transplanting to outdoors

[pamH]

Is it possible?  My fellas have cleared me a little spot where I can grow herbs this summer, safe from critters.  I'd love to be able to put the nice herbs that are growing indoors outside so they can get bigger.  How do you get that plastic thingie off?  Is it worth it to even try to do so? 

I prolly should get that leetle indoor plant germination thingie, huh?  But I'm way too cheap.  Tell me there's a way to transplant my herbs outside!

Peace!

[AeroKnipp]

• Remove basket from the grow deck.
• Use a knitting needle or something similar to push up on the grow sponge through the hole in the bottom of the basket. Work the needle through the slots in the plastic basket as well to gently dislodge roots and move the grow sponge higher.
• Gently wiggle the grow sponge up until you can grasp it between your fingers.
• Pull it out carefully and transplant into a pot, keeping out of direct sunlight and watering well until it is used to its new surroundings. You will lose a few roots, but the plant will survive.
• Once each plant looks happy and is showing new growth, plant outdoors when conditions are right.

I have done this with basil, dill, thyme, and oregano. They are all happy and growing in soil.

[ocarolina]

Some plants intertwine too badly to push through the hole, so I get a scissors that will cut the circular plastic thing on the bottom, and cut the 3 prongs (on a 7 pod) or the 5-6 prongs (on a 6 pod) basket, and just leave the circle thingy on when transplanting - you are able to gently pull the roots through easier, and it makes the next use of the basket a cinch to transplant.  If you get smart when using an ag kit - you can cut the circle off before even planting - much less hassle and very little damage to root system.

[pamH]

I think now I might just try it!  Nothing to lose, eh?  Except for my leetle plants I love so much!  :-(

Thanks for y'all's suggestions.  I figured that cutting the basket off, or teasing out the roots would be my options.  I think I wanted someone to tell me that just sticking the whole kit and kaboodle into the ground would work!  Minus zero for me being lazy and cheap!

Peace!

[bab43]

I've transplanted with the plastic basket left on completely with no problems - maybe just lucky? 

[shane arthur]

So have I! hehe i just stuck the whole basket in the ground and the plants lived just fine.

[attachedmama]

But how do you get a big basil out of the actual aerogarden?  My roots are so long and anchored.  Can I cut them and have the basil be OK?

[pamH]

attachedmama, I'm worried about this, too.  I'm going to try to plant them outdoors tomorrow, and this evening when I started working on trying to get them out of the AG, some of them just didn't want to release their little roots!

I'm pretty confident that if I snip off only enough roots to get them out, they're probably be fine - plants are pretty resilient.