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Transplanting Advise

Hello again,

I have been searching and have found several threads about transplanting (potting up). However, my question is, is this necessary to do or can I keep my peppers in the 72 cells that they are in. The reason that I askis because I have some space considerations and think that if I start transplanting, I am only going to be able to transplant maybe half of them and am finding it hard to decide which ones to sacrafice :( Also I think I remember seeing plants sold at Lowes in the same 72 cells that i used to start with. I am sure there are pros and cons to both. I just need help deciding what to do...

Any suggestions or comments will greatly help me with my dilemma.

Sigh, :confused:
Paul
 
The first question I have to ask is, how long do you plan on leaving them in there? If you are going to leave them in the 72 for say 10 to 12 weeks my answer would have to be no I would not do it. But if you are going to leave them in for 4 maybe 5 weeks you could probably get away with it. I leave mine in the 72's until they are about 4'' high or if I see roots coming out of the bottom. Tell everyone more about your setup and you will get some very good suggestions on how to use small spaces.

Dale

Dale
 
I'm learning as I go and thank you for the quick response. I am here is Ohio (zone 5) and was wondering if leaving them in the 72 cells until planting would be okay? But, it sounds like it probably won't be ok. I was thinking of transplanting to 16 oz party cups, But don't know how to choose which sprouts to transplant as I can't transplant them all. I have started 18 each of Ancho, Mariachi, Thin & Thick Caynenne, Aji Red, Anaheim, Jalapeno, Habs, Hungarian and Serrano peppers along with 36 seeds of sweet peppers (they are just starting to pop up). But the vast majority are about 3-4 inches and I can see some roots coming out of the bottem holes.
This is my set up and really my only space. The top rack is tomatoes that I have since transplanted into 6" pots and have found that I can only fit 14 6" pots on these shelves.

February2008038.jpg


Thanks
Paul
 
I am beginning to realize that I may have gotten over zealous with the space that I have. I just don't know how to choose which seedlings live and get transplanted from which ones don't. It seems like a huge dilemma, but one of my on making. This being my first year, I had no idea how many would actually germinate. LOL It seems like a waste and its hard to think about throwing out health seedlings (they have kind of became part of the family) LOL
I know I'm probably overthinking this... I appreciate everyone's comments/suggestions.

Paul
 
From what I can see you have a lot more space than you realize. look how thepodpiper does his rack and you should be able to fit your garden and someone elses on your rack after transplanting. i see a light below that is not being used. I'm stretching out the time in 72 cells myself to slow do the progress and to get a tray super stong. Keep only the 3 or 4 strongest ones and work down from there you should have plenty of room.
 
Hey,
Those are some NICE plants! Thanks for your reply. That picture was taken before I used up my top shelf with tomatoes, Now all shelves have trays on them. My shelves are 48"x 18" deep, do you khow many party cups can you fit on them or how may you get per your shelves?

Thanks again,
Paul
 
oh boo hoo you got no room....
when my WIFE started growing we had 2 4 foot lights ...
now a full on comercial greenhouse and a heating system that could have been a new car...
what was once bought and hauled home in the car is now showing up in trucks and pallets.
I say you put them on the ground in a circle under a 400 to 1000 watt hps light in your growing inside .
or look ata small greenouse with a electric heat .
Or start giving your friends plants to put in there window..

shayne
 
mudatvs, you have the same rack that I have, you can put a lot of plants on that rack. First thing I would do though is get rid of the 6'' pots and go down to 4's. By the time all my seeds were germinated I had the pot containers turned the opposite way they are turned in the photo and each shelf was holding 72 4'' pots plus a few on the ends but I also had 3 4' fluorescent fixtures on each shelf.

Dale

lightstand001.jpg
 
mudatvs said:
I am beginning to realize that I may have gotten over zealous with the space that I have. I just don't know how to choose which seedlings live and get transplanted from which ones don't. It seems like a huge dilemma, but one of my on making. This being my first year, I had no idea how many would actually germinate. LOL It seems like a waste and its hard to think about throwing out health seedlings (they have kind of became part of the family) LOL
I know I'm probably overthinking this... I appreciate everyone's comments/suggestions.

Paul

you are going to find that we all go through that same sophie's choice come transplant time, but you have a good amount of space to still keep a number of plants. the 72's are no good past a couple inches and coincedentally thats the size of the plants sold in them, i use 4 inch pots so 18 a tray. just think of which peppers you need/like the most and how they produce then choose based on what you want your harvest to look like. so if you use a certain pepper for pretty much everything and it produces like gangbusters then you probably still don't need that many but if it doesn't have big harvests then you'll need more. but the little guys do have some kind of hold on us as soon as they sprout...


shayneyasinski said:
oh boo hoo you got no room....
when my WIFE started growing we had 2 4 foot lights ...
now a full on comercial greenhouse and a heating system that could have been a new car...
what was once bought and hauled home in the car is now showing up in trucks and pallets.
I say you put them on the ground in a circle under a 400 to 1000 watt hps light in your growing inside .
or look ata small greenouse with a electric heat .
Or start giving your friends plants to put in there window..

shayne

i'm gonna choose to beleive that was more sympathic then it sounds...
 
I can easily fit 42 9-ounce Dixie cups under two 4' fluorescent lamps. The cups are large enough to hold the plants until I need to get them into 3, 4 or 5 gallon pots.

Mike
 
I am with Mike on the 9 oz cups...square may be better but I like the round cups...and they are clear so you can see when they need transplanting again 'cause you can see the roots...
 
Thank you all for your replies. First off it was good to hear those 'sympathetic' responses because you were right: "but the little guys do have some kind of hold on us as soon as they sprout..." and I thought that I was loosing my mind LOL. I think that I am just going to jump in and transplant into those 16oz Party Cups that I have. I'll post some pictures when I'm done.

I also wanted to explain that this is the first time that I have started anything from seed before and was amazed at how protective I became over my plants. Glad to see that i'm not the only one. Thank you for that...
 
I am with Mike on the 9 oz cups...square may be better but I like the round cups...and they are clear so you can see when they need transplanting again 'cause you can see the roots...

AJ,

I got the idea from you! And I must say it was spot on. I've also taken (I think it was) your advice to bottom water. Since I've started that, three weeks ago, the plants are looking way better. They also seem to be getting less leggy.

I am trying an experiment - I resowed a few types that have not sprouted yet but this time, I put about 1.5 inches of potting soil in the cup, added the seed and covered it. The idea is to add more PS as the plant grows.

Strangely, I have a few plants that are not yet an inch tall but have 8 or more leaves on them. Perhaps I need to find a different light to use???

Mike
 
mudatvs said:
I also wanted to explain that this is the first time that I have started anything from seed before and was amazed at how protective I became over my plants. Glad to see that i'm not the only one. Thank you for that...

This is my first time starting from seed too and there is a lot to learn

wordwiz said:
AJ, I got the idea from you! And I must say it was spot on. I've also taken (I think it was) your advice to bottom water.

Strangely, I have a few plants that are not yet an inch tall but have 8 or more leaves on them. Perhaps I need to find a different light to use???

Mike

The reason I was using 9 oz cups was I wanted a throw away holder and the cheapest thing I could find that fit the bill was the 9 oz cups....buy in quantity and they are really cheap...

I can not take credit for the bottom watering idea....that came from Pam I think...

Here is a little tool I made this evening for transplanting out of the 72 cell trays...I got tired of fiddling with 2 buter knives or one butter knife....was messin' up too much...so I went to the store, bought the cheapest pair of salad tongs I could find, came home, beat the ends out flat, took the tongs to the side grinder and flattened off the tips and sides...they fit perfectly in the 1" cube of the tray....very easy now....just slide down on each side...squeeze a little, pull up and there you have it...

transplanttongs002dn3.jpg
 
Its ok with me if you want to patent it GB...I will even help you set up the production line...I haven't seen anything like this around for transplanting 'cause I been lookin' so I just made it myself...
 
Thanks to all of the replies. I have started transplanting today and unfortunatly, I did not read carefully enough and used 16oz cups instead of 9oz cups. But, I guess more is better. I drilled about 1/4" hole in the bottem of each and placed the planting cup inside another cup for drainage. After re-reading everyone's comments, I am going to try bottem watering next time I water.
Today I transplanted Habs, Hungarian Wax, Mariachi and Serrano Chilis. I'll post some pics tommorrow after I finish transplanting what still needs potting-up.

Thanks again everyone

Paul
 
Oh, I almost forgot... AJ, those tongs looks awsome! I messed up a few plants fooling around with 2 butter knives. Great idea!!!
 
16 oz cups are fine to use. I think Pam starts hers in 16 oz cups and doesn't transplant until it is time for setting them outside.

Only reason I am using 9 oz cups is the difference in space they take up. My next transplant will be to 6" pots, then on to the 5 gallon containers I am going to grow in this year.

Thanks for the compliment on the "transplant tongs". Anything I can make to make life a little easier I will try. I am basically lazy...lol.
 
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