When to transplant seedlings

For those of you growing vines and other plants from seeds indoors, when are you going to transplant them outside? mahalo, sam

Last week ;)

Confucious say:

Best time to plant tree
20 years ago

Second best time to plant tree
Now

Or something like that. ;))

Anyway, I'm wondering the same thing as sam. some of my starts are now about 4" tall. I have some good instructions at home and if no one else offers info before I get myself back to the home computer, I'll post what those instructions say. Seems I got the info from the Propagation forum here at Dave's. That's it for now....gotta go earn my two cents for the day!!

Mary

Next wed is supposed to be quite chilly for the outskirts, so if you haven't already transplanted it might be a good idea to wait one more week. Or not...I don't know, I'm still kind of new to all this :-)

sam, Here's what the instructions say: (I got them from Diane's Seeds, whose seeds had the absolute highest germination rate of all the ones I planted. Got Granpa Otts MG from her and germination is almost 100%!)

10. After the seedlings have developed their second set of leaves (the "true" leaves), it's time to use some seaweed fertilizer. Add the seaweed at half the strength recommended on the bottle. Fertilize about once a week, adding the fertilizer to the water that you put in the bottom of the tray. [Ed. note: I have been using very diluted liquid seaweed fertilizer mixed with distilled water, hydrogen peroxide and superthrive from the very beginning, fwiw - mm]

11. When the seedlings are sturdy enough, use a small pair of manicure scissors to thin out the smallest or most gangly ones. Don't attempt to pull up the seedlings, which could damage the roots of their neighbors. There are some things that don't require thinning, such as alyssum and ornamental grasses. Avoid thinning weak seedlings like snapdragons until they are well established, since the fragile stems frequently break. I usually thin to 2-3 seedlings per cell to start with. Then when the seedlings are much larger, I thin to 1-2 per cell.

12. About 3-4 weeks before the last frost date, or as soon as the weather is warm enough, it's time to start the hardening off process. Set the rack outside on the east side of your house or in the dappled shade of a tree. Only do this for about half an hour on the first day. Watch the seedlings closely for signs of wilting, and don't put them out on cold or windy days. Slowly increase the amount of time they spend outside each day until they are staying outside all day and only coming in at night. During the hardening off phase, plants may need to be watered once or twice a day to keep them from drying out.

13. It would be wise to transplant the seedlings on different days, just in case of disaster. Then water them daily until they are established. Adding seaweed to the water for the first one or two waterings will encourage stronger root development. Don't give in to the temptation to transplant them into the garden before the last frost date, no matter how nice the weather seems. One year, I planted 100 seedlings a few days before the last frost date (May 15 here in northern Utah), and two days later the temperature dropped to freezing. I placed pots over as many seedlings as I could, but I still lost about half of them.

14. Don't be shocked and dismayed if up to 10% of your seedlings die or get eaten by bugs before they grow up. This happens to even the most experienced gardeners. But if bugs are a serious problem, consider potting up your seedlings into 3" pots and growing them outside for a few more weeks before planting them in the garden. I've even been known to dig up recently planted seedlings and repot them when I find them partially defoliated in the garden.

15. Don't be in a rush to transplant all the seedlings into the garden right after the last frost date. I move any seedlings that are still too small to plant into a makeshift cold frame covered with shade cloth. There they can continue to grow until they're large enough to experience life in the garden. And as the flats are slowly emptied, I find myself filling in the spaces with new pony packs of seedlings which I germinated indoors then transfered to the cold frame as soon as the first seedlings emerged. Most perennials can be started this way up until the end of June, then transplanted into the garden in late summer or early fall. Then there are a few perennials that are started in the cold frame in late fall because they need the freezing termperatures of winter to trigger germination in the spring. So a gardener's work is never done. Thank goodness!

HTH

now wed, thur and fri are looking to get cold, UHG!!!

Thanks for the info. I have decided to sacrifice a couple as guinea pigs. Planted 1 MG, 1 red cypress and 1 merremia. If the test goes well, others will go into the ground or to the swap.

Just went out to check and the test did not go well. The baby cottontail ate the seedlings and the dog killed the baby cottontail. So depressed am going back to bed.

This message was edited Mar 3, 2006 7:29 AM

Hokey Smokes Batman. What a way to start the day. I would go back to bed too. Jeez Louise.

Can't imagine what you might have edited out. Probably don't want to know!

Oh no! That's awful, the poor little seedlings, and the cotton tail too! I'd go back to bed, too.

Nature can really be a bummer sometimes :(