2 Easy Ways to Reduce Transplant Shock in Cultivation

For most commercial growers, transplant shock causes delays and added costs – costs that many believe are unavoidable costs of doing business. That’s not true. The truth is cultivators can reduce transplant shock, save time, save money (and even increase revenue) with biochar and a single transplant growing system.

Why is It Important to Avoid Transplant Shock?

Plants experience stress when their environment changes. Stress can come from a long list of environmental factors, including a change in temperature, light, humidity, and more. Transplant shock also happens when you move a plant from one environment to another (e.g., from a 4” cube to a larger container).

The change from transplanting causes stress on the plant – whether you’re moving the plant from one container to another in an indoor controlled environment or you’re moving the plant from one location to another (e.g., room to room, indoors to outdoors, and so on).

Just like stress causes problems for people, it causes problems for plants. Transplant shock symptoms include wilted leaves, curled leaves, discolored leaves, and more. Interestingly, many of these symptoms mirror symptoms of other problems caused by watering, pests, temperature, and additional environmental factors. Growers have to appreciate what the plant is going through after it’s moved and give the plant time to recover from the stress.

As a result, transplant shock can add days to a grow cycle – every time a plant is moved. Transplant shock can harm the overall health of your plants, and they may never recover fully. Furthermore, many growers try to push plants too quickly when they’re trying to recover from transplant shock. This can do more harm than good.

In other words, to save time, save money, and ensure your plants reach their full potential, you need to reduce transplant shock as much as possible. You can do it with biochar and a single transplant growing system

1. Use Biochar to Mitigate Transplant Shock

There is a large body of peer-reviewed research and literature that describes and quantify the benefits of biochar in terms of crop yields, plant health, transplant shock mitigation, and more. This research crosses agricultural industries.

For example, researchers from the University of Reading found biochar “offers potential for increasing bare-root transplant survival” for Bartlett pear trees (Pyrus communis or Williams Bon Chretien pear). Separate researchers from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and the University of Surrey found biochar helps nearly all land plants better “tolerate stresses like transplant shock, soil compaction, soil toxins, and heavy metals.” Researchers from Hunan Agricultural University discovered rice “transplants with biochar perform better across many measures.”

Again, there is so much research and literature about the positive effects of biochar, including how it mitigates transplant shock. The farming community has also seen the benefits through their own individual trials and tests. For example, a camellia farmer in Georgia transplanted with biochar and reported seeing growth gains and reduced transplant shock to Nursery Magazine.

In the cannabis industry, many cultivators have seen reduced transplant shock after switching to bio365 soil that includes our patented biochar. Apothca Inc. in Massachusetts reported, “The plants look healthy right away – if there’s even one day of shock, I’m surprised.” Potent Farms in Oregon reported, “No transplant shock! Absolutely no deficiencies, and the plant health this run is absolutely incredible. The greenest of the green.”

Keep in mind, the quality of the biochar can have a significant effect on the outcomes a grower experiences in terms of plant health, yields, and transplant shock. The biochar in bio365 grow clean living soil combined with our media’s high microbial biomass, which gives plants what they want and need from nature in controlled environments, deliver much better results than lower quality biochar in a soil or separate amendments.

2. Use a Single Transplant Growing System

A single transplant growing system reduces transplant shock by cutting out unnecessary transplanting, so plants are transplanted once – from the propagation stage directly to the final container.

Typically, cannabis cultivators transplant more than once – from the propagation container to a veg container and then to a final container where the plant will live out its life. Some cultivators even add another transplant step into the process.

Every time the plant is moved it will experience stress and will need time to recover from transplant shock. There is no way to avoid it. Therefore, the best solution available today is to cut down transplants to one. That’s a single transplant growing system!

Many cultivators like to move clones to a 4” cube or container for veg where the plant will stay until it roots out. When it’s time to move the plant to a larger container, the roots are exposed and susceptible to damage. If the plant is root-bound, not only does it hurt the plant’s growth, but also, you have to physically manipulate the roots to give the plant a chance to grow in the new container. This increases the risk of root damage and adds considerable stress around the root ball.

For the best results, growers should avoid letting their plants get root-bound. While it’s harder to overwater when plants are root-bound, it’s not best for your plants. A significantly better strategy is to fully understand the relationship between water, plants, and soil in order to avoid overwatering. You’ll get better results when you do.

Every time cannabis plants are transplanted adds 2-3 days per week to get to the final stage because you have to wait for the plants to recover from transplant shock. When growers use a single transplant growing system and eliminate unnecessary transplants, they can save a week every cycle. If you grow four cycles per year, time you save with a single transplant system growing could add up to another half cycle in a year!

A single transplant growing system is built to remove avoidable shock. Therefore, growers can transplant clones directly into the final container where they’ll spend the rest of their lives. All other transplants and associated risks, problems, delays, and costs are eliminated.

When you transplant clones directly to the final container, you’re able to get your plants established more quickly, and you’ll reduce risk. Furthermore, your plants only have to re-establish roots once if you transplant once. You’ll improve root health and maximize root growth as quickly as possible. As a result, you’ll save time and money.

Many cannabis growers that switched to bio365 media have saved a significant amount of time and money. Holistic Industries, one of the largest private vertically integrated multi-state operators (MSOs) in the cannabis industry, switched to bio365 soil and reported, “Now we only have to transplant once, and it’s done in 70% less time vs. the old method. Those labor savings are huge.”

Key Takeaways about Transplant Shock for Cannabis Cultivators

Cannabis growers can’t avoid moving a clone or tissue culture into the final container, but you can remove all transplants in between by implementing a single transplant growing system. You can also give your plants the best support to recover from unavoidable transplant shock by using the right biochar in the right soil and combined with the right microbial biomass. For some growers, this may require a change in thinking and strategy, but the results will be worth it.

When you switch to bio365 soil, our team can work with you to develop a strategy and system that reduce transplant shock so you get better results and save time and money. Contact us to get started.