1gallon pots

I have a zillion 1-gallon pots that I like to pot up my seedlings in for TLC. It occured to me that I spend DAYS and DAYS transplanting from bottles and plastic starter containers into these pots. These pots already have perfect drainage, height, and sturdiness. What they don't have is a lid.

I'm thinking Seran wrap and a rubber band and then I wouldn't have to transfer anything. For the cost of the wrap and bands, it would save my aching back several days' labor.

Ideas?

I'll let someone else chime in who has more experience than I do ~ but from what I gather the milk jugs, for example, will give height to the reaching seedlings, as well as a more controlled airspace around them?? As in, less likely to get fried on a sunny day? I'm only grasping here, as I'm new to winter sowing. But it's heck to make a post and not have anyone respond, so thought I would. :o)

Sanna

Use the same starter bottles on the plants, just go ahead and put them in the larger pots. But, heck what do I know. It just seems to make sense to me.

One thing to think about if you use a gallon pot filled to capacity is that you may impair/slow down the ability of your tiny seedlings to form a nice root mass. In a smaller container, they have less soil bulk to push their way through.

You could put the seedlings in little folded paper cups and put the cups in the larger container. That would solve the root mass problem. By the time the cup dissolves the root mass would be nice and tight.

Again, that just sort sounds feasible to me. No real past experiences on doing it to draw on.

I'm glad I looked at this thread. I've always wondered why everyone just didn't take the biggest pots the had and sow in that.
Never thought about the little seeds not needing all that space.

What I don't understand is, how do the little seeds know how big their pot is? Do seeds started in small pots do better than seeds sown directly in the ground? I've never compared them, since I'm not in a place where I can direct sow, but I just wondered. Is this a dumb question?

Thank you Sanna, appreciated

Milk jugs are within an inch of height of the gallon pots.... the seran is supposed to be the controlling factor (I'm thinking).

Susan, so I'm going to have to repot anyway, because the soil would be only 4".... OK, that makes sense.

Woofie, I think you're right -- the GROUND isn't a tiny little space, and Nature seems to like the ground for seeding.

Still thinking here, and appreciate every response!!!!!

My next thought as I slurped down my 32oz of sweet tea is.... HEY, container, easy to punch holes in, a LID, 4" in the bottom leaves 4" of air, and plenty of them around if I'll just stop throwing them away.

Woofie, you're right, how do those little darlin's know where they are.

woofie, the roots might "know" how big their pot is - the advantages of growing in pots are protection from weeds, animals, wind, etc., and (hopefully) knowing for sure what it is that's growing there. The bigger the container, the less likely it is to dry out quickly. Depending what you're using for "soil", (soil-less potting mix?) it could get expensive and become more work with very large containers, but I'm always amazed at how big the roots grow in seedlings - the more soil, the better, as far as the roots are concerned.
Just my take on it.

claypa, it sounds like you are disagreeing with the idea of it being better to start seeds in smaller pots? This is getting me very curious.

Hi, all-- so glad you started this thread--interesting idea--

As I understand it, "Wintersowing" is about EZ and carefree germination of seeds--

So, the smallish pots like small paper cups may dry out more quickly and require additional watering (more than just rain and a few extra doses of H20 during longer dry spells) than the traditional "Wintersowing" milk jug set up. (Wintersowing suggests at least 4" of planting mix in each container to help with moisture control.) I will be interested to hear what you think about the cups-- (I am going to try some large syrofoam cups, so I may have some follow-up too.) The bigger one gallon pots one would think would work but I would be sure to have them in dappled light or shade as a precaution to over exposure.

And another thought: unless your microclimate in Tennesee is extremely mild, I would think that Seran Wrap as a covering (that was slit for air circulation and to allow rain into the pot) would not be strong enough to hold up and provide protection from torrential downpours and cold snaps, etc. It might work as a very temporary cover for seeds, though.

Some other stronger plastic might work: Last year I put deep aluminum baking pans in strong huge Ziploc bags and that held up well even when vent, rain, and drainage holes were cut into the tops and bottoms.

I use my patio planter pots for wintersowing seeds and cover them with heavy plastic bags with slits. Sometimes I put little garden stakes in them to make a tent if needed but that's a bit fussy. Works OK.

This year I'm using clear plastic Rubbermaid lidded boxes (with venting and drainage holes drilled into the tops, sides and bottoms) with 4 inches of soil. A bit more organized and attractive than my past WS projects...we'll see how they will work but I think they will be fine in our climate.

About planting out--have you tried the 'hunk o' seedlings' method? More or less, it goes like this: you plant too many seeds in your pot, after germination when they are ready to plant out into your garden or nursery bed then break up the soil mix with seedlings into chunks. Next plant out into the garden, wait a while to see which ones are thriving the best and cull out the weaklings. For me, this is easier than trying to fuss with planting separately all the teeny tiny seedlings... I am pretty casual (sloppy?) about the way I work so that is one technique I find useful.

Supposedly, and I have found this to be the case with my flower seedlings, wintersowing produces seedlings that are stronger, with better root systems, and are more weather resistant (than growing under lights, say) so that they are ready to go directly into the garden from the milk jug (or whatever you are using outside) and can skip the interim pot planting step. I like that part.

I am trying to keep better records of my WS so I made a little diary page of my WS. Here's the link to my 2008 WS thus far: http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/tabasco/7992/

Just some thoughts/ideas I wanted to share -- I hope it wasn't TMI. I'm just excited about Wintersowing!...

and good luck!


This message was edited Feb 1, 2008 11:11 AM

As always, good info Tabasco! Excellent idea to keep you winter sowing journal current as well, which is something I need to start doing!!

I don't see why a 1 gallon container with a minimum 4" of good potting soil and the top covered with clear plastic wouldn't work. My concern would be the color of the pot. The majority of pots are made of black plastic. Black absorbs the heat of the sun quicker than other colors. I would be concerned that the soil might dry out to quickly. Therefore, I would try experimenting. Take half the seeds and plant them in 1 gallon container & 4" of potting soil with polymer crystals that retain moisture. Then winter sow the other half in another 1 gallon container, but omit the polymer crystals. Please post the results!

Also as Tabasco pointed out, the saran wrap might be to flimsy due to heavy snow, ice accumulation and pouring rain. You might try using several layers of saran wrap, garment bags from the dry cleaners or try to find a heavier clear plastic in K-Mart or Home Depot.

I have used 4 straws inserted into each corner of my containers to help support the plastic, creating a tent like effect. It works well and gives seedlings extra head room

Finally, rubber bands will break down due to weather conditions and dry rot. Make sure that you use a heavy duty rubber band, use several thinner rubber bands or replace them as they break.

Talk about some massive root systems! Woo Hoo! I can visualize those babies now!!

This message was edited Feb 1, 2008 1:11 PM

Will the top half of a milk jug fit over the gallon pots? It could be the best of both worlds.

I misunderstood; I thought you wanted to fill the gallon pot to the top and sow. -With four inches, it should be fine.

You are right about the saran wrap, Shirley1, that's what I've done with most of mine and when it rains, it sinks in and sometime pulls the rubberband till it's all in the middle of the pot. I need some heavier plastic or at least better saran wrap, don't they sell it in extra strong.
I also like the idea of taking the flowers out in clumps. I've tried to take them out 1 at a time, and you always have to throw them away, because there's not enough dirt on them,

duct tape?

Well, I definitely use duct tape to secure the top & bottom of my 1 gallon milk container. You could definitely try using it to attach the black plastic pot and the top half of the plastic container. Please let us know how it works!

You might also be able to fit the top of a 2 liter bottle down inside a trade gallon pot, using it like a cloche... take the cap off for ventilation.

I have a lot of 12, 14, and 16 flower pots I use for big stuff outside, so I took a couple put rocks in the bottom, put the 4 inches on top of those, then sowed the seeds and put doubled up Saran Wrap on top. I left about 3" between the dirt and top of pot.
It made sense to me, but then you know what a dummy I am.
The rocks also make it really heavy, so the wind and stuff doesn't carry it off.
Does it sound ok to ya'll.