After getting my garden set up just the way I wanted it I realized I had inadvertently placed some plants too close together or positioned them in such a way that it would block light to other plants. I had to come up with another plan to be able to make all of the plants happy. I decided to rearrange the tire garden area and to use my existing fence area for vines. I stapled the galvanized wire to the fence so that I can weave my plant vines in and out of it. I had to go pick up more tires and order more dirt and spray paint the tires. After moving some incredibly heavy tires filled with dirt, I only had transplanting left to do.
I moved over some spaghetti squash vines that were about 3 feet tall. They were fairly established plants. I had no idea how much squash hate being transplanted. In fact, they seriously resent it. Within minutes of transplanting, my spaghetti squash vines went limp and looked dead. I couldn't believe that after all of this work to make a better space for them to live that they would just keel over and die once they got there. Naturally, I decided to go research what it is that I did wrong. I really broke all of the rules when it came to transplanting squash. I transplanted it in the middle of the day when it was hot and sunny. The new hole it was going into wasn't large enough so after carrying the vine over I had to set it down and dig the hole bigger. All of this jostling left roots exposed in the sunlight and the root ball being disturbed. I hadn't yet watered my plants that day so that didn't help matters. No wonder the plant went into shock.
- You should only transplant when it is cloudy or at dusk.
- The plant should be thoroughly watered prior to transplanting and the new home should be well watered too.
- When digging up the plant, be sure to go as deep as possible to get as much of the roots as you can.
- Be sure not to expose the roots to sunlight.
- Do not handle or disturb the root ball.
After realizing that I did this completely wrong I went about seeing if there was anything I could do to save it. Most of the leaves were wilted and getting crunchy which means they were pretty much dead. I pruned off every dead or dying leaf. This plant was struggling to adapt and it didn't need to be burdened with trying to repair the old leaves. I gave it tons of water and hit it with some fertilizer to help it grow new leaves. I also covered it up with garden cloth for a few days. This cloth allows sunlight and water through but it provides a buffer. I read somewhere that if a plant doesn't die within 5 days of being transplanted then it intends to live. I made it past the 5 day mark with a sad little plant. It wasn't dead but it sure didn't look like it was living either. The next days I very carefully did the rest of my transplants. I actually transplanted them during a little rainstorm. They didn't even go into transplant shock at all but to be safe I covered them as well.
All of my transplanted vines are doing amazing. I transplanted the spaghetti squash vines, watermelon vines and cantaloupe vines. They have a good deal of new growth and quite a few yellow flowers. Sometimes you learn by trial and error and this was definitely one of those times.