Would it adversely affect the seedlings if I leave pricking out a little longer than I should? I wouldn't leave it to the extent that they are overcrowded or growing out of the pot.
It's just that I have a few 3in pots with about four or five seedlings in that look ready to prick out, but i just don't have room for all the extra pots (even with all my windowsill extensions!)
There's no one there with a stopwatch!! Don't worry. = Tim
Thanks for the reassurance Tim. You'll notice I'm rather prone to worry and panic about my babies! ::)
I have been pricking out a few things into 3 x 5 cell inserts- each cell is a little smaller than a 3 inch pot -so 15 plants in a space the size of a seedtray. Is there anything that I really shouldn't be pricking out into these- I was thinking some plants may like a bit of elbow room away from their neighbour?
Currently, have used them for tomatoes,chillis and aubergines, which are all pretty small at the moment, but was going to start putting Brussell Sprouts and cabbage in next.
I pr*ck out into cell trays. Not sure the exact size but I'd say about 1" square for large seedlings and smaller cells for smaller seedlings. I find this saves space and is better for the plants, since they dont become swamped in compost (as in a 3" pot) nor do they suffer root damage like they would if transplanted into trays then potted up later. Potting on is also easier as it is like growing your own plug plants (like you can get mail order bedinng plants). Simply pop them out of the cell and into a pot of compost. Easy! ;D
Reading this board recently I have been surprised how much pricking out still seems to be the norm for gardeners. Around here everything, except tomatoes, peppers and aubergine are single sown directly into the cells that they will be transplanted from (into the ground). Most use cells that count as 128's in a 25x50 cm. tray. This will include lettuce, brassicas, celery, chicories etc.. Tomatoes are pricked out into 72's. To save space the trays can be stacked while germination takes place but have to be single layered when that happens. It can save time later though when other tasks are pressing.
While I don't expect anyone who has been gardening for a long time to change their system, 'newbies' might like to know that there are some alternatives to traditional practices.
This is my first season as an allotment user. I decided to go down the route of using modules for sowing. For the larger plants like Broad Beans/ Cabbage I have used either roottrainers or the deep celled version of the modules.
From finding out the pros and cons it seemed to make a lot of sense to not have to do the pricking out stage. As this seems to be one of the most critical times and a seedling can be easily damaged. You can always sow 2/3 seeds to a module and then thin to the strongest. Even with tomatoes that I am starting I have sown 2 seeds to a 3" pot then thinned to the strongest. They seem to be growing ok.
Every year I intend to thin the pepper and tomato seedlings out after I have sown 2 or 3 to a cell and every year I just can't stand the thinning process. I always end up transplanting all the ones I took out and I've never lost one doing it. The result is a glut of seedlings that I find happy homes for.
I have been very butch this year and sowed very thinly as I always end up with far to many seedlings and nobody wants the extra plants! Yesterday I binned half a tray of primrose seedlings - white drumstick ones at that! I ask, but nobody wants :'(. But I still find it hard if I sow 2 or 3 seeds to a cell, to thin out the weaklings....I still end up pricking them all out.... there must be a cure for what I have :-\
I have the same problem - I just cannot throw anything out and I can't bear to thin annuals but they seem to do well. I can never decide whenever it says 'thin out the weaker seedling'. I don't know what I'm going to do with all the perennials I've sown this year - 100 or so each of oriental poppies, helenium, verbascum, delphinium etc. It always seems such a shame when I've spent so long tending them and they're so pricey in the garden centre. I shall probably have a plant sale this year and donate some to fetes etc. I have got myself into the habit now of just sowing part of the packet - but I still need to be more ruthless.
I think that you need to come at this from a slightly different angle. What do you do if you see weeds growing on your plot? You remove them to let the plants you want, to become healthy and strong. Just think of the unwanted seedling as a weed that is stopping the other one growing healthy and strong!
Cheers for now
Ha! Bad weed you, bad weed you, bad weed you!!!!
No I'm not! I'm a teeny weeny baby tomato plant, if you give me a another chance I will grow up to be a great big strong plant with lots of lovely fruits! Please, find me a little space or make somebody happy with me, find me a new home pleeeeeeeeeeeese!!!! Sniffle sniffle.
I know what you mean EJ !
We dedicate a night at our garden club for 'pricking out'
What we do is take our surplus seedlings, and a few containers (compost supplied by the club) and pick and mix what ever is available.
If there is still some left (which is rare) then these are binned.
hahaha Ina, that is me all over! I should thin my self sown nigella and aquiliegia, but never do, but they do look great, like a meadow of flowers! Just thinned my celeriac seedlings. My current policy is once the cell tray is full, bin the rest, but I nearly cry!!
I think if (and it still is a big if) I were to open my garden to the public this year then I will defo have a plant stall, but then, will I be able to part with any of my babies!?!?!?!?
oh dear, oh dear........
my tomato plants must be speaking a different language to me cause they say 'get that nasty seedling outta my space so I can grow big and strong and give you lots of yummy, yummy fruit!'
cheers for now
and logic wins again.
Its working in IT for so long. I have become a professional bore!!
How could you be a bore when you hear tomato seedlings talking to you? No way Jose, you no bore!
Well there really isn'y any room left for any more pots, so my seedlings are just going to have to wait to be pricked out. They are not quite yet swamping each other. My kitchen now looks like a potting shed - there is about one square foot of work surface that isn't covered with pots. My Aqui laughed when he saw it - I think out of despair! I may have to try to harden off a few leeks to make some more room.
I really must learn to sow thinner (although this year i was better than last year) and not be scared of thinning out. I'm another who can't bear to throw out perfectly good plants.
I was hoping my salad pot wouldn't need thinning until some of the plants were big enough to eat, but even that I've sown too thickly!
I don't know if I missed this in the past but why are you using pots and not modules?
I swear by modules - great space saver and no root disturbance. I pick 'em up dirt cheap in Asda at the start of the year, they only do them for a couple of weeks. Also, I use square pots as much as poss, you can fit lots more into a limited space than you can with round ones.
I have two counter arguaments to direct sowing in pots/modules.
Firstly the space - a small pot or tray of seed usualy takes up less space than a modile tray or a load of pots - and you get less wastage if some of the seed fail to germinate (Yes i know you can multisow then thin). Second many seed lings actulay benefit in some ways from the pr*cking out process. I have always been taught to replant the seedlings to the depth of the seed leaves (thus burying the stem) which makes the plant stronger (roots develop from the buried stem in many cases; eg tomatoes) and i have a theory that they are less suceptable to damping off since there is less stem for the diseases to affect (damping off generaly develops on the surface of the compost - someone will no doubt contradict me here).
On a seperate note I too have difficulty throwing seedlings away and often have too many plants for my needs (just incase any of the gents out there thought this was just a female issue). I still have quite a few seed sown perennials left from last year that I am considering selling off at the local car boot sales. Selling off unwanted stock is a good way to make sure your plants go to good homes and raise some cash for new seed/plants/equipment ;D. My only problem is I am not a good seller, and of course it is difficult parting with plants you have lovingly raised by your own hand! :)
aha.....I thought, from earlier postings, that plants were more likely to get damping off if planted toooo deeply, and there are only a few plants that grow roots from their stems, not all do. Anyhow, I hate pricking out, much prefer to grow in modules, and am determined next year to only grow that way, then, once one tray is full, I can stop, rather than end up with trays and trays and trays of the same thing, (my primroses being a prime example, have planted out one tray full, have given away one tray full, and binned one tray full, and still have 2 to go!!!)
My understanding of the need to do the pricking-out process is because of overcrowding. If a lot of seeds are sown in a seed tray then the seedlings will be competing for light, water and nutrients. So the pricking-out process has to be done to give the seedlings the necessary space. If you grow in modules then this is not an issue. Also it avoids any possible damage to the roots. I agree with Emma about the modules. It does make you think more about the number of plants you require and in the long wrong creates less wastage.
Cheers for now
It seems to me that pricking out is a hold over from the days before plastic. Plastic has allowed the use of many small 'pots' (modules), all connected together, for initial propagation, so avoiding the drawbacks of pricking out. Once the plant needs more space it is then 'potted on' or planted, without causing any root damage. Plants that benefit from deep planting can still be buried as required but their roots remain intact. The smallest modules I have seen are '512's in a 25x50 cm tray. If space is a problem how much more needs to be saved- these modules are so small that a dahlia seed has to be sown corner to corner to ensure good soil contact!
Could someone post a picture of a 'module'? I am talking about them based on a possibly false assumption that they are what I call 'cells'.
Any help? Plastic trays divided into any number of cells/modules - piccie on the HDRA site
(http://www.hdra.org.uk/assets/seed2.gif)
All best, Gavin
Thanks, Gavin.
Another benefit of modules is that damping off is less likely to occur (improved air circulation) but, should it occur, the affected modules(s) can simply be cleaned out without affecting any nearby plants.
Perhaps after Johns very informative explanation (thanks to John) I should at least TRY modular sowing and see if it works as you say. As i said my main concern is wasted space/compost should seeds fail to germinate, but this can be got around of course by multi-sowing the seedthen thinning. I also hadnt considered what happens with plants like tomatoes that need to be planted deep - of course they may be planted into larger trays or pots deeper than in the previous one (I am actualy thinking of doing this with ones already growing inpots that are getting a bit leggy).
Part of my problem though with modular growing is the current lack of different size cells in the trays i have. They are either very small (recycled mini plug trays) or very large ones (like square pots joined together) and only a few medium sized trays. I am though thinking of rectifying this soon by buying in some different sized cell trays. :)
As soon as the seedlings in the modules are big enough, I plant them in plastic cups. What I like about the modules is that I can put a lot of planted seeds on a heating pad to germinate, like with peppers, tomatoes, melons etc. I wouldn't be able to fit as many pots on it. As soon as one batch of seedlings are potted up, the next heat loving seeds go into the module and onto the heating pad.
I used a heating pad for the first time this year and it works great! In the past I've had to wait for things like hot peppers for so long that I doubted anything would germinate and often wanted to start over while there was still time. No longer this long wait, the seedlings just shoot out of the seeds, wonderful!
i have not done any pricking out at all this year- hooray hooray as i squash and maul great numbers to death - i am a total convert to Jiffies. Modules, that is, trays with lots of spaces are the worst as removing the plants from the titchy space is even worse than pricking out. You can get loads of Jiffy 7 from Kays - i got 1000 38mm ones for 37 squids - mind you, i have had an absolute orgy of sowing as it is so easy-peasy. No damping off either.
cheers, suzy
oh, one disadvantage - i sowed my lettuces in the ground at the proper spacing - but when they are still tiny in a Jiffy, they look so sad and lonely in the soil with so much space around them - even a bit pathetic (and fragile).
Are jiffy's those peat pots Campanula??
not really EJ - theylook like little flat lids - about 4mm thick and 38mm across. You soak them in water and they expand to form tube shapes, about 60mm tall. They also have a fine mesh around them to hold the shape. You can buy them at garden centres in lotsof 40but they are expensive, around 15p each but if you get them from Kays (amost amazing co.), you get 1000 for £38 - 3.8p each. They are really reliable so I only sow two seeds in each and keep the best and they can wait till the seedlings are a good size and put straight in the ground. I find that the peat pots always go mouldy whereas Jiffies don't. You have to watch for drying out but Ikeep a lots of stuffin bags and water the Jiffies from the bottom (I sit about 8 to a pot saucer) Have a go!
aha, I know exactly what you mean. And they really work huh, never tried them myself, but am tempted now!
yep, they are brilliant but honestly, i sow something every time i nip to the kitchen - no rooting about for pots or carting bags of John Innes around. mostly, I am better at sowing the right number of seeds - I used to use a whole seed tray and sow loads of seeds which I would have no room for. It is real easy to just soak 8 or so. Very addictive though.
Do have a go.
cheers, Suzy
NA Kays certainly seem a great company. I keep meaning to put an order in. I just wish you didnt have to buy in QUITE such large quantities or have to spend so much at a time ::)