Temp Transplanting

vk3laj

Hi Guys,

I have to do a redesign on my system, and for a day i need to remove the plants and media - then once finished put it all back again.

Whats the best way to go about this? Carefully remove plants and pop in the bath with 2" water was the only thing i could think of..

nebbian

I've done this, plants didn't seem to mind all that much.

Take your plants out, put them in pots so that they are still in media, and put that in a bit of a bath of water from the fishtank.

I didn't even bother with the water as I was just moving the system and my plants were only out of the growbed for around 4 hours.

For the media I put that in several big garbage bags and barrowed them to the new spot.

vk3laj

sweet, i was worried all the plants would die on me........ Also worried that i gotta now start the cycling process again, introducing a new 4000 litres to the system.. doh!

nebbian

Yeah that's a pain, but I don't think that you will cycle again. All those bacteria will stay on the media, they will just slow down as the ammonia drops to nothing and then slowly builds back up.

I certainly didn't have any spikes in nitrites or nitrates.

Save as much water as you can, however.

Charlie

Yea no recycling required, last time I moved my system the media was in a trailer for the day and nothing changed when I restarted the system.

Freebz

as long as the media has a bit of moisture in it, if it dries out the bacteria will suffer badly

earthbound

I wouldn't bother putting them in water unless it's a very hot day. Just dig them up keeping as much of a root mass on them as you can, place in a shady area and go for it.. If in doubt or they are staying out of the ground a little longer than expected just give them a QUICK squirt with the hose or a watering can.