Essential

• The BudCups™ you used to plant your seed
• The BudPots®, or your final pot of choice
• Tap water, or RO/distilled water (if using fertilizer)
• Soil, coco coir, or other media of preference

Upgrades

• Veg stage cannabis nutrients for faster uptake
• Mycorrhizal fungi for root development

Some marijuana plants will grow vigorously and be ready for transplanting in 3 weeks, while others can get stunted and take more than 6 weeks. The tell-tale sign that your plant is ready for transplanting is not time but whether your root ball has roots shooting out in all directions at the top, like in the picture below. To peek at your roots, simply pop the bottom of your BudCups and have a look!

Pots, like the BudPots, come in various sizes ranging from 3Ga to 25Ga and higher. The question is, which one is the right size for you? There are a few things to consider, and they are broken down below:

Fill Your BudPots® With Soil

In order to transplant your cannabis plant, first you will need to fill up your BudPots with your media of choice. This part is super easy - go ahead and dump the soil inside your BudPots until just below the grommet level. The BudPots are the only fabric pot in the world that holds its shape with the structural metal ring around the top, so you don’t have to worry about dumping your dirt everywhere.

Make A Hole In The Center

Make a hole the same size as the BudCups. For this, you can start from the center and slowly dig a hole in the soil by pulling it to the sides with your hands. Once the hole is about the size of the BudCups, your seedling is ready for transplant.

Pop Your Rootball Out

Now that you have a perfect hole for the BudCups (or other plastic container), it is time to remove your young plants from them and transplant your root ball into the BudPots. For this, simply pop the bottom of the BudCups with your finger until the entire root ball comes out. As you push the bottom of the BudCups, pull on the young plant's stem to see if it is strong enough to hold the entire root ball. If it is not, pick your plant up from the sides of the root ball instead, but very gently.

If the bottom plate of the BudCups is still stuck to the bottom of the roots, make sure to remove it before transplanting.

BudTip: Use Mycorrhizal Fungi To Grow Bigger Roots

To use Mycorrhizal, just sprinkle one teaspoon at the bottom of the plant hole,  transplant the rootball from your BudCups, sprinkle another teaspoon on top of it, and shake the BudPots in order to let the dirt fill in the gaps and cover the mycorrhizae. If you are looking for a high-quality Mycorrhizal Fungi, we recommend PRO-MIX® CONNECT™, which is what we use on all of our plants at BudTrainer - it’s super easy to use and works like a charm.

Transplant Your Plants

After your rootball is out, drop it right inside the hole, and shake your BudPots to allow the soil to fall around the rootball. Make sure that the top soil on your BudPots is nice and flat, but do not press down on the soil as this will make it more difficult for your roots to grow. Just a little shake is all you need!

Water Your Media To Runoff

Using dechlorinated tap water, or RO/distilled water with vegetative stage fertilizer, moisten your soil slowly (ideally, over 60 to 120 seconds) until you see the first few drops of runoff start coming out of the bottom, then stop. This means your media can no longer hold water, which will promote your roots to grow out in every direction in search of that much needed water.

BEWARE: Since you will be watering until runoff, it is important NOT to water your plant again until your BudPots feel nearly empty (almost dry). This will take a few days, directing your roots to grow out in search of the remaining water. On the other hand, if you overwater your media by constantly adding water to your plant, your roots will grow small and you will risk getting root rot. For this reason, every time you water your plants, make sure to water until runoff, and then wait a full dry back to water again.

Wash Your BudCups™ & Reuse

Give your BudCups a rinse to remove the excess soil, scrub them with a soft sponge or brush, and if you don't want to wash them by hand, just toss them in the dishwasher (top rack)! The BudCups are made with recycled, 100% food-grade plastic that can be used and reused for a lifetime.

You Are Off To A Great Veg Stage

Now that you transplanted your cannabis plant and watered it to runoff, it’s time to leave it alone for at least 1 week, if not 2, until it’s time to water it again. Make sure to provide plenty of light and humidity at this stage, as vegetative plants love high-temperature, high-humidity environments. If you are growing outdoors, now is a great time to expose them to as much sun as possible.

Yes! If you plan on planting directly into the ground, you can follow the same steps outlined in this lesson, but you may skip Step 1. Instead, you may dig a big hole in the ground and then fluff that soil around with a garden hoe, or even better: use pre-amended soil to fill the hole back up, so that you give your roots the best possible start. These plants below each took an entire bag of soil, plus a fertilizer mix on top.

While conventional methods believe that transplanting autoflowers is bad for to their development (since it is very stressful), we have been able to prove the opposite: as long as you have a shock-free transplanting container like the BudCups, your autoflowers won’t even feel the transplant and will continue to grow in their new container as if nothing happened. Check out this autoflower that we transplanted.

What is important with autoflowers is to not delay the transplant by even a few days: the moment the roots start “shooting out” of your rootball, this means it is time to transplant your autoflower. This typically takes 3 to 4 weeks on fast-growing autoflowers, and it is very easy to check on when you have an easy-transplanting container like the BudCups - all you have to do is pop the bottom and check your roots.

We avoid planting cannabis seeds directly in their final containers because it results in weaker root development compared to transplanting. Here's how it works:

When seeds begin growing in BudCups, the taproot (the primary root emerging from the seed) quickly reaches the edge within a few days, prompting the plant to produce more roots from the center of the rootball. This process leads to the formation of multiple root tips, so once the plant is moved to its next pot, these tips are primed to spread out and grow in all directions.