Dense Planting Illustrated - WARNING - Pic Heavy! Latest video 3/17 - transplanting

[stormymater]

NC - just wanted to day thank you from down here on the coast. Used your method & have beer cups teetotally all over the back yard - full of everything! Whoever mentioned that SunGold gets a weird "I'm gonna die" color in the cool weather was right - but they seem to be popping out of it now we're getting some heat. Anyway, awash in baby maters in 18 ounce beer cups - yard sale May 2! LOL! Thanks again, An amazed Stormy Mater

[Jackster]

Originally Posted by stormymater

NC - just wanted to day thank you from down here on the coast. Used your method & have beer cups teetotally all over the back yard - full of everything! Whoever mentioned that SunGold gets a weird "I'm gonna die" color in the cool weather was right - but they seem to be popping out of it now we're getting some heat. Anyway, awash in baby maters in 18 ounce beer cups - yard sale May 2! LOL! Thanks again, An amazed Stormy Mater

Some pictures, esp of the sungold, please!

Jackster

[stormymater]

Jackster - I will aim to do that once I finish with my peppers & basil (the densely planted basil is driving me wild!). I got a bigger card for my super dooper Canon that has more buttons & things than I know how to handle...then it will learning how to post pics...

[nctomatoman]

I swear that Sweet Million and Sungold share quite a few genes - they share a very dark green, nearly bronze-ish color as young seedlings, especially in cool weather.

This year I have the best looking Sungold seedlings yet (and the most!).

[stormymater]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

I swear that Sweet Million and Sungold share quite a few genes - they share a very dark green, nearly bronze-ish color as young seedlings, especially in cool weather.

This year I have the best looking Sungold seedlings yet (and the most!).

Hope its not the same genes as Sweet 100 - something down here withered 3 Sweet 100s within days last July - poor DH was so fond of them too! He was trying to eat all that were on the withered vines but they became SOUR - he reluctantly began grazing the grape tomatoes, complaining bitterly about thick skins, lack of sweet (went on for like a week until he resigned himself).
I'm waiting to see if whatever it was takes out Sungold & Isis Candy in short order as well. Gotta be tough to survive down here. No petting.

[Nubee]

Hi:
New to the site. I and a friend planted Sweetie and Beefsteak Tomatoes and Orange Peppers in small containers about 30 seeds per container. They have grown all clumped together some clumps look as if they are up to 8-10 plants in a multiple siamese twin type formation. Can I now replant these by seperating them at this point and replanting. I want to plant some upside down and some in my new garden. Would love your imput.

[huntoften]

Just break them apart gently and pull each plant out. Some of the roots will break, but stick it in some good potting soil, keep it moist and it will rebound no problem. I've got some peppers I did this way that were 9-11 inches tall, twisted and all wrapped up in each other. I separated them potted them up and they look great!

[nctomatoman]

Nubee, you need to read the first post in this thread - it explains completely what you asked. Tomatoville is a great site - be sure to follow threads back to the origin, as I suspect just about all questions (or most) have been answered somewhere!

[rjs55555]

Has anyone tried to gently rinse the soil off of the roots then sitting the seedlings in shallow water while transplanting them. I would think that would minimize root breakage for newbies like myself. I am going to try craig's method next year.

[habitat_gardener]

rjs55555, I've swished onion-seedling clumps in water to break them up, but for tomatoes it's not necessary. They're tough. This spring, I used Craig's dense planting method and waited a little too long to pot up some taller seedlings. The long stem of a brittle Purple Russian seedling broke and looked pretty pitiful, but since tomatoes will root from the stem, and I was planting it deep, I potted it up anyway and labeled that pot. It recovered, and I ended up planting it for a neighbor, where it's now over 6 ft. high.

Even more surprising was a seedling I got at a plant exchange. It had a 3-4-inch stem and was falling out of its pot with the roots exposed, in bone-dry soil, and since no one took it I adopted it. I planted it deep in a pot, and now it's in the garden and doing well.

[jeffinsgf]

Craig,

Have you ever tried an undivided germination tray? I used them this Spring with good result, but I wasn't planting very densely. I will be planting more densely this year and think the undivided tray will work out just fine. The plants tease out rather easily, since the trays are shallower than a divided tray.

Also, do you know off the top of your head the difference between MetroMix 360 and 350? My local greenhouse supplier carries 350, and I've been happy with it, so far, but I don't have nearly the experience that you do.

[huntoften]

Tomato and pepper seedlings are TOUGH! Don't worry about breaking a few roots. I had some of both seedlings stay in the dense planting until they were nearly a foot tall and the roots were hopelessly bound together. I just broke the whole lot into half, then half again, then pulled them apart...some only had a few root hairs left, but out of over 2,000 seedlings I transplanted I bet I didn't lose 20 due to transplanting. I do know that I need to adjust my timing of planting next year as this way is MUCH more efficient than the way I've done it in past years.

[dice]

MetroMix 360 (vs 350):
http://www.sungro.com/products_displ...06&brand_id=17

[jeffinsgf]

Originally Posted by dice

MetroMix 360 (vs 350):
http://www.sungro.com/products_displ...06&brand_id=17

Duh, why didn't I think of that?

Thanks, Dice. The "improved drainage" might mean that clumped roots would separate better in 360 than in 350. I might try a bag of 360 when my current bag of 350 plays out.

[huntsman]

Just read this entire - very enlightening and helpful! - thread, and would like to ask:

Is your reason for dense planting of this nature to conserve space, or because it is somehow beneficial to the resultant plants? If a grower was planning on having say 50 plants, would he still plant densely, or simply use the available seed flat space?

Secondly, we have no soil-less mixture in Africa, so can I use potting soil and follow your regimen, or is the soil-less medium vital to the system?

Cheers!