After growing lantana in the greenhouse, the next step is knowing when to transplant lantana outdoors in spring or autumn. Gardeners love this beautiful flowering perennial because it is easy to grow. However, you want to avoid mistakes in transplanting to ensure their survival.
Lantana, also called shrub verbena, is best for areas under hardiness zones 8 to 11. You must understand how planting zones work and use it as a baseline for timing the planting and transplanting. Nonetheless, the fact that you started lantanas in the greenhouse already gives you the advantage of establishing vigorous plants for transplanting.
Guide For When To Transplant Lantana
Best time to transplant lantana
The best time to transplant lantana is during spring or autumn and never when it’s scorching outside. While lantana is a native in tropical regions, you risk stressing the roots if the weather is too hot for transplanting. If you have to transplant during summer, choose a day that is cooler and cloudy.
Do note that when you’re doing any significant task like pruning and dividing your lantanas, you must do it either in fall or spring to prevent stress. Transplanting is optimal if there are light rains, and the weather is cloudy. This will prevent the roots from drying, which is crucial in the survival of transplants.
Another consideration when transplanting lantana is that some places consider it invasive. For example, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, and even California have restrictions on planting this shrub. You might also like to consider non-invasive sterile varieties to prevent problems with these plants.
How to transplant lantana
When transplanting lantana, the timing is not the only important factor. You can also do other techniques to ensure the success of your plants. Gardeners recommend dividing the lantana plant with five stems per section.
This will promote vigorous growth and starter plants suitable for transplant. Speaking of starter plants, the best lantana shrubs for transplanting are young ones. Using mature plants put them at a lower risk of survival because they are already established in their location.
Without exemptions, you must select the young lantanas in your greenhouse for transplanting. You also want to be careful when digging up your plant to prevent damages on the roots. Ensure that some soil is still attached to the roots and prevent them from drying out.
Later on, avoid stress by mulching with compost and regular watering on the freshly transplanted lantana.
Choosing location
The University of Florida mentioned that lantanas are easy to grow because of being low maintenance in nature. Therefore, when choosing a location, you shouldn’t have any problems as long as the plants have access to full sun, and you’ve transplanted them in well-drained soil. The university also mentioned that Florida’s sandy loam soil is suitable for this plant.
What makes lantana even more comfortable to grow is because it can tolerate drought, heat, and salt. If your temperature gets to 28°F, lantanas will die, but they will regrow once spring comes. Overall, lantana is incredibly hardy.
As long as you are proactive with transplanting, they shall thrive smoothly.
Site preparation
For transplanting, you want to use a hole that is deep and wide for your lantanas. The site itself should also be loose and enriched with organic matter to prevent transplant shock. Understanding that you’re not sure how deep and wide you have to dig beforehand, you can estimate the size as wide as the drip line and as deep as 12 inches.
The importance of site preparation and pre-digging not only reduces transplant shock. You also have a chance to check the drainage of the soil. But how do you keep the lantana roots hydrated?
After digging the plants up, place them in a bucket with some water to prevent drying the roots. You want to plant them in the same depth they were before in the greenhouse. Check for air pockets over the roots and then water the transplants lightly to saturate the roots.
Gardeners recommend watering the newly transplanted lantanas every day for the first three days, every other day for a week, and then transition to once a week once it has been established. Ensure that the plants also have two feet of space between them.
Avoiding And Fixing Transplant Shock In Lantanas
Starting plants in the greenhouse already helps in establishing vigorous transplants. In most cases, lantanas will only take some days to recover from transplant shock. But what should you do to avoid and fix transplant shock if it happens?
As mentioned earlier, dig up the plants carefully to not disturb the roots. Water newly transplanted lantanas thoroughly to help them settle in the new location. But if you see the signs that the plants are in shock, give them some sugar and water or trim back the lantanas to help them regrow roots.
Conclusion
One of the easiest shrubs to grow is lantanas, and starting them in the greenhouse ensures healthy plants for transplanting. However, it’s crucial to know when to transplant lantana correctly to ensure their survival in the new location. To avoid stress from heat, spring or autumn are the best times to transplant lantanas.
You must also be careful with handling and preparing the location beforehand to lower the transplant shock risk.