Wash off soil for seedlings going into a clay bed?

The Steve

Brand new to aquaponics :wave1:

. Have had my system running for a couple of weeks and I'm slowly adding plants now.

When you plant seedlings or other plants into your grow beds, do you try to get rid of the soil in the roots or do you just put the whole thing into the grow bed? If you do remove the soil, how do you do it?

I have used expanded clay in my flood and drain system and I wonder if adding the plants (with roots already in soil) to the mix is going to affect anything.

Help and guidance much appreciated :thumbright:

(and yes I hope to have some photos of the system to post soon too)

arbe

I get a bucket of water with a capful of seasol and soak off as much dirt as I can.

I read that posted on this forum somewhere.

Not sure how important it is to get all of the dirt off - perhaps someone more knowledgable than I can answer that.

Charlie

Once upon a time I would fill a bucket with AP water, add a little seasol and lightly wash the dirt from the plant roots. Now I just dip them in the same solution and plant them straight in the media without removing the dirt etc.

Freebz

it's my understanding if you get seedlings that you need to get the metallic gold and silver fertilizer flakes out of the soil because it can be bad for your fish, otherwise I'll give them a dunk in water to get the majority of the soil off or just plant them if the ball is too tight.

blind freddie

I get the garden hose, set on a shower type setting and was them clean of all potting media, then wack them into the gravell and watch them grow.
I loose very few if any. I do try to plant up on overcast days or at least use shade cloth over them for a few days in summer.
I also drop seeds direct into my GB's with reasonable sucsess rates.

faye

As the growbeds are basically about soilless growing I rinse the roots gently in a diluted seaweed or worm juice mix before planting in the growbed. That is just the way that I have always done it, the reason being I like to remove any fertiliser that may have been around the root ball as well as reducing the risk of introducing any soil borne diseases. I know some people plant the seedling plugs directly and it works for them Gardening is like that, you will listen to ten different people and work out what is right for you. I find there are many different options and who's to say what is right for your situation.

helomech

Water hose and spray all the dirt and stuff off. Never had one not grow, and I don't take it easy on them.

Ronmaggi

I usually blast as much soil off as I can. Though I am not sure if I am going to go that rout with the growing medium that came with my seed propagator. It is mostly coconut fiber. Plus, I have yet to grow cucumbers successfully, weather I plant a seedling, or try to grow from seed in the grow bed. So for the 18 or so cucumbers I am sprouting now, I will not rinse.

The Steve

Thank you everyone for your advise. I think the general consensus is to wash the soil off (with varying techniques). I'll experiment a bit and see what works best for me.

You guys rock!

Ronmaggi

I'm sure in no time people will be saying the same about you.

The Steve

For those that are interested, I've got some photos and some future ideas posted in the "Systems" category:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=15555&p=377382#p377382

Feedback welcomed

ROB_K

I probably should not be doing this but it works for me so far without fish deaths.

Pretty much just shoved the pot with soil in the growbed.

I got more than 4 inchs of growth so far in almost 2 weeks. My cat does not seem to like it maybe ill try to take it back with the extra growth.

I remove soil from roots when planting in my indoor system.

RRFunnyFarm

I guess I've been doing it wrong all this time. We blend our own germination soil and I've never washed it off after transplanting to the AP. The soil is homemade composted humus, worm castings, dried molasses, cottonseed meal and perlite.

We also use the AP bed to root out artichoke pups with soil in cups pressed down into the bed; similar to the above post. Only time I've lost fish is to dinner or a week long super hard freeze (abnormal here in central TX).

The Steve

ROB_K wrote:

I probably should not be doing this but it works for me so far without fish deaths.

Pretty much just shoved the pot with soil in the growbed.

I got more than 4 inchs of growth so far in almost 2 weeks. My cat does not seem to like it maybe ill try to take it back with the extra growth.

I remove soil from roots when planting in my indoor system.

Just curious, if the plants are in pots with soil and sit inside the grow bed, what is the point of the expanded clay? Is it just to hold the pots in place?

arbe

The clay is for the bacteria to colonise in.

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