A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 transplanting

it's soon going to be time for me to have to transplant a few marigolds, a gord, and alera vera and i have no ideas how to! What are some precautions i should take (i know if you break the roots, you kill the plant) and any tips??

thanks!

Breaking the roots won't necessarily kill the plants, but you'll want to try to get as much of the roots as possible when you transplant them. It's usally best to transplant on a cloudy day. Have the holes already dug for their new home and just carefully dig them up and move them. Water well and that's about it. You might want to fertilize them, too.

Hey Alan, I may be mistaken, but it's been my understanding that fertilizing (anything) isn't wise during the dormant season, & should be held off until after the soil warms up & the plants begin to take off. Also, while succulents (such as Aloe Vera) are resting right now, they shouldn't be watered... other than what Mother Nature provides.

Please correct me if I'm wrong... I might be killing off quite a few plants right now!

Autumn, you're managing to overwinter marigolds & gourds? My calendula handles the winter pretty well, but I've never had regular marigolds make it to the 2nd year. (Do you mulch them over?) Things in my garden from the gourd family are usually gone even before the tomatoes are finished!

I have no idea what zone she's in, so I wasn't sure if her plants were dormant or not. I also wasn't sure what she meant by the word "soon"...does that mean next week or in a few months? So...I was assuming she was either in a warm zone or "soon" meant this spring.

well, she's in canada...so she's most likely in zone 4 or lower.

autumn, are these plants that are outside? or are they houseplants?? if they are outside, alan gave correct info. if they are houseplants, you can do them at any time, really. it IS best to wait until they are beginning their active growth period - which is spring time. just carefully remove the plants from the pots and put them in larger ones...partially fill with the correct type of soil, put the plant in and then finish filling with soil. tap down and give a thorough soaking.

before putting the plants into the larger pots, gently spread the roots out. try not to break any...it's almost inevitable that some will break, tho. just be as careful and gentle as you can and the plants will survive just fine!

Everyone's info' is the best, but I too am very curious as to what you have done with marigolds and your gourd plant. I did not know you could keep them thro' the winter.

Thanks for the input & the info, Alan & Joclyn. Maybe when Autumn returns we can all be on the same page here. (I hope that's before spring... & I'll try not to be confused by it!)

By the way Autumn, welcome to the forum! I'm glad you're here, because I'm learning as I go, too.

yeah i guess i should have mentioned earlier that they are inside plants hah. i was growing the marigolds for a bio project

i kind of thought they were inside plants...

good luck on the bio project!!! hope you get a good grade!! hey! can you post some pics?? would love to see them

well the project was assigned a while ago, and i got an A, which i was really proud of haha. it was simple though. the goal was to successfully grow and keep alive 3 differnt plants.

and im hopeing to get pictures of my plants on here soon. its kind of hard because i dont have a scanner, but i do have a ditigal camera that i dont know how to work haha.

Autumn, good job on your project! Is it over now that you've gotten a grade, or will you get extra credit for continuing to keep your plants alive? (Sure can't hurt to ask your instructor!)

When you catch on to how to upload pics from your digital camera, you're going to love it & you'll be hanging out here all the time! (I finally resorted to calling the Canon help line, when reading the directions in the user's manual didn't work! They were soooo friendly & helpful that I never picked the booklet up again, when I had a question about my camera!)

Extra credit or not, it's great that you're continuing with your plants & are planning to put them out when the weather warms up. (You're going to find that gardening is as addictive as this place is!) For now, do you have them under any special lighting so they don't get spindly?
Can't wait to see your pics!