Once your semen have germinated and the seedlings are growing , the next step in the process is transplanting them into a larger container — or not .
If I ’m get lettuce under lights in a container , when the works have grown a few in above the top of the lid , I move the intact container outdoors into a cold frame to indurate off , that is , to get used to an out-of-door environs . Then , when it ’s time to constitute in the veggie garden , I take the entire clump out of the container and split it for planting by break off sections . Lettuce does just ticket that room and there ’s no motivation to transplant it to a secondary container . However , for tender plant likepeppers and tomatoes that I ’ve started in peat pellet , the seedlings postulate to make the transition into a larger wad where they ’ll go on to turn under lights .
It ’s time to transplant your seedlings when they ’ve uprise their first set of true leaves — not the initial two leaves that form when they first sprout , but the second set that look like their normal leaves . transplant is sluttish , but can be tedious , if you ’ve started a lot of seeds . I use 3 inch plenty for transplanting , which I ’ve retrieve to be an effective size , specially for the hundreds of seedling I give away each year . As mentioned in the first place , I ’ve started two seeds in each pellet , and usually both shoot and produce strong seedling . If that ’s the case , I remove and discard the gauze over the pellet and carefully unwrap it in two , planting each half in its own pot . If one of the seeds has sprouted too close to the other , I ’ll keep the more robust works and snip off off the other one . The process is the same for a seedling I ’ve started in a tray ; I carefully poke out a section of potting premix where it ’s get , endeavor to raise up the root social organization as little as potential .
Tomatoes harden off in a part sun location.
The seedling are implant into potting mix with a little additional organic fertilizer . Consulting my seed notebook computer to check that I ’ve key the right variety , I label a plant tag for each seedling . The tag are made from vinyl radical mini blind that I grease one’s palms from a penny-pinching store and cut into small pieces . I ’ve tried using wooden plant ticket but they promptly wither or rot in the soil . The plastic ones will fade too in meter , so when I plant them in the garden I angle the writing side down so it ’s not direct unwrap to the sun .
After the seedling are transpose , I irrigate them well and place them in Al foil goat god , which are in reality lasagna pan that I bribe at the Dollar Store . They ’re thick enough so that the stack ca n’t tip over when they fill the genus Pan , and the seedlings seem to benefit from the light reflected from the foil . Then they go back under the lights for 12 to 16 hours a day .
How much longer the seedling need to continue to spring up under lights bet on how well I ’ve time part the seeds and when it ’s safe to plant outside . Obviously , that change from year to year depending on the conditions patterns . mill about indoors for too long under luminance can sap seedlings of impulse , but there are way of life at this leg to stimulate their emergence and toughen them up for their eventual home outside . softly brushing the superlative of the plants with your hands on a day-to-day basis simulates the activity of the wind , and you’re able to also come out a small fan specify on low near your plants to achieve the same effect . Doing this helps promote growth of stronger , more robust stems . And because individual seedling are take in vary amounts of promiscuous relative to their placement under the fixtures , and that affects their growth , I rotate all of the plant every other sidereal day : the ones directly under the lights are trade with those nearer the edges .
These plants roll in and out of the house on a cart while hardening off.
When it ’s ardent enough the trays of seedling are institute outside to indurate off for increasing intervals of time , start out in a shadowed expanse protected from any harsh winds . Gradually , I increase their clip outdoors and pic to verbatim sun . When all danger of icing has passed they can be planted in the veggie garden , or traded or leave off to fellow gardener . I ’ve found that people have it away to get a gift of a plant that someone they know has start from a come , and I enjoy introducing friends to unexampled veg varieties they might otherwise be unconvincing to try .
— Tom McKusick
