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tepelus

My seedlings...some of them

tepelus
12 years ago

Since it may be some time before I can plant out my seedlings, I have been potting them up into 2 1/2" pots and labeling them. I have many more to go and this poopy weather we're having today is preventing me from potting up any more. I plan to keep a handful of each variety and sell the rest, if I can sell them. If not, they'll go into the garden. The ones I transplanted two weeks ago are growing quickly, the ones I just planted this past week are showing more growth already, now that they're not crowded in the jugs and have their own pots. Here's a pic of some of my potted up babies:

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My stupid Lowe's seems to be no longer going to carry the Sta-Green brand potting mix and going to all Miracle-Gro products, which really ticks me off because I hate MGs potting mix and have always done very well with the SG. The MG mix is full of garbage, rocks and sticks and shredded up mulch or something, highly dislike it! Though SG does have a few rocks and sticks too, the mix is much, much better for growing seeds than the MG. So the rest of my seedlings will have to get potted up in the crap MG potting mix.

Karen

Comments (8)

  • LilBlossom
    12 years ago

    Ooooh! Pretty and organized! Can I ask where you got your pots from? :o)

  • lgslgs
    12 years ago

    Do you live near any of the BFG Nursery supply sites? They might have what you need at a good price.

    Lynda

    Here is a link that might be useful: BFG supply

  • tepelus
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I got the pots, trays and plant tags from Greenhouse Megastore. I went with the cheapo black form pots because I didn't want to spend a lot of money on pots, and they were the cheapest for the amount I needed (and may need more) that I could find on the internet.

    Karen

  • pippi21
    12 years ago

    Did you start out sowing your seeds in those nursery pots? Indoors or outdoors? Wow! Look how organized they look! What kind of tray do you have them in? I have ordered the 4 in. pots and daisy trays from Greenhouse Megastore and have been very satisfied, but I saw something in the Veasey's catalog that I might look into, just to experiment with certain seeds.
    What is planted in all those pots? How many seeds per pot? That's one way to avoid HOS!

  • tepelus
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I started out growing them in milk jugs. When the majority of the seedlings in a jug are big enough for my fingers to handle, I potted them up. Most are two seedlings per pot, some are three or four, and a few others are one seedling per pot. My echinacea are all one seedling to a pot. The liatris are two to three. The foxglove are anywhere between one to four because I had a bazillion of them germinate, so they can fight it out for themselves in their pots. The geum triflorum two, feverfew two, and so on. On some I figured having at least two seedlings together would make for a larger plant faster. The echinacea I wanted to do separately to get the most plants from my seedlings. All of those plant tags I handwritten the names, and some of those have very long names! My hand hurts after a while writing those.

    Karen

  • pippi21
    12 years ago

    What is your secret getting the small sprouts out of the milk jugs/potted up into the small nursery pot? Kevin Lee Jacobs from A garden for the house blog posted a real easy way to get the milk jug soil/seedling to slide right out of the pot, but I seem to have a problem dealing with the single sprout/seedling. Guess my hands are too big! I end up destroying the sprout trying to plant the small thing. Guess I'll have to keep trying till I get "the hang of it." Your process seems like a lot of extra work but hey, look how nice all of your seedlings look! May be worth the extra effort..if you don't have a lot to plant out. I think I get too anxious and transplant mine too early.

  • tepelus
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    The only real reason I'm doing this is because the area I'm going to plant them in is not ready. I was hoping to have it all tilled and everything ready by this time, but I hadn't accounted for all of the rain we've been having this year, making it impossible to do any moving of soil and preparation when what I have to work with is mud. And just when the yard and soil begins to dry out just about enough to work with it, more rain. So they're all going into pots, and it may be better anyway, to give them some size before planting out. The stupid squirrels around here like to dig out my seedlings after planting them, but don't harm the bigger plants too much.

    Karen

  • beatrice_outdoors
    12 years ago

    pippi-I've used large Popsicle sticks/toungue depressors from the crafts store when I had to remove individual plants from my flats. I'm right handed, so the bare left had holds the leaves (no gloves-you need to be able to "feel" the plant and pressure), and the right hand uses the flat side of the stick to lift the seedling out, moving it around the seedling to loosen the soil if necessary. I tried a butter knife at first, but the tip is more narrow than the wide popsicle stick, so it picks up less soil and ends up damaging the roots too much.

    Karen-Your little babies look awesome!!! Keep them safe!!! I hate the squirrels around here. I tried using crushed pepper to keep them away, but the rain prevents it from working. I've now lost almost all of my convolvulos, half my asters, a pot of chamomile, two pots of delphinium, and three flats of lilies to the little stinkers. And lilies are SO hard for me to grow.

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