Potting

[deereman64]

Every year I try to grow from seed and purchase seedlings from on line stores and every year I end up going to the garden store and buying seedlings so that at least something is growing. One of the major problems seems to be that when I remove the seedling from its pot all the potting soil drops off and of course the plant never really recovers. I dont think Im getting enough root growth. I use good potting soil such as Miracle growth but I dont think Im compacting it enough Any suggestions?

 

[slowrev]

Individual little peat pots ?

 

[ToadHill]

I take a water glass, cut newspaper into about 5" strips. Wrap it around the water glass and fold over the bottom to make a small cup. If you want a bit of white glue will hold the end of the paper to the already wrapped cup. Put your potting soil into the cup and plant the seed. When the plants are ready to go into the garden just plant the pot and all. The natural biological action of the soil will take care of reducing the paper to mulch.

 

[HappyCPE]

I prefill my peat pots [I always use peat pots] wet them and let the potting soil settle 2 weeks, to make sure they're full. I also start seedlings in Jiffy pellets. Sometimes the pellet goes in the pot, like tomatoes, and after 5 weeks then the whole thing goes in the garden. The roots never get disturbed this way.

 

[deereman64]

Thanks Im going to try the peat pots.

 

[whodat90]

Burpee

Last year I tried one of these things, and the roots were amazing. We kept having late frosts and by the time I got the tomatoes in the ground they were starting to flower, and were still doing well. Highly recommended.