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| my seedlings are getting pretty tall and the lettuce was tipping over at the base(see other thread). should i begin transplanting the seedlings to larger pots?
im clueless and have read the FAQ's please advise
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by oilpainter 3 (My Page) on Mon, Mar 22, 10 at 14:02
| Your tomatoes are pretty tall I don't think you have enough light or the light is not close enough to the seedlings. You can transplant them, but I would just fill the containers you have up to the top. Can you move them closer to a window and then set up your lights lower. That way you would be increasing your light. For the life of me I can't see why anyone would plant lettuce indoors. It does very well planted early outdoors in cooler temperatures. In your zone you could plant it outside anytime now. I would harden off what you have and then set them out. |
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- Posted by feethanddooth 6 (My Page) on Mon, Mar 22, 10 at 16:32
| ok thanks. i didnt know about the lettuce. i guess you didnt think that i may be new to this. for the life of me i cant understand why you happen to think that. |
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| Now you know what is meant by "leggy seedlings". ;) You can try transplanting the lettuce seedlings and you will have to do those tomato seedlings too - transplanted very deep up to just below the set of seed leaves (cotyledons). Bury all the stem. But you will have to get all of them much, much better and more light or they will just go leggy on you again within a couple of days and all your work will have been wasted. The deep transplanting is common practice for tomatoes and peppers when they get leggy - something to be avoided - but with things like lettuce it doesn't always work as they don't form roots along the stem as the others do. They grow from the root cluster at the base. Honestly, if it were me, I would just pitch those lettuce seedlings rather than spend the time and money to repot them. Just direct seed some instead. There are lots of posts here on what works best direct seeded and what needs to be started indoors if you want to read through them. And when in doubt, go by the instructions on the back of the seed packet. Dave |
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- Posted by oilpainter 3 (My Page) on Mon, Mar 22, 10 at 19:37
| Sorry feethanddooth. I know you may be new to this or you probably would know what's wrong, and I may have come on too strong. There are just so many posts here about people having trouble with lettuce seedlings planted indoors. Dave is right just cut down the lettuce a bit and it will send up new leaves. That is how I harvest leaf lettuce by taking the scissors to it. It keeps it from bolting too soon and sends up new tender leaves. The most important thing is that you give everything more light |
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- Posted by feethanddooth (My Page) on Mon, Mar 22, 10 at 22:21
| will do. thanks for the feedback and hope one day ill have some for everyone. :) cheers PS - shuld i keep the lights on 24/7? |
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| once germinated I do lights for 12 hours |
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| It isn't the hours of light that is vital, it is the intensity. So 12 hours of very close intense light is far more productive than 24 hours of further away less intense light. If you can't add more lights then you have to get what light you can provide as close as possible - literally almost touching the plants. It also uses less electricity that way than 24 hours on would. Dave |
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- Posted by feethanddooth 6 (My Page) on Tue, Mar 23, 10 at 9:22
| sounds good. going to sow my lettuce outside today. |
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| oilpainter - elsewhere you noted that we have different climates so my sweet pea method wouldn't work for you. Now it's my turn to say the your lettuce technique doesn't work as well for me as starting them indoors:) The main reason is slugs and snails. If I sow outside a 10 foot row can be gone in a night at the 2 leaf stage. By starting indoors and then setting out transplants I can steal a march on the gastropods. In my cool damp climate lettuce is a cinch to transplant. I sow a small pinch of seed in each cell and then just pull the individual plants from the clumps and stuff them into the ground. |
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