Is it beneficial to up-pot (pot-up?) all plants?

pipefish 2/23/2013, 3:54 pm

I'm planning on potting-up (up-potting?) my tomatoes. Do you think it is beneficial to do this process for all veggies? I'm starting all my 70 types of plants in 1-1/2" plugs and fear this may be too small to build a robust transplant.

Thanks again,

Dan
P.S. I'm sorry all I can add to this forum are questions. Perhaps I'll have some better input next year... and hopefully not advise on what NOT to do! Smile

**camprn** 2/23/2013, 4:01 pm

Pipe, questions are good. And considering your location and the last frost dates the answer is yes, the plants will benefit from transplanting into new containers. Make sure the pot edges are only about an inch from the plant stem. If you have a small plant in too big of a pot the water may not be used quickly and soil may stay damp, resulting in a potential mold problem.

plantoid 2/23/2013, 4:26 pm

Dan it also depends on how close to putting the plants in the beds you are normally it would make no sense in potting up if your going to plant in the beds in less than a weeks time.

**camprn** 2/23/2013, 4:37 pm

plantoid wrote:Dan it also depends on how close to putting the plants in the beds you are normally it would make no sense in potting up if your going to plant in the beds in less than a weeks time.

David, we are a few months out yet, but what you say is so true. Another time I pot up is when I am waiting for a square to open.

quiltbea 2/23/2013, 4:51 pm

Good advice already given. I agree to up-pot if the seedlings is getting too big or rootbound for its present home and you still have a week or more to wait to transplant outdoors.
Remember, all seedlings need to be hardened-off about a week before putting them outdoors to grow in sun, wind, rain, so if they are getting cramped before any hardening-off has started, then they can probably benefit from larger pots.

pipefish 2/23/2013, 8:01 pm

Thanks all. The "distance from the stem to the pot-edges" advice has answered another question of mine: I will plan to start everything in small plugs and pot-up accordingly instead of trying to predict what plants will need space and plant them in bigger containers form the start.

Another question: If I have planted a 'pinch' of seeds, and transplant out of the vermiculite into my soilless mix when the seedlings get their 'seed leaves' (pg. 122, ANSFG), should I pick one seedling per plant I wish to raise or should I transfer 2 or more into the plugs and wait to see which is strongest a week or so later and then cull them? If I should transfer more than one seedling, can they share a plug or do they get their own?

Thanks,
Dan

quiltbea 2/23/2013, 8:32 pm

pipefish....I've seen it work fine for those that start several seeds in a 4" pot and then they transplant each individual into a single cell later, though I've seen it done Before they got their first true leaves. Up to that time the roots are barely noticable, growing a single tap root straight down and don't get tangled. Better chance of transplanting them without root disturbance before the first true leaves grow. In fact, just saw a video this week from MIGardner doing this....moving several clustered in 4" cells to single cells.
Tip: hold them gently by their leaves and not the stem, which can easily break if grasped by your fingers. Be careful. Make a hole with a pencil then gently poke the root and stem into the hole with the rubber tip at the end of a pencil.

pipefish 2/23/2013, 9:26 pm

Thanks Quiltbea,

If you plan on having say, 9 spinach plants in your garden, would you raise more than 9 seedlings indoors? Or would you only raise the 9 you intend to plant outside?

ie: do you make the effort to have "insurance" in case one or more of your seedlings don't make the transplant well (or die before then)?

Dan

**camprn** 2/23/2013, 9:38 pm

I always try for insurance and usually end up giving plants away or..... planting in buckets, or boxes or squeeze them in somewhere.

Better to have more than you need than not enough.

**jimmy cee** 2/23/2013, 10:41 pm

You might enjoy watching this gardener on you tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDBYaDhoDZM

Bayou Gardening
This fellow has a great series of video's I found very interesting and informative.
His method of starting tomatoes is something I've never heard of, however I am going to copy him this spring.
Other videos he has are so interesting to me, I spent almost an entire night watching them

Andrea13 2/23/2013, 11:03 pm

pipefish wrote:

Dan
P.S. I'm sorry all I can add to this forum are questions. Perhaps I'll have some better input next year... and hopefully not advise on what NOT to do!

Hey Dan! Keep in mind that your questions are very helpful to some of us who also have a lot to learn. I am often reading questions regarding things that I hadn't even considered....so now I've learned something because you asked! Thanks for that! Wink

**Kelejan** 2/24/2013, 1:16 am

pipefish wrote:. . . .

Dan
P.S. I'm sorry all I can add to this forum are questions. Perhaps I'll have some better input next year... and hopefully not advise on what NOT to do!

Please don't apologise, Dan. Many of us can learn from the answers to others' questions. Very Happy

yolos 2/24/2013, 2:16 pm

I have a question about up-potting broccoli. I have heard people mention on this forum that you can re-plant the broccoli lower in the pot (like a tomato) when you up-pot or transplant. Is this correct. If so how low can you plant them. I have a few that were germinated before I got my light stand set up and they are leggy. I want to plant them with part of the stem down in the ground. Can this be done.

quiltbea 2/24/2013, 3:02 pm

yolos......I up-pot Broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower a half inch deeper in their new cells/pots/blocks.
When they go outdoors for their final transplant, you can bury them right up to their first seed leaves.

yolos 2/24/2013, 3:31 pm

Thank you quiltbea. That is exactly what I needed to know.

CapeCoddess 2/24/2013, 4:44 pm

quiltbea wrote:yolos......I up-pot Broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower a half inch deeper in their new cells/pots/blocks.
When they go outdoors for their final transplant, you can bury them right up to their first seed leaves.

Does that also work for cabbage/kale and pak choi?

CC

plantoid 2/24/2013, 5:55 pm

Yes , but I tend to leave a small gap below the leaves lest it rains hard and the damp soil rots the lower leaf set .

quiltbea 2/24/2013, 9:18 pm

yolos....I'm glad plantoid could answer. I plant my cabbage up to the lower set of leaves but since I direct sow my kale and pak choi right in the garden, I've never transplanted so didn't know.

When weeding around cabbage, be very careful. The roots are near the top and very tender and can be damaged by deep weeding. If any weeding needs doing, weed lightly at the top of the soil.
A good thing about cabbage, it may be a cool season crop but it can grow right into summer just fine. No bolting. Its not affected like the other cole crops.

Pollinator 2/25/2013, 5:27 pm

quiltbea wrote:
A good thing about cabbage, it may be a cool season crop but it can grow right into summer just fine. No bolting. Its not affected like the other cole crops.

That may work in Maine - but here in the Southeast, it's not likely to head, unless it's very early. Once the hot weather comes, it quits growing.

Triciasgarden 2/26/2013, 4:16 pm

See Dan, we are all learning. Which made me think of another question. Since so many plants can be transplanted deeper in the soil in their new home, are there any that should never be planted deeper?

Pollinator 2/26/2013, 4:37 pm

Triciasgarden wrote:See Dan, we are all learning. Which made me think of another question. Since so many plants can be transplanted deeper in the soil in their new home, are there any that should never be planted deeper?

Strawberries and fruit trees come to mind. If the crown is covered, strawberries will die. Most fruit trees are grafted, and setting the graft below ground destroys all the advantages of the graft - the tree will root from the scion part.

**camprn** 2/26/2013, 4:46 pm

Triciasgarden wrote:See Dan, we are all learning. Which made me think of another question. Since so many plants can be transplanted deeper in the soil in their new home, are there any that should never be planted deeper?

Actually with the exception of tomato plants, nearly all the recommendations I read say something to the effect of don't plant the transplants much deeper than they were in the pot, and certainly no deeper than where the first leaves grew out of the stem. this is the way I was taught and have always done it. If anyone finds something that says differently, please post a link, I am quite curious about this. Thanks. Very Happy

in reading Pollinators post another plant that comes to mind is roses, they too are often grafted to root stock.

Planting Chart
Curses, I thought the chart had a column for transplanting depth, but it only lists seed planting depth.

**camprn** 2/26/2013, 5:53 pm

This article has some good information about transplanting.
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8013.pdf

plantoid 2/26/2013, 6:32 pm

Pollinator wrote:
Triciasgarden wrote:See Dan, we are all learning. Which made me think of another question. Since so many plants can be transplanted deeper in the soil in their new home, are there any that should never be planted deeper?

Strawberries and fruit trees come to mind. If the crown is covered, strawberries will die. Most fruit trees are grafted, and setting the graft below ground destroys all the advantages of the graft - the tree will root from the scion part.

Years ago I took advantage of that fact and grew my own root stocks for grafting Victoria plumbs on a semi dwarf rot stock and golden russet apples on semi dwarf stock ..saved me about £16 ( $ 20) per tree on something like 40 trees.

quiltbea 2/26/2013, 11:21 pm

A couple of transplanting tips: Lettuce should be transplanted a little higher than it was in the pot. The same for radicchio, endive, and escarole.

Eggplant is another that can go deeper when transplanted.

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