is it possible that she is still rootbound and hasnt really expanded her roots out?
 

cackpircings

Well-Known Member
A pic would help, but after two weeks and no growth it could be two things, PH or over feeding. Both will cause nutrient lock out and that is most likely what it is. If that be the case cut the food back give her strait water ph corrected. Lastly, don't count recovery as flowering time. Don't work that way. Strop the clck till you see new growth and flowers

Good luck.
Cack
 

*BUDS

Well-Known Member
I have a 4 foot girl who was in 2 gallons of soil and I transplanted her into 5 gallons of soil but I am still having trouble with yellowing and dying leaves. When I transplanted I didnt loosen the rootball.
Was I supposed to loosen the rootball
? I didnt want to stress her as she is now in week 3 of flowering. I transplanted her 2 weeks ago. I have tried feeding nitrogen lots and lots of times still no help whatsoever. Is it possible that she is still rootbound and hasnt really expanded her roots out?
No you dont 'loosen' the rootball.Transplant as gently as possible. Looks like a rough transplant followed by panic then maybe too much N. Flush ,no nutes for a week or two, then use flowering nutes. Let the plant recover, might take 2-3 weeks.
 

rzza

Well-Known Member
No you dont 'loosen' the rootball.Transplant as gently as possible. Looks like a rough transplant followed by panic then maybe too much N. Flush ,no nutes for a week or two, then use flowering nutes. Let the plant recover, might take 2-3 weeks.
mine bounce back immediately and i rip the main part of roots off completely, im not exaggerating...
 

The*Mad*Hatter

Well-Known Member
just because you repoted a root bounded plant dosent mean its gonna live.(in bad cases).....you do to some point have to break up the root ball a bit, then hope for the best
 

canefan

Well-Known Member
You always want to break up the sides of the rootball or you have not accomplished anything by transplanting. The roots have turned in upon themselves and have no place to go, thereby basically stop growing and not having what it needs to supply the plant with food. Just replacing the old rootball into new dirt doesn't in itself stimulate the roots to get them growing again, at least not in a timely effecient manner.
Next there are a couple of different ways to go but with your knowledge level now I would suggest the easiest first. This is simply let the container soil become slightly dry and remove the plant (dry will slide easily out of the container) take a knife of some sort or sharp blade and score the sides of the sides, make 4 to 6 good scores along the side and place in the new container. This will encourage your roots to grow into the new soil more quickly. If the soil you put it into is good then your plant really shouldn't encounter any shock.
Grow luck with the rest of your grow.
 

Hoenhiem

Active Member
^^ i agree. some strains are more sensitive than others and will stress or succumb to shock if a buttefly farts near it. but most cannabis plants are resilient as shit. you can put it through hell and back [i should know] and they may still bounce back. cut the nutes, go plain ph'ed water and baby it. most likely what you have done is increased your flowering time a few weeks but it may be no problem come harvest. goodluck with it
 

Stride

Active Member
So im getting two different advice. To leave it, flush and give flowering nutes or to take her out of the new container and loosen up the rootball or cut the othermost layer so new roots can grow. One thing how am I supposed to just take it out of her new home when the old soil and new soil mixed together. It will be hard to take her out. And wouldnt cutting the roots in flowering stress her way too much? If im removing a potentially rootbound plant out of a 5 gallon pot that was previously in 2 gallon pots that means I will only be removing the middle of the soil the sides would still stay in the pot...?
 

MrGhettoGrower

Well-Known Member
I just had issues from my transplant. I didn't breakup these root balls when I took'em from 5 to 7 gallon pots of rock wool the roots just sat there. How I know this I threw them away in the 4th week of flowering today and looked at the roots! They went hermie on me and was looking real sick. The ones I have now I transplanted before they were root bound so I hope they're not a problem. I wished I had broke the roots up if that helps you. That's a big risk to take it out just to break up the roots and put it back in. How's your plant looking now, is it drooping? As long as it's perky you're alright if it starts drooping you'll know what it is maybe?

If your roots are like this BREAK'EM UP! I wished I did~I threw these 2 away the roots went from nice and healthy to brown and slimy!
Picture 244.jpgPicture 222.jpg
 

doser

Well-Known Member
Well, I disagree with just about everybody! I wouldn't break up a root ball but I do make a series of cuts down the ball to disrupt the curling pattern. If you don't do something, whether it be breaking chunks of rootball off or cutting lines down the ball or something to disrupt that curling then you will have accomplished nothing with the transplant. With soil it's even more important due to the soil having a tendency to create a hard wall that is difficult for roots, that already have a tendency to curl, to penetrate.
 

Izoc666

Well-Known Member
well i had a issue with that rootbound before because my og purple kush wont grow anymore for two weeks and started all the defs....so i decided to transplant into a 5 gallon from 1 gallon...and i let the soil become dry before i transplant and i just scoped off the sides make narrower so i can transplant into 5 gallon of fresh soils and watered with SUPERthrive, it worked for me..in a few weeks same plant just showed me some of his hairy balls....damn..
 

rocknratm

Well-Known Member
I just had issues from my transplant. I didn't breakup these root balls when I took'em from 5 to 7 gallon pots of rock wool the roots just sat there. How I know this I threw them away in the 4th week of flowering today and looked at the roots! They went hermie on me and was looking real sick. The ones I have now I transplanted before they were root bound so I hope they're not a problem. I wished I had broke the roots up if that helps you. That's a big risk to take it out just to break up the roots and put it back in. How's your plant looking now, is it drooping? As long as it's perky you're alright if it starts drooping you'll know what it is maybe?

If your roots are like this BREAK'EM UP! I wished I did~I threw these 2 away the roots went from nice and healthy to brown and slimy!
View attachment 1781441View attachment 1781440
ur soil looks like shit...ore likely ur prob.
I do support superthrive as the other poster did. B vit to help roots i think. I transplanted 1 week into flowering and they recovered a few days after... gained a few inches each by now at 3 weeks
 

Stride

Active Member
I am still SUPER confused on what to do? Should I be taking her out of her new 5 gallon home and cut the outside layer? Wouldnt this overstress a flowering plant?
 

MrGhettoGrower

Well-Known Member
Rocknratm
These weren't in dirt that's 5 gallons of rock wool:lol:
I wouldn't trust dirt to stay together to take a pic like that~

Stride
How is your plant looking? How was the root ball when you was transplanting?
Did it have a lot of tight roots or did you see any roots to begin with? If you didn't
see any roots there is no need to break up the root ball~If you had roots like these
Yes you should break'em up~
Picture 244.jpg
 

Hoenhiem

Active Member
I am still SUPER confused on what to do? Should I be taking her out of her new 5 gallon home and cut the outside layer? Wouldnt this overstress a flowering plant?
listen dude if your getting too much info from too many sources take into account what you need and discard all other crap. the fact is if your rootbound you need to transplant. #fact. if your question is "will it stress a flowering plant too much" that remains to be seen. but a day or so of stress or shock is better than stunted growth and multiple def's you could face. im just trying to simplify this for you. you need to decide whats best for your plant. take all this advice everyone is giving you and apply it to your situation. i wish you good luck
 

rzza

Well-Known Member
Rocknratm
These weren't in dirt that's 5 gallons of rock wool:lol:
I wouldn't trust dirt to stay together to take a pic like that~

Stride
How is your plant looking? How was the root ball when you was transplanting?
Did it have a lot of tight roots or did you see any roots to begin with? If you didn't
see any roots there is no need to break up the root ball~If you had roots like these
Yes you should break'em up~
View attachment 1782105
how do you buy your rockwool? how big is that root mass? it looks like alot (expensive) of rockwool.
 

Lockdown420

Active Member
I am still SUPER confused on what to do? Should I be taking her out of her new 5 gallon home and cut the outside layer? Wouldnt this overstress a flowering plant?
3 weeks into flower you do not wan't to be slicing roots apart all thats doing is killing it and slowing it down. Depends how tight your ball is I'd gently loosin it by twisting, if its super root bound 3 weeks into flower yeild will suffer big time. Its all about timing. I do 3 transplants to control the size and gives fresh soil the entire grow. Just transplant sooner before your ball is to tight or use a bigger pot from the start and veg less time. And pumping it full of nitrogen in flower is not a good thing to do. The new soil will hold enough N if your using some good organic soil. Veg is the easy part 3 weeks into flower is when most problems start roots have run out of space soil is tapped out of nutes.
 

dirtysnowball

Well-Known Member
break up the F***ing root ball people unless you want 30+ plants that still have a root ball in the shape of a party cup when they're in buckets like i did. they never search for anything unless thoroughly roughed up n ripped. believe me this is common nursery worker knowledge. i dont want you having my same experience!
 

novice11

Active Member
I would make a few shallow slits as advised. If it is still RB then the roots should pull out of the dried soil fairly easily. You really have not much to lose. And if the worst occurs, start again, you have at least gained knowledge.

Your new pots do have drainage holes, yes?
 
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