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seeds Transplanting Seedlings from Seed Starter Tray

AlabamaJack

AlabamaJack

Extreme Member
I have tried to look through all the threads concerning transplanting seedlings from the seed starter trays (72 cell ~1" sq).

3 questions...

1. Do you wait until you see roots coming out of the bottom of the cells before transplant?

2. What is the best way to "dislodge" the starting soid from the tray without harming the delicate seedlings? Take a spatula or butter knife and go around the edges to loosen the soil kinda like getting a cake out of a baking dish?

3. What size container (9 oz cup, 4" pot, 6" pot, etc) do you recommend for the first transplant or does it matter? I have space concerns so I am thinking about 9 oz clear plastic cups.

It won't be long before I will have to transplant seedlings. If my overall germination rate is 80%, I will have just over 400 viable seedlings for the first transplant. I was planning on using 9 oz cups for first transplant, then using 6" pots for second transplant where I would take about 200 to try and get ready for transplanting into 5 gallon containers.

Does this sound like a good plan?

Input is certainly welcome....
 
Wait till the roots are solid before transplanting, they may or may not be coming out the bottom. If there is a solid root mass, they should pop out with a little persuasion(carefully turn sort or upside down and wiggle.) I also cut my 72 cell trays into manageable 9 cell squares. When I transplant , I like to go only one size up. Sometimes I go from 72 cell tray to 36 cell tray or into small square(18/tray) pots. You have to be quite efficient when dealing with hundreds of plants and only so much light.
 
AJ, I start mine in 144 cell starting trays and take them out when they get about an inch long usually the day they sprout and I put them in a 72 cell tray leaving about a 1/2 inch sticking out. I leave them in there until they get about 3 inches long (APPROX.) then I transplant into 4" pots about a 1/2 inch from the cotyledons. I use the flat side of the measuring spoon to scoop them out I use the plunger end of the syringe to tamp down the soil around the seedling and the syringe filled with water to moisten the stubborn seed husks that won't come off. The clippers are used to perform the surgery on the husks. If the dirt is to dry and it crumbles apart I use a pencil to make a round hole to drop the root of the seedling into but I usually give the plug a dose of water before extracting it helps it to come out easier if they are wet. (Oh by the way I am a diabetic not a drug addict LOL)

Dale

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Man AJ you have alot of work ahead of you transplanting. I find the easiest way for me to get the seedling out of the starter tray and into cups is to use two butter knives. I insert knives opposite side of each other and pinch just a bit and lift the plug and place in your cup. I am quick to put them in cups probably by the time the first true leave if 1/4" wide. I do this because I only have a couple of germination trays and one shop light. I have better success when the plugs are on the moist side rather than dry. You will mess up a few that is why you started so many. I did something new this year is I watered my germination trays with a straw and a cup of water. I would dip the straw in the cup, put my finger over the opposite end like a kid and water each cell. Perfect amount of water and it doesn't settle the seed started mix.
 
If you buy the good nursery cells, they have round holes in the bottom to easily pop out seedlings. The big nurseries use a sort of pegboard with 72 or 144 pegs to pop all plants out at once.
 
These are the 9 oz cups I will be using...they are standard. Will have three 1/4" holes drilled in the bottom to allow bottom watering...

 
they are very cheap...got a bunch of them at wally world...I knew I wanted something disposable and these fit the bill...here is a pic of the holder I made for them....each holder will hold 60 cups (5 X 12)..and is 15" wide by 36 inches long and the holes were drilled to a diameter where the bottom of the cups will be about 1/4" off the surface....this is to allow bottom watering...

 
The wife says it is more of an obsession. Says she has never seen me so involved with the learning process and trying to develop my own "style" like I currently am. Of course my style is being developed with the input of the kind people here on this forum.

Just had a brainstorm..:idea:..:clap:..if I make the holders 4 wide and 16 long that will be 12" wide and 48" long (total of 64 per tray) and they will fit perfectly under 2 shop lights side by side....wonder why I didn't think of that earlier...:doh:
 
AJ, you may even cut them down smaller as you go for ease of moving for watering also they will not all grow at the same rate so you will be moving the plants around to get the same size plants all in the same holder it makes it easier to keep the lights close. I am using actual nursery pots (4") and the holder holds 18 pots it is very easy to fit them in the seed starting domes to bottom water. you may want to consider making them the size of whatever you are going to use for watering. smaller may be better.

Dale
 
Understand Dale...was thinking about 1 15" wide 48" long unit...but heck a 15" wide and 24" would work well too....Each time I transplant, I will be transplanting less plants until down to about 200...hopefully will be in 6" pots...I have enough room for 208 plants in 6" pots...

Last night while I was sitting in my garage talking to my plants in my grow box, I was thinking about your setup (and Pam's) for seedlings). Heck, I don't need to buy shelving for my plants. I have three 8 foot long, 18" wide shelves hanging on the wall. They are the wire shelves that have supports attached to the wall and are adjustable. I put them up when we bought the house and they just have a little junk on them now. I love it when a plan comes together. Only thing I need is 12 fixtures and 24 bulbs and I am in business. Will probably close off the ends with 1/4" plywood and use 60 mil visquene as the front in order to retain some heat....this is going to be a piece of cake....so I can put 144 on those 3 shelves total...32 in my new grow box, and another 32 in my germinator for a total of 208....I am in business....
 
I was at a greenhouse today and the guys were transplanting knockout roses. They were in something similar to AJ's nine ounce cups, only wider and shorter. What was odd was they had their bottom cut out. They set in something like AJ's grow rack, only it was made of material similar to corrugated cardboard. He would fill a 3-gallon container about half full of potting soil, take the small cup, turn it sort of sideways and push on the bottom. Obviously, the plants were sort of root bound, because the soil did not come loose. He then stuck it on top of the other soil and nearly filled the container with more soil. Tamped it slightly and was done.

What was strange was the plants looked like they had been overwintered. Only three or four branches, none longer than 2.5 inches.

I wish I could take a couple of days a week off for the next month and volunteer to work for him.

FWIW, and this goes against what almost everyone here says - a 3-inch square container (about four inches deep) is large enough to support a 12" plant. His reason for doing it this way - he needs to conserve space and he sells hundreds and hundreds of plants each spring and simply doesn't have room for five-six inch containers if they don't need to be that big. I know last year my sister brought me a 132 seed tray that holds tobacco plants. Each cell is only one inch square by two inches deep, with tapered walls in each cell. The plants were 12" high or taller and except for needing watered at least every other day, had no trouble growing.

YMMV,

Mike
 
wordwiz said:
FWIW, and this goes against what almost everyone here says - a 3-inch square container (about four inches deep) is large enough to support a 12" plant.
Click to expand...

Definitely large enough to support the plant but not for it to grow productively. These plants will grow much bigger when potted up or put in the ground.
 
I have to agree with POTAWIE, those greenhouses do not care one bit what that plant does after you leave the cash register.

Dale
 
The peppers I got from him last year did quite well, and I did transplant them into the garden. And I disagree with your assessment of greenhouses - they live and die with their reputation. Even in Cincinnati, a garden supply store will not survive and prosper for 20 years if the plants it sells turn out bad. The peppers were not 12 inches tall, maybe 8 inches, but they suffered no transplant shock and were still producing pods in October.

Mike
 
The greenhouse/nursery business is all about using space efficiently and I've also noticed most people would rather spend less for a small pepper plant than more $$ for a bigger plant, although I usually sell medium to large plants myself.
 
Here is a list of transplanted seedlings. I have "shuffled" them into three "60 cup holder" trays. the first tray is called superhots, the second is called "Habanero/Scotch Bonnet/Tabasco" tray, and the third is simply "Chili Pepper" tray. I will have three more trays when I finish.

I am planning on "thinning" one more time when I transplant into 6" pots.

Like most of you, it is going to be hard to choose which plants to keep and which to compost.

 
I took a plastic cup and cut off the bottom and top rim then removed about an inch section from the side.  The left over flexible plastic piece can be squeezed to adjust to the size needed for seedling cell removal.  Just adjust to size push down into cell, squeeze a little to compact the soil and lift out.
 
 
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