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Preparing your Flex Acre for Transplant Day (Part 4 of 6)

Part 4 of 6: How to set up the Flex Acre, the cart, and the ladder before you carry a tray

Follow the instructions in this article every grow cycle, in the days before transplant day and again on the morning your seedlings leave the Flex Micro. Your doors and Panel Plugs should already be set for this crop, as that work belongs to Setting your Doors & Panel Plugs for the Next Crop (Part 3 of 3). You set the wall while it is empty, not while you are on a ladder holding a tray. Follow the steps in Keeping your Flex Acre Clean before you begin.

Gather Tools:

  • Sanitizer Spray
  • Ladder
  • Utility Cart
  • Non-Draining Planting Tray

Holding Water Back from your Seedlings

  • Stop watering your seedlings for a set period before transplant day, as drier rockwool carries less water weight and drips less on the trip to your Flex Acre.
  • Check your farm management software for the de-watering period, as the period is defined per crop type.

NOTE: THE DE-WATERING PERIOD DEPENDS ON YOUR CROP TYPE. CONFIRM IT WITH OUR SUPPORT TEAM BEFORE TRANSPLANT DAY.

This is the one step that has to happen ahead of transplant day rather than during it. A cube that goes into the tray soaked sheds that water onto your floor, onto your Light Bars, and down the face of the wall you cleaned after the last harvest.

Unplugging your Pump & Opening your Doors

  • Use a ladder to unplug the Primary Pump of the Flex Acre you are about to plant.
  • Open the 2 doors on the side of your Flex Acre where you plan to start.
  • Position the ladder at one end of that side.

Your Flex Acre stands 9.5 feet tall, so use a ladder that reaches 10 feet. Your Flex Acre has 4 doors, 2 on each side, and 8 Root Chambers per side. You plant 1 side at a time, so only the 2 doors on your starting side open now. Those 2 doors carry 20 Light Bars between them, and opening them swings the Light Bars away from the wall you are about to work. Water must never contact your Light Bars, as that voids your warranty.

Loading your Cart at the Flex Micro

  • Clean your utility cart before you load it.
  • Sanitize the cart once it is clean.
  • Place your rockwool sheets into a non-draining planting tray at the Flex Micro.
  • Move the tray onto the cart for the trip to your Flex Acre.

Your trays carry labeling tape from seeding day with the crop type, the amount and the planting date, so read the label before the tray goes on the cart. A non-draining tray on a sanitized cart is what keeps nursery water off the floor between your Flex Micro and your Flex Acre. Trays carried by hand drip the whole way across the room.

Staging your First Tray

  • Wheel the cart to your Flex Acre.
  • Take 1 tray up the ladder.
  • Leave your remaining trays on the cart until you need them.

The cart holds the rest of your trays within reach at the bottom of the ladder, so you step down for the next one rather than stacking trays on the way up.

Your Flex Acre is unplugged, open, and staged with your first tray—well done! Continue to Transplanting Seedlings into your Flex Acre (Part 5 of 6) for next steps.