Removing plant from grow plug
8:40 pm in Plants, questions, Seeking Advice by Matthew Meisenhelder
I am looking for any advice on how to remove ‘growplug’ soil from my plants roots once they have started to grow significantly. My plants have a heck of a hold on the soil and I gather the goal is to remove 100% of the soil. I’ve tried washing them and drying them and slowly brushing the soil off, but it is a minefield in that soil and I hear roots screaming any time I try to get even a bit aggressive with soil removal. Thoughts?
Also, what is the ‘sweet spot’ for soil removal? When I started transferring plants from my germination area to the planters I felt the stems were too fragile for me to be poking around, but once the stems seem partially stable; my root systems had really locked down on the soil.
Thanks for any thoughts 
I think I understand what your saying here. Firstly, I would recommend loose soil or using a rockwool grow cube (or something similar) next time. Loose soil is much easier to remove or the rockwool cubes can be moved right into the windowfarm.
Your best best will probably be to sit the plant in a bowl of water and gently move it around trying to dissolve/remove the soil.
If it doesn’t remove completely, I would just give up and put it into the farm. This will mean that your system may need to be flushed initially if you see soil getting into the reservoir. Hopefully it doesn’t clog up the air lift tube.
Hmm, maybe things are fine as they are in my system.
I started the seeds in growplugs from the windowfarm kit and they look very similar to the rockwool grow cubes you mention. Perhaps I am over-estimating the need to remove ‘all’ the soil…so far none has gotten into the reservoir. I was mostly worried about the soil holding in too much moisture and the effect that might have on the roots, and the fact that ‘washing the soil off’ seemed a ‘requirement’ in the process.
Thanks for your reply, I’ll probably just try to minimize the soil left and otherwise just keep an eye on any soil coming loose in the planters.
There is a composting foam starter medium. it crumbles with a pinch of the fingers. Another alternative would be rockwool, it is fiberous and tearable. I use small pinches of it to start a seed, then move it to a 3″ netpot in a solo cup until it’s ready for the window.