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seeds How in the world do you get seedlings out from a plug tray

PepperJam

PepperJam

Ok, this year is the first time i'm using the 72 plug trays. Yesterday night, i had to move some of my seedlings to 3.5 inch pots. What a pain! I used scissors to cut a row, then individually cut each plug, pressed/crushed the underside of each cell to pop out the seedling. That did not work. After massaging each cell and tapping, they finally came out.

There must be a easy way to do this .....
 
How big were the plants? When I use plug tray I normally just wait for the plants to get big, 2-3 sets of true leaves, and the squish the tray a little and pull the plant right out. If they are too small then the root system is small and not taking up enough space in the cell. If you wait for them to get bigger when you pull the stem, the whole cell comes out with it.
 
millworkman said:
How big were the plants? When I use plug tray I normally just wait for the plants to get big, 2-3 sets of true leaves, and the squish the tray a little and pull the plant right out. If they are too small then the root system is small and not taking up enough space in the cell. If you wait for them to get bigger when you pull the stem, the whole cell comes out with it.
Click to expand...

yeah, this.
 
I just put a small flat head screw driver along the side of the cell and pop it out. Small meaning, skinny. No problem!
 
likee Millworkman said, wait for the plants to get bigger and the roots to colonize the cell and it will just slide right out and you can then drop it right into its new home. i grow in solo cups and i wait till the cup is almost root bound and it slides right out
 
i use the labels from a burpee seed starting thing and use it to scrape it along the perimeter of the square all the way to the bottom, then just pop it out from the bottom, it works well for me
 
when I use to grow tomatoes with them I put pieces of twine in the cell before I fill with the medium. When I needed to get the plant out pull both ends of the twine and lifts them right out. It takes a lil time though if you are filling 72 cell.
 
if you're having issues with getting a seedling out of a plug, it generally means you're doing it too early.
let the root system encase the soil mix before transplanting.
 
+for letting the roots get more deveolped. And when I did it, I used a simple table/butter knife, slide it down on 2 sides, massage the cell, out pops the seedling and roots.

SL
 
My plug trays have a five sixteenths of an inch drain hole in the bottom of each cell. I just use the eraser end of a pencil or a short piece of quarter inch dowel to push them up from the bottom when the seedlings have two sets of true leaves and gently handle by their stems so as not to disturb the root ball. Maybe peppers aren't as fussy as some plants but it's a good habit to get into.
I like to be able to reuse the plug trays.
 
silva83tj said:
i use the labels from a burpee seed starting thing and use it to scrape it along the perimeter of the square all the way to the bottom, then just pop it out from the bottom, it works well for me
Click to expand...

+1,
Basically the easiest thing to do. Use a Flexible plastic plant tag slide it down on all sides (most cell inserts are tapered) hold the plants stem and while sliding out use the plant tag to help guide it up. Works 100% of the time, even if the roots have found their way through the drain holes! It works well with lettuce plugs as their roots are all over the place.
The soil must be "Moist" to apply the method. Too "Wet" and the roots will rip apart from the plant!

Greg.
 
It's funny, but I use a $0.99 kitchen utensil from Kitchen Collection store specifically for this. I'll take a picture of it soon. It works like a charm and is actually very damn close to a tool Gardener's Supply sells just for this purpose. Been using it for 7+ years now.

Basically, I scoop up all the soil including the roots and move to larger pot/container.

Chris
 
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