Seedling Transplants Age
 

Hello ,
I read that the best age for transplant is 6 to 8 weeks old plants , when going into garden. I am wondering if this is from time seeds are planted or from germination. I know usually this is not much difference with seeds I save , but this year some of my purchased seed have taken 2 weeks to germinate for some reason . This is just a question out of curosity as everything is started for this year.
CDG

Hello, cdg,
I've always considered that the age of the plant would begin when it germinates. The idea is to be able to transplant with the least harm to the root system and shock to the plant so that it is able to keep growing steadily and happily. I have to guard against the urge to start seeds too soon only to find that the weather is not cooperating at my anticipated transplant time, which means I must repot one extra time. You are in a much warmer zone than I, however, and luckily can begin planting so soon!
kath

Six to eight weeks is a rule of thumb, not a hard and fast rule. If delayed germination means that your plants are on the small side at six or eight weeks, just hold off planting until they're a better size.

I had some germination problems a few years back that delayed my planting, before i invested in a heat mat, and before I learned how to harden off correctly.That year I planted my seedlings when they were about 6-8 inches tall. They all did great in the garden. That same year I bought some plants and used my 6-8 inch seedlings. The ones I bought were bigger than my starts when we planted them. The smaller ones soon caught up and a few of mine actually out produced some of the hybrid store boughts. I take my worst, weakest seedlings and plant them in there own area of the garden every year. All of them eventually catch up to the rest of the group and sometimes out produce depending on variety and conditions. The first year I started from seed, I scorched most of my starts in the hardening off process. I planted them anyway with some store bought back ups. The scorched seedlings caught up, slowly, but they did catch up and produced a respectable crop. One of those seedlings happened to be Kellogs Breakfast, which I became hooked on. The only thing that worried me using small transplants was that if we had a bad storm it would trash the plants, which we never had. I dont sweat the transplant size issue much any more, I just make sure my garden soil is optimum for plant growth, nature does the rest. Good Luck.

You must keep the seeds moist throughout the germination process. The seeds germinate faster when kept warmer than room temperature. If you plant too deep, they take longer to come up...just cover with a 1/8 of an inch or less of soil/soiless mix.

PS: If the seeds weren't stored well and dried out too much, they may need additional re-hydration, thus taking a little longer.