Potting up

[pacmanJohn]

What soil do you use when 'potting up'? Or do you pot up? What I'm wondering is if I start the seedlings in large enough cups so not to pot up should I use something other than just a dry starter mix if I'm going to leave them till planting (8 weeks)..?..

[Worth1]

I'll answer the first question, I use miracle grow organic potting soil.
I put them in 4 inch pots at this time and that's what they stay in till plantin time.

Not starting any plants this year, I will get some plants from someone on the forum.
I thought I would go with the mystery grab bag this season.
Its bound to be a real experience.

Worth

[habitat_gardener]

I've used Craig's dense planting method (see the sticky thread) and purchased mix for seeds (NutraPeat from OSH). I use a purchased mix because without a sterilized mix, I wouldn't be able to distinguish the plants I want from volunteer tomato seeds in the compost. With the dense planting method, I can plant one pot of each variety.

When I pot up, I use my homemade compost. That way, I have lots of plants to give away and it costs me nothing (except time!). I can plant the seedlings up to the first true leaves rather than letting them get leggy in the original pots. And if any weeds do come up, they're easy to spot and I can pull them before they start competing with the tomato seedlings I want.

[mtbigfish]

I wouldn't start in the 4" pot and leave until planting out time
when you take a seedling and transplant after you get the first true set of leaves - it is better to transplant from plugs or flat seed bed into your 4" pots at that time -
I use ProMix BX or PG mix (plug grade at seeding) with biofungicide and add plant success -
only fert is kelp and fish emulsion diluted until actual plant out time
Dennis

[TomNJ]

I use a 50/50 mix of MG Moisture Control Potting Soil and MG Seed Starter Mix, sifted to remove larger bits of debris. This mix is very easy to wet but not too heavy.

I start the seeds in 3.5" square pots and do not pot up. About a third of the seedlings do get uplifted and moved to ensure one strong seedling in the center of each pot, but I have never noticed any difference between the plants that were moved versus not moved.

I start the seeds around April 7th here in central NJ. Germination takes about four days over heating pads, and the plants reach 8-10" in five weeks under lights.

TomNJ

[Barbee]

I start my seeds in the regular plug type flats. Once they get a couple of sets of true leaves, they move into the large cups and stay there until plant out.

[pacmanJohn]

Thank you all for the responses. I had a bad year last year with starting from seeds (though I had a great year in the garden with tomatoes, but had to buy many plants). Seedlings just stayed a few inches tall. I didn't have a heat pad under them nor a fan on them. I think I over watered as well. Just want to make sure I give them every chance this year. I had them an inch from flourescents for 16 hours a day at around 65 degrees.

Do you all use heat pads and a fan? Thanks for the info.

[mtbigfish]

TomHJ
I guess I am a creature of old habits - also when you pot up according to quite a few experts and books ie pg 17 of 100 Heirlooms Tomatoes for the American Garden by Carolyn J Male

"Transplanting is important because it shocks the plant and forces it to develope roots. The transplants should be set deeply ..."

also in several books including the new one by Ami Goldman she also mentions transplanting or potting up.

I wish there were hard facts documenting that you shouldn't or don't need to transplant (pot up). It would sure save a lot of time not to pot up


Dennis

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by pacmanJohn

Do you all use heat pads and a fan?

Neither. Inspired by wintersowing, I started mine in a cold frame (wire tomato cage placed horizontally on the ground, covered with bubble wrap, surrounded by gallon water containers). I'm in northern Calif., where we get wind and rainstorms and even a night of freezing temperatures into March and often April-May, as well as the occasional week of warmer temperatures, so I needed to be able to keep it secure and tight on stormy days and open it up on warmer days for ventilation so the seedlings didn't cook, and also to water them. I used clothespins to attach the pieces of bubblewrap to the wire frame.

The main problem was the snails and slugs that got through the "floor" of window-screen mesh and ate some seedlings before I noticed. (They may also have hatched out of my compost, but I didn't notice any egg clusters when I was potting up.)

Once the plants were potted up, I had a lot more containers (150 or so), so my cold frames expanded to include large clear plastic bins and walls-o-water, with plexiglas or bubblewrap over the top.

This year I'm going to get the cold frame off the ground and grow fewer varieties (gonna try, anyway) and fewer plants of each variety. I had the idea last year that I could check germination by planting 10 seeds of each variety, but that plan was foiled by the slugs. I'm also going to try starting earlier, possibly by starting a few varieties tomorrow, a few more in 3 weeks, and the rest by March 1, but it depends on the weather.

[yotetrapper]

I might have to winter sow a few for the heck of it, but boy, to me, it's a frightening thought.

[mtbigfish]

habitat
Neither???
but then you say you didn't notice any egg clusters when potting up??

I am confused
Dennis

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by yotetrapper

I might have to winter sow a few for the heck of it, but boy, to me, it's a frightening thought.

Yeah, I tried the little tiny individual "greenhouses" the year before and they were more trouble than they were worth, but I also didn't use a sterilized medium so I got a few volunteers. It was much easier to deal with one bigger insulated space.

Of course, once the plants are potted up, they can withstand a lot more.

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by mtbigfish

habitat
Neither???
but then you say you didn't notice any egg clusters when potting up??

Neither = No heating pads and no fan.

If there had been egg clusters in my homemade compost, I would have noticed them as I potted up, but of course it's possible there was a stray egg or two. But it's more likely the tender sprouts called to them from afar and lured them in.
I grew the plants al fresco, at ground level with pieces of window screening between the mulched path and the pots -- not a barrier at all to the snails and slugs who laughed at my attempt to keep them out.

[Barbee]

How long has it been since you changed the bulbs in your lights? What type of potting mix are you using? Sounds like doing everything you should, so there must be something else going on.

[mtbigfish]

habitat - got it
I thought you didn't pot up but then you sais you did - no confusion now - I don't use heat pads but do use fan now and then instead of running the hand over seedings to strenghtn them up - where are you in CA?
Dennis