Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: MaryM on January 05, 2006, 17:54:05
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Can anyone explain to me please the benefit of using a seed bed as opposed to just planting straight io the area in which the vegetable is to be grown?
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;D
Good question!!! Another one that I always wondered about and thought that everyone else knew!!!
;)
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Dependant on the crop you get a better root system and stronger plant. Brocolli is one of those I believe and I certainly saw a difference between seed bed and seed tray sown plants with the former being stronger.
There are disadvantages as well in that watering in can cause a crust through which the seedlings can't grow, pests eat them! , weeds strangle them and poor weather conditions can prevent good germination rates.
In most cases I think I prefer seed tray sowings!
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because a seed bed is a little area where you can get really good soil. and then protect it from birds slugs easier. you cant really net your whole lottie.
plus you would put it somewhere sheltered so the plants can grow and get strong before being exposed to winds etc.
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Mary - like others, you say planting straight out. Assume you mean sowing?
As said, more reliable in a prepared bed, & more easily protected & watered. But also:
1. You sow 50 in a small space to get 20 or so.
2. You select only the strongest to plant out.
3. You choose the best time to plant out.
4. You pull in succession.
5. With Brassica, at least, pulling the plantlet breaks the tap root & that's good.
6. Shall I go on??
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5. With Brassica, at least, pulling the plantlet breaks the tap root & that's good.
Tim, can you explain that one please. I wasvery very careful last year to avoid damaging any roots!! :-\ Iain
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Hi Icyberjunkie
By pulling the tap root this encourages many more roots to grow, making the the whole thing stronger.......I think ;D
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oh! Thanks Conzla. So does that mean that the plantlets should be pulled up rather than dug up?
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yeah pull them up gently, but with enough energy to break the main root.
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That may explain why some of my broccoli fell over then ... like Iain, I always took a lot of care not to damage roots. What a wonderful source of information this site is ...
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It is not always supported by practice. For instance, all plug plants grow away quite happily??
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Hi All
Sory Guys Ive got to disagree about this one . Any damage caused to the root system is bad news it encourages infection disease and mould. I have always been told to ensure that all roots remain intact and the plant suffers less.
Regards
Chris
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Sorry Chris - I have to disagree! In 70 years of growing, with my Father or for myself, I do not recall any infection through pulling. No clubroot. Nothing.
But, as said, it has not been proven essential?
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We will agree to disagree.
Regards
Chris
PS Don't damage your roots
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depends on the plant.
i know a lot, if not all fruit tree growers now prune the roots before sneding them out, not to cut down on postage costs but like purning the top, it encourages new roots and stringer, healthier growth.
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Chris - I agree!!
And I'm only talking of brassicas.
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I wouldn't use a seed bed because if you drop on a bit of land for your seed bed that has club root, You have lost your brassicas before You start . Or if You hadn't noticed it on the plants and set em out , You would spread it all over lotty..
I prefer to use sterile compost to start my seeds off in ...
I have been at this growing game a while and must admit I have never heard of breaking roots on brassicas I always try to keep the root ball intact. I ain't saying my way is right .I just stick to what works for Me...Jim
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ill tell you what we do guys & girls.......... all of us plant brassicas we will each break a couple of roots and each plant a couple like they are. see what turns out best???
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Can I ignore the instructions on my seed packet which say to sow in a seed bed and sow in a seed tray instead? This is for leeks (Hannibal) to be sown in January.
Thanks
D
You can start out in a seed tray and then plant out or pot on, you can then plant them into their final position when they are pencil sized, or thin and leave where they are.
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Can I ignore the instructions on my seed packet which say to sow in a seed bed and sow in a seed tray instead? This is for leeks (Hannibal) to be sown in January.
Thanks
D
I sowed mine in a pot, Dominique, last year, & planted them out. No probs. Having the last for lunch today...memo to self...30 wasn't enough..and shall start them off in pots again.
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Can I ignore the instructions on my seed packet which say to sow in a seed bed and sow in a seed tray instead? This is for leeks (Hannibal) to be sown in January.
Thanks
D
I have sown some leeks in an old washing up bowl half filled with general purpose peat free compost.
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5. With Brassica, at least, pulling the plantlet breaks the tap root & that's good.
I would do whatever I could to avoid breaking the tap root of cauliflower, Tim. Any check to growth can promote buttoning. In general brassicas have very poor root systems, the tap root tends to predominate, and few side roots are produced. This makes them more prone to wind rock and subsequent lodging or, as happened to Derek, they just fall over! The older varieties of Brussels sprouts were notorious for lodging, resulting in wavy rows as they didn't all lodge in the same direction, and made them difficult to harvest by machine. In a demonstration of transplanting from a seedbed my college vegetable lecturer grabbed a handful of Brussels sprouts plants in one hand and a machete in the other and then proceeded to chop off the tap roots and most of the leaves (because the plant would dry out with too many leaves too roots)! It is not always supported by practice. For instance, all plug plants grow away quite happily??
Plug plants will most likely be air pruned. Once the tap root reaches the drainage hole it's tip will die, as happens in any pot (to me a plug is a very small pot), and allow the side roots to grow out. Air pruning is definitely gentler too! Due to their advetitious roots, which don't naturally produce side roots, leeks benefit more than any other transplanted crop from root pruning of any sort (onions, their relatives don't though, as they have a much shorter growing season).
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We will agree to disagree.
Regards
Chris
PS Don't damage your roots
I saw the program "The Allotment " today and the guy on there says the same. Take out the tap root and the seedling is supposed to grow better roots. But, he also said, he never did as he didnt notice any difference.
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For growing brassicas in a seed bed the one advantage is that if your seedbed as not been manured, once the plants are pulled and planted into there finale position in soil that as been manured they will grow on a lot better, and I agree to cut the tap root off, this practice was allways done on the farm.
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i will trying a seed bed this year for the following reasons but it's the first time so i'm no expert!
1. so that when i can't get there every day i can ask dave to pop round and water just one area.
2. so i can start off loads of successional sowings and fit them into the beds as room becomes available.
3. because i can't afford to buy net for large areas.
4. because i murdered my fennel thinking it was weeds last year (it didn't come up where i expected thanks to marauding foxes)
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John - thanks for that. Funny how old teachings die hard.
Your point about air pruning is especially useful - I think that many folk may forget the value of it. I suppose that the 2 ideas are interconnected? Hence our wide use of Rootrainers. But it does make watering more of a problem.
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Ok i get the idea so if it doesnt break what about a nip off the old end of the root ?
carl
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So glad I read this thread! I was reading the instructions on my seeds that have just arrived, and noticed that a lot of them said to sow in a seed bed. This had me worried as I had planned my half plot without leaving room for a seed bed. I was pannicking thinking I would have to start all over!
Phew! :)
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May I quote Bob Flowerdew - from a member's blog?
Caulis are not easy. Light soils are not good. They really do like heavy soils. Enrich with compost, manure, firm it by treading. Grow them in seed beds, thinly. Thin early, and when only a couple of inches high, run a knife a couple on inches under the surface to sever the taproots. This causes them to grow a bushier system of roots. When you transplant them it's a fibrous sytem which takes better. Don't put too close - couple feet each way
Comment - I never get a whole row transplantable at one time.