I have many different hobbies that I enjoy. I sometimes use those hobbies to raise funds for projects that I’m doing. One way I’ve found to make some extra money is by selling some of the plants I grow. In the summer I take cuttings of our mums, clone them, and then transplant them into dirt pots to be sold in the fall. Aside from making some extra cash, cloning is also a great way to take a plant with desired characteristics and create copies to be used to beautify your yard and home. This is how you transplant a hydroponic plant into the dirt.
What You Need To Transplant A Hydroponic Plant Into Dirt
- A plant from a hydroponic system, I will be using a mum that I cloned
- A pot
- Dirt
- Water for the plant
Steps To Transplanting A Hydroponic Plant Into Dirt
Take the pot you are going to transplant your plant into and fill it with dirt. After filling, dig a hole in the middle that is bigger than the plant’s root system.
Next, take your clone and place it in the hole you dug. I used to net pots with foam inserts so will be removing my clone from them before planting, Plants don’t have to be bare roots to transplant. Rapid rooter plugs also work well for cloning a plant and can be transplanted into the dirt as well as hydroponics. After planting cover the root system with dirt.
After the plant is transplanted it’s important to water it immediately. Hydroponic plants are accustomed to having water at all times so it will shock them at first. You should make sure to water the plant often with longer durations in between watering to get it accustomed to being in the dirt.
Often the sun is too intense to leave your plant out in permanently at first. It’s best to ease it into life outdoors by putting it out in longer durations of a period of a week to get it used tot he intensity. If you find your plant wilting, watering immediately can bring it back, waiting too long and it could be lost.
If it looks like the plant is lost, don’t get rid of it too quickly. Plants can be resilient and it still may shoot new leaves to replace the ones lost.
Here’s a short video walking you through how to transplant a hydroponic plant into dirt.
December 24, 2018 at 2:58 pm
Can’t find transplanting from dirt to hydroponic. All my attempts have failed, the plants die within one day in my hothouse. I am using the Kratky method. I have had only one success.
December 29, 2018 at 11:30 am
I’ll shoot you an email and see if I can help!
December 16, 2019 at 1:39 am
Just recently bought Philodendron ‘Ruby’,
the seller told me that the plant is in a hydroponic pot (which I wouldn’t notice if he didn’t tell me). It was in a standard pot with regular scoria or Tuffa pebbles. Now it’s beginning of winter. Temperatures may go down further, but I have no frost. Is it safe to pot it up in a regular potting mix, or should I hold it till spring?
December 16, 2019 at 8:27 pm
Hey Gabby! With being so close to winter I would just worry about the roots not being able to establish themselves enough to survive the months of cold.
April 3, 2020 at 2:34 pm
Hi… i have tomato seedlings in my hydroponic set up… as you know, in order to ensure success, it’s best to plant a few seeds in each pod… now i have up to 6 little tomato plants in one pod!!! can you please tell me how to thin them and keep the ones that i remove??? (i’ll plant them elsewhere!!)
thanks a ton…
hope today is a good day for you…
Tracey
April 3, 2020 at 5:36 pm
What do you mean by “pod”. It really depends on what the plants are growing in. If they are just grown together in dirt you can carefully separate the root system. If they are in rapid rooted or rockwool this is a lot harder to do without damaging the plant.
April 11, 2020 at 1:51 am
Hi. Great article and thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom. Question though. I live in north cal. The I have some seedlings in and aerogarden and they are ready to be moved outdoors. I’m just waiting because the temps are still 48 at night. They will be going into 50 gal pots. I can’t move them inside to hide from the sun. What do you recommend?
April 11, 2020 at 12:41 pm
Thanks, MJ! why would you want to hide the plants from the sun? Do you have an indoor window that you can put them in front of for a couple of weeks until the temperature warms up some more?
September 7, 2020 at 4:13 pm
Hi! I have a hydroponic garden indoors and have a few tomato, cherry tomato, and pepper plants that are all roughly 6-8 weeks old. I’m in central AZ where it’s nice and warm all year round and want to move my plants outside into soil to free up space for other faster growing plants that can’t take the heat. Are my plants too old to transplant? Do you have any tips in the extreme heat?
September 18, 2020 at 12:05 am
Hey Marie!
The plants are not too old to transplant outdoors, you’ll just need to keep a few things in mind when doing so. First, the light intensity from the sun is going to be way more than your grow lights. It helps if you can gradually introduce them to the sun or use a sunshade to reduce the intensity.
The second thing to keep in mind is watering. Hydroponic plants are used to having access to water all the time. Moving to dirt you will want to water the plant very often and reduce until the plant is used to less water.
September 23, 2020 at 6:52 pm
How often should I water after transplanting? I’ve got a chili pepper plant and 3 thyme. The thyme is still looking really good. The chili pepper, not so much.
October 15, 2020 at 7:17 pm
In the beginning, you want to water as much as needed. It’s hard to say how often since each plant is different. Since the plant has access to much more water in hydroponics, it will need more water in the dirt to start until it adapts.