Potting up or Planting?

[tokizy]

Ok. First post (2nd if you count the welcome).

I have a mixture of tomatoes growing (or trying to). I started with the Jiffy 36 peat pellet tomato kit. I have about 20+ solo plastic cups (10oz) with holes and seed starting mix, I also have another jiffy tray of 24 pellets (smaller ones). All of these have different varieties of tomatoes.

My first start was at the end of Feb with the 36 pellet tray. They got very leggy, but now are thickening with a fan and light setup.

I am about 2-3 weeks from being able to plant outdoors without frost warning potential.

My question is:
Should I pot up the plants which have 4-6 true leaves? If so should I use a 1 gallon or less pot? Should I use potting mix?

OR

Should I leave as is, keep light and fan for another couple weeks, work on hardening them off and plant outdoors as is?


Secondary Question: One of the pellets has 2 plants growing in it. I want to keep both, but separate them. Should I wait until its time to plant or should I do it now?

Thanks,
Tim (tokizy)

[cushman350]

I'd separate now rather than later and cause more stress. As for the first question, there are differing opinions stemming from different sitations. Tight roots in a seedling aid in unpotting and in commercial settings it's just another work event to avoid. I have potted up to 6 inch pots this year because I started early and had to maintain the 15-18 inch tall plants until planting 2 weeks before last frost. So even a half gallon say like orange juice cartoon is a bit much if last frost is near. Little green flower buds were just appearing in the 6 inchers before transplant and I had plastic sheeting and heat ready if temps got too low. BE prepared! If your timing is right on and temps allow, keep them in the 2 inch peat pots. No need to pot up.

If you want to slow the seedlings down just turn off the heat mat. And keep an adequate light not more than 1-2 inches above the plants or they will compensate the only way they can by reaching up faster.

[ContainerTed]

Moving your plants to a new location, potting up, planting up - All of these things cause stress to the plant. I like to do my last pot-up at least 2 to 3 weeks before planting out into the garden. This gives me a "rested", "content", "unstressed" plant that has had tim to store up energy and can better handle a stress event (like planting out).

At plantout, I allow the medium (soil/mix) in the cups/pots to firm up so that I can remove the seedling from the cup/pot without crumbling (a firm "plug" with all the roots in tact and undisturbed). This "plug" is what gets set into the garden. I water the plant in with a solution of MG fertilizer for tomatoes mixed at 25% the recommended concentration.

Always consider the stress factors that can affect the plants and you'll always make good decisions about how to handle those "babies" at the different milestones in the growing cycle.

Ted

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

and when re-potting do use the potting mix and not the seed starter. (That might have been in the posts below and I just missed it)

Craig

[cushman350]

ContainerTed,

I use 2 inch pots of peat that easily crumbles away without the slightest disturbance. When I plant, even in full sun, there's no flinch in their vitality. Wet peat pot, wet root ball, wet hole or wet gopher hole for leggy tallish plants. Slow and exact wet backfilling. If I have leggy plants, of course they need to bend, so the direct sun pre-softens the main stem somewhat so it will bend if gopher hole-ing is needed.

[b54red]

You should be able to move your plants outside and start hardening them off before they get too large. Go ahead and pot them up into the larger cups and after a day or two start putting them out in partial shade for a couple of days and then start moving them into full sun. The wind and sun outdoors will help with the legginess and toughen the stems so they don't break so easily when they are set out.

[ContainerTed]

It seems that almost every nursery does their plants with soil-less, compost-less planting medium. The ones around here mostly use ProMix and add their nutrients at certain points. I believe that's because they can produce lots of plants for less dollars and therefore more profit - high production.

Even though I'm doing more than 2,000 tomatoes and peppers this year (gonna sell a few at the flea market), I still do mine the same way I have done them when only for me and my friends and family.

Commercial folks don't like to have to transplant. That takes time and time is money. I like my blend of compost/mix/nutrients around my seeds and seedlings. With a tiny bit of MG for tomatoes, I can manage the environment my little babies are subjected to in the manner I'm comfortable with.

Maybe it's just my way of doing this. I want my processes to put the least amount of stress on the plants. So, I use MG starter mix and MG Professional Pottin Mix . That gives me a nice firm plug to put into the ground. I use an old tableware spoon to move seedlings from the 72 cell flats to 9 oz plastic cups. This is also a "plug" and keeps the roots together.

The only time I don't have a plug is when I use Craig's dense starting method. But that's another story.

You know, Cushman, if the crumbling is a problem, maybe you should add something in to firm up everything. It sure does make it easy to put them into the garden. In the end, it comes down to your comfort level in your processes. We're all different and that's a wonderful thing.

Ted

[tokizy]

Thank you all for the great advice.

I repotted some from the peat pellet to a 16oz solo cup. We will see if the transfer works.

[cushman350]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

It seems that almost every nursery does their plants with soil-less, compost-less planting medium. The ones around here mostly use ProMix and add their nutrients at certain points. I believe that's because they can produce lots of plants for less dollars and therefore more profit - high production.

Even though I'm doing more than 2,000 tomatoes and peppers this year (gonna sell a few at the flea market), I still do mine the same way I have done them when only for me and my friends and family.

Commercial folks don't like to have to transplant. That takes time and time is money. I like my blend of compost/mix/nutrients around my seeds and seedlings. With a tiny bit of MG for tomatoes, I can manage the environment my little babies are subjected to in the manner I'm comfortable with.

Maybe it's just my way of doing this. I want my processes to put the least amount of stress on the plants. So, I use MG starter mix and MG Professional Pottin Mix . That gives me a nice firm plug to put into the ground. I use an old tableware spoon to move seedlings from the 72 cell flats to 9 oz plastic cups. This is also a "plug" and keeps the roots together.

The only time I don't have a plug is when I use Craig's dense starting method. But that's another story.

You know, Cushman, if the crumbling is a problem, maybe you should add something in to firm up everything. It sure does make it easy to put them into the garden. In the end, it comes down to your comfort level in your processes. We're all different and that's a wonderful thing.

Ted

I think I was misunderstood. I said, "I use 2 inch pots of peat that easily crumbles away without the slightest disturbance." The peat pot is what is doing the crumbling. The root ball is firm. Sorry, if it sounded as though my mix was crumbling, not in the least. I don't have any shock occuring during transplants. Been at this for 10 yrs now.

[ContainerTed]

Sounds like we agree in a lot of places. I treat my plants like intelligent life-forms that will respond to our help as well as our mistreatment. I don't care for the peat pots that are supposed to be biodegradable. They take too long to degrade and that inhibits the root growth and therefore the plant growth. My compost pile has some from last year that are still "biodegrading".

Hope our exchanges were informative and helped out some folks.

Take care, y'all

Ted

[cushman350]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

Sounds like we agree in a lot of places. I treat my plants like intelligent life-forms that will respond to our help as well as our mistreatment. I don't care for the peat pots that are supposed to be biodegradable. They take too long to degrade and that inhibits the root growth and therefore the plant growth. My compost pile has some from last year that are still "biodegrading".

Hope our exchanges were informative and helped out some folks.

Take care, y'all

Ted

You have the same infection I enjoy. Treat the toms so they never know what happened. Their toes just don't rub the end of their shoes anymore. I never leave anything between the roots and their objective. Too too important is this time of their lives to have to struggle through a barrier that I could remove. I have the time, their my hopes and tasting future. I'm here for them.