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seeds Planted multiple seeds in one container, separate or sacrifice?

SV1000

SV1000

Initially I was thinking I should plant 2-3 seeds per 3 oz Dixie cup and now I have 2-3 cute little gems in each cup. Should I try to separate them or just snip the slow growers?
 
I think that depends on how many you want to grow. I have the same thing going on, some of them germinated better than I anticipated (which is good)! I am going to transplant maybe half, and then cull off the rest.

Congrats on a good start!
 
Thats what I did, when they reached 1 inch or taller, I would take the whole cluster out, gently shake and spray with water if needed and gently untangle each one by tugging it. If you break a few smaller hair like roots, it's not the end of the world... Just don't harm the tap root (center root).
 
If they are right on top of each other, might be best to sacrifice. If there is some space between them, and you catch them before there is too much roots to damage, you can seperate. I use a kabob skewer and push it beside the plant I want to move and gently lift the plant out and repot it in its new home. If you do it soon enough with a light hand, the plant will handle the move just fine.
 
Sounds good, I can probably separate some and snip others. Here are the cups I have moved off the heat pad and under the lights. They are all mixed up but I have: Bhut J, Red Savina, Lumbre, Hot Cherry, Tabasco, Y7P, Jap M, Jap Billy Biker, Better Boy, Big Boy and Cherry tomatoes. Most of these sprouted in 3-14 days.


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I have been planting some seedlings in 4" square pots, with 9 seeds per pot.
Then when they just begin to start to grow their real leaves I carefully separate and put in thier own pots.
As long as you are carefull and separate early they do just fine from what I can tell.

I do this because I dont have seed starting trays.
 
SV1000 said:
Honestly, I did not think of that...any drawbacks to letting them grow together?
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This is exactly what I'm trying to figure out myself. Every how-to article or related forum thread I've come across on the Web mentions thinning them out by cutting or pulling them up. The reasons make sense: no fighting for water and nutrients in the soil or sunlight being blocked. However, for a couple reasons, I'm unconvinced.

Last year I planted all my pepper plants in a well-shaded area that really doesn't get much light; in fact, I was afraid none of them would be productive at all. In reality, they performed quite well, and this year I intend on using my last year's "sunflower garden" for many of my peppers since it gets far more and better light (mostly afternoon, late day and sunset light).

Also, last year I bought a pack of Bonnie Plants cayenne pepper plants. It was a container with about 9 very tiny compartments that were maybe 2-3" deep and very thin (the top was only maybe an inch at the most, likely less). They were root-bound, and many of the compartments contained up to 2 or 3 plants. To make matters worse, they got the shady part of my garden, since my preferred pepper varieties got the spotlight.

Being root-bound, growing within less than an inch of each other, in the shade, and--to top it off--blocking each other's little light they did get, they sure did produce well. I *still* have lots of cayenne peppers left from last year, those things went wild. Only two or three didn't make it, and those had to be cut off due to wind damage early in the spring. Later on, being so close to each other actually helped them to stay standing in strong wind. I managed to keep them going until I finally decided to give up, a full month after the first frost.

This year, I planted 2-3 seeds per peat pellet, and due to space concerns and the fact that I want to try and get the most peppers, will likely try to keep as many as possible alive for transplanting. I'll probably only cut the plants that look like they're going nowhere, and keep them all in the same container. Whether I'll have any luck or not, I don't know. I'll see. This being my first time growing from seed, it could flop before they even get transplanted out in the garden, so my plan B is to order some from ChilePlants.com soon (mostly Chinense species, especially some super-hots) and buy some Bonnie Plants from the nearby Lowe's or Walmart if I need to as a last resort.
 
I grow multiple plants in one pot all the time successfully, both in dirt and in hydro. It is also good to plan for a back-up in case one plant dies. Chile seeds are cheap...........

If in dirt, it will take big pots.
 
If you don't pluck the slower ones and dedicate a pot to a plant they will produce less and grow smaller. I did the same thing you did with my seeds and ended up with a LOT more than I wanted, but after reading I seperated them into 2.5 gallon pots and gave away some I didn't want. I did however leave a few to grow in the same pot and those few not only grew about half the size of the ones that had their own pot, but produced a lot smaller fruit and a lot less of them. I didn't keep track of the exact amount and weight of the plants, but I can easily look at the plants grown together that shared 1 pot and tell that they had less then the single plant with a pot all to itself. So basically your going to get more and bigger from from 1 big plant then 2 little ones.
 
I am debating the very same thing. Bottom line is I would rather have one strong seedliing, than two damages ones or even one damaged one. 
 
I grow 3-4 seedlings per pot.. And separate them by shaking the plants out of the soil at the second set of leaves.. sometimes the roots clump a  bit and I have to choose a break point but I have yet to have a plant die.
 
I always think " I have 10 more of them I don't really need these other 4 smaller ones" but then I still separate them and transplant them... I'd rather grow them for a month or so and give them away rather than see the go to slaughter.. It feels unnatural lol..
 
Spread them as equidistant as possible from each other. That way the roots are far less likely to tangle badly enough to cause problems separating them.
 
suchen said:
Spread them as equidistant as possible from each other. That way the roots are far less likely to tangle badly enough to cause problems separating them.
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The pot trays I use alow for about an inch apart the pots I do about 2 inches so it depends on what your using
 
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