Transplanting

Transplanting tomatoes

Jenni — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 05:48:06 +0000

Transplanting tomatoes Jenni Sun, 03/27/2016 - 22:48

So it's that time again - time to move the tomato plants from the little seedling cells into seedling pots. I'm especially careful when doing this since I only minimally thin the tomatoes - I only remove the ones that are significantly smaller than the rest. For any of the other cells, I very carefully separate each tomato plant and transplant them each separately into larger pots. It's rare that I lose one when I do that, but it happens occasionally. I still end up with way more plants doing this than if I were to only select one per cell. But it also means that I end up with a lot of tomatoes - about 7 trays worth this time.

The key is being very, very careful with the roots. Massage the ball of dirt and roots gently and then carefully separate each tomato by holding the plant and gently wiggling it away from the others. Then you can plant each one of them. You might break a few plants when doing this, but once you get the hang of it you'll end up with more plants than if you saved one per cell.

Then when transplanting to the new pot, bury the stalk of the plant as much as you can. All those little hair-like things you see on the main stalk will turn into roots if they're in the ground. By doing this, you build a much better root structure for your plant, which means a stronger and healthier plant down the line. I always do this will my tomato plants so that they'll have a good start.

Make sure to water the plants once you're done, as it helps with the stress (plus you just moved the plant into dry soil). There are also nutrients you can buy that help with transplant shock, if you want to use that.

Topic

Transplanting

How-to

Seedlings

Did some outdoor gardening

Jenni — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 07:12:57 +0000

Did some outdoor gardening Jenni Sun, 03/06/2016 - 23:12

I've been wanting to do some outdoor gardening, but with my back injury it makes it difficult. Today I finally was able to make it out there and do some gardening. I put some of my window boxes back out into the yard, cleared out dead leaves, and planted a whole bunch of plants.

I now have peas, beans, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, kale, and bok choi growing outside in my garden.

Topic

Outdoor

Transplanting

Need to transplant soon

Jenni — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 07:12:55 +0000

Need to transplant soon Jenni Sun, 02/14/2016 - 23:12

Well, some of the items are growing so well that I am going to have to transplant them into bigger pots soon. That's especially true of some of the pease, beans, and lettuce. They're just all growing so fast. The peas are about ready to grab onto the lights.

Topic

Seedlings

Transplanting

Did some transplanting

Jenni — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 07:07:55 +0000

Did some transplanting Jenni Sun, 02/14/2016 - 23:07

Well, I couldn't sleep last night, so I figured I'd use the time to transplant some of the bigger plants over to pots that were of a larger size. These ones are about 2.5x2.5, which is nearly double the space they had in the containers they were in. Not only that, but when it comes to greens I have a very hard time putting just one seed in each pot because the seeds are so tiny. As such, the baby choi and romaine lettuce I transplanted often times had 3-5 plants growing in a single slot. I carefully separated them and put each into its own pot, which will allow them to grow much faster. I try to be very careful, as this can damage the roots and kill the plants. Many people will just pinch off all but one of the plants, but I just can't bring myself to do that. Thankfully since I'm so careful I usually am able to save 90%+ of them, so it's well worth the time and effort to separate them.

It's been nearly 24 hours since I did the transplant and thus far they all seem to be doing fine. There are a few of them that were quite tiny and may not make it, but the vast majority of them have already perked back up and seem to be doing fine.

My husband said tomorrow that he'll help me set up the new shelf and lights so that I can do more transplanting. I have plenty more to do, but have run out of room at the moment. I think I am going to move all the peas and beans under the new lights and put them on the shelves since they've gotten so tall and I need to move the light higher. The greens and herbs still need lots of light, so I think they would do best under the big light.

Topic

Seedlings

Transplanting

Need to transplant the squash and cukes

Jenni — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 05:57:12 +0000

Need to transplant the squash and cukes Jenni Thu, 03/19/2015 - 22:57

I've really got to get a moment this weekend to transplant the squash, zucchini, pumpkins, and cucumbers outside. They are getting so big that their leaves overlap each other. They're also blocking the light from some of my smaller seedlings, like the eggplant and peppers.

I've got to get my husband to help me dump out my planters, mix compost into the soil, and then fill them back up again. I'm also trying to find a good spot to put the squash, zucchini, and pumpkins so they don't get hit with the sprinklers at night. Every year I end up with powdery mildew because of the stupid sprinklers.

Topic

Transplanting

Seedlings

Transplanting herbs

Jenni — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 05:57:13 +0000

Transplanting herbs Jenni Sat, 03/14/2015 - 22:57

So today it's time to transplant more of my seedlings. This time it's the herbs. Once they start to get several true leaves on them, I go ahead and move them to the planters they'll be in outside. I go ahead and plant them all, as I know only some will make it through the process. If several of them end up growing large, I'll transplant them again to another set of these planters that I have, which means more herbs for me! ;)

With the basil I can also transplant it into some of my larger tomato planters once those are going, as the two plants love to be together.

My herbs have just loved these planters. They attach to the post on my patio and I can hang several of them all together. I started out with three, which I have used for chives and basil. This year I am moving the cilantro there as well. I also picked up one more set of three planters at Home Depot the other day. We had to dig to find the only set that was even close to being complete. Mine are black, but apparently they come in a terracotta color as well. I like the black, as it makes the soil nice and warm, which the plants seem to love.

The planters are made by Fiskars and you can check them out here.

Topic

Lots more transplanting

Jenni — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 06:02:54 +0000

Lots more transplanting Jenni Sun, 03/08/2015 - 23:02

I was able to pick up some more of the flats of larger seedling containers as well as more seedling soil, so I did a lot more transplanting today. My husband and sister helped me to clear the table, move the light and stand, and add the leaf to the table so that there was more room. That allowed me to have plenty of room for all of the plants.

With the exception of a few of them that were still pretty small, I transplanted all of the zucchini, squash, pumpkins, and cucumbers. There are a few that popped up later than the others and they just weren't ready for transplant yet. I also transplanted all of the tomatoes that had good sized true leaves.

One thing to know about transplanting tomatoes - it is good to bury them deep so that part of their stem is underground. This helps them to build a better root system, which in turn helps the plant to grow more. So these tomatoes you'll see are much shorter because I buried as much of the stem as I could. The plant will just grow taller and all the stem underground will become part of the root system.

Topic

Seedlings

Transplanting

Transplanting more plants

Jenni — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 07:07:56 +0000

Transplanting more plants Jenni Sat, 03/07/2015 - 23:07

I spent some more time transplanting plants today. I had only picked up four flats of the larger pots yesterday, so I was limited in how many plants I could do. So I finished off the squash and did a bunch of the cucumbers.

Did you know that cucumber plants smell like cucumbers? I love working with them because of their smell.

You can see how much root structure has already built in less than two weeks. This is why it is important to transplant the seedlings to bigger pots so that they don't become too root locked.

Topic

Seedlings

Transplanting

Transplanting Zucchini

Jenni — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 07:07:57 +0000

Transplanting Zucchini Jenni Fri, 03/06/2015 - 23:07

Now that my zucchini is getting big, it's about time to move them up to the next sized container. This gives the plant more room to grow, more soil to pull nutrients from, etc. If you wait too long, you can kill your plants.

I wait for the first "true leaves" to show up and grow to a good size. By this point the plant is already bigger around than the little spot it's in, which means they all start crowding each other. Then I transplant.

You want to be careful when transplanting your plants, as you can give them transplant shock. If it's not too bad, the plant should recover in a few days. If it is bad, you can kill the plant. I give the bottom of the pod a little squeeze to loose up the dirt and then carefully remove the plant. I set it in its new spot, and then continue with the next one until all of them are done.

Once they're put in place, make sure they have enough soil to fill the container and keep the plant upright. Then give the plants some water. I pour a little right around the plant (but not on the plant) and then put some in the watering tray. Note: If you use the same tray as I have above, the watering tray is not one level surface. As such you cannot pour water in one end and it fill up the rest of the tray.

If you've been careful with them, you shouldn't see any wilt or other signs of shock.

Just be ready for this plants to take up a lot more room - it takes four of these trays to hold as many plants as one of the smaller seedling trays.

Topic

Seedlings

Transplanting