How to transplant from AP to ground/soil?

[Gary Wong]

Like the noobie I am, I over planted my grow bed (or at least I think I did, heck if I know, I'm a noobie).  At any rate, I figured I'd transplant some of the plants into a pot or ground with soil.  I've moved 3 cucumbers into nice soil and they have all died.  I'm thinking they just can't go from lava rock/water media to soil/water media.  So I moved one from AP to a cup of water with some soil in it, 2 days (looked okay) then to soil.  Still didn't make it .  I've moved lettuce and Kale over okay, but my cucumber and zucchini just won't transplant.  What's the trick to it?

[Vlad Jovanovic]

 "Plants that are grown in soil and granular or fibrous growing mediums that maintain a high percentage of air to water develop air roots (below left). The tiny root hairs serve to steer growth in the direction of water and food. Note that plants grown with their roots completely submerged in water develop "water roots" (shown above right). Observe the absence of root hairs, which are unnecessary in this situation. While air rooted plants can easily be transplanted to a hydroponic system, water roots usually will not survive the move to soil or a drier medium".

This is from some crappy 'how-to' book by Keith Roberto.(Emphasis added) Sorry I'm just being lazy 

[Eric Warwick]

I've always done fine with transplants. I've done peas, spinach etc. and there's been no trouble. I think it has to do with how your system is set up and soil type. 

Sorry, I don't think that was helpful.

[TCLynx]

Some plants will transplant easier than others.  Some seedlings are also more fragile or temperamental about being handled.  When you transplant into soil you definitely need to baby the plants for a bit but over watering in soil is likely to water log the plants unlike in aquaponics where the water is kept very well aerated.

Sometimes it is easier to simply thin the planting as the plants get big enough to show which ones are the most robust and not worry about trying to transplant.