![]() ![]() I've grown great bedding plants and vegetable transplants in Styrofoam cups with holes poked in the bottom.įill the containers with pre-moistened soil mix, and settle firmly by tapping the container's base on a hard surface. Maybe your garage is full of recycled packs. Greenhouse-type cell packs are readily purchased everywhere from home improvement stores to garden centers. Now choose containers into which seedlings will be grown until it's time to plant them into flower beds and vegetable gardens. ![]() Given at least 24 hours, the mix absorbs moisture and becomes mellow and workable. Add water to the bag and stir well the day before transplanting. They often sell bags of the mixes they use in their own greenhouse production. ![]() Also recommended are most potting mixes suggested by locally owned garden centers. I'm not I've just always experienced good results. I recommend Miracle Gro Potting Mix so often, you'd think I was on the take from the company. (The first leaves that emerge from the soil are the cotyledons, or "seed leaves," which look very different from the actual leaves of tomatoes, for example.)Ĭhoose a top quality potting mix. When seedlings have produced their first set of "true leaves," they're ready to transplant out of the seed tray. During our years in the greenhouse business my wife, Mary, and I rarely "direct seeded." Instead we hand-transplanted tens of thousands of seedlings each year into cell-packs.ĭibbling is the classic method of transplanting seedlings. Wouldn't it save a lot of work just planting seeds directly into pots or cell-packs and eliminate the tedious job of hand-transplanting? Because seedlings become stronger as they are planted slightly deeper, decreasing the amount of stretched stem. Under Neal's guidance, we transplanted thousands of seedlings into containers by the efficient process called "dibbling." I carefully lifted the tiny plants out of the seed tray, gingerly held a seedling suspended in a cup with one hand, and scooped soil around the roots with the other until the cup was full.Īlthough my clumsy method worked, a whole new world opened the spring I worked at North Dakota State University's Horticulture Department for tomato researcher and professor Neal Holland (now owner of Sheyenne Gardens, Harwood, N.D.). It all started in junior high as I was learning to grow tomato and petunia plants from seed for my parents' flower beds and vegetable garden.Īfter the seeds germinated, I planned to transplant seedlings from the seed tray into individual Styrofoam cups with nail holes punched in the bottom. FARGO - If you promise not to laugh, I'll describe my past method of transplanting seedlings. ![]()
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