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New to growing (anything)...what do i do now?

V

vinyl conflict

Firstly hello,

Im new to growing chillis and anything at all really, I've germinated a few seeds and I've started to see some results which is good. I've just placed the propagator in my airing cupboard ontop of my boiler and now I'm bringing the trays out to a south facing window each day in the morning.

What I'm stuck on now is what to do next. I understand that i should not be re-potting untill the seedlings have show their second set of true leaves but what do i do with the plugs that have grown multiple seedlings? ie i planted 2 or 3 seeds and they have germinated. do i let them all grow or do i cull one and leave the remaining one to grow? or do i seperate when i re-pot?

Ive grown some herbs as well and in hindsighti have planted too many seeds in each plug/container. my basil for example has far too many seedlings.

any help and advice would help. i still have some seeds left and i planned to plant a few more in a second batch anyway so i think i will only plant 1 seed in each one next time.

Help and advice appreciated.

Capsicum Baranco with two seedlings...what do I do with these two???
DSC02148.jpg


Capsicum Twilight
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Capsicum Baranco & Worldbeater peppers
DSC02149.jpg


Basil (too many seedlings?) or is this ok?
DSC02147.jpg


Thanks in advance
 
Welcome to the site.

Looking good so far. You may want to thin the basil now before the roots intertwine with each other. For now, just keep them all happy and then one they get bigger transplant them into bigger pots. Just be careful not to over water them and remember to keep the lights on them. if you're using Floro light make sure they are about an inch from the plants.

Here's a good guide: http://www.peppermania.com/grow_how.html
 
when you say "thin the basil now" what do you mean?

sorry i dont understand - do you mean just cut a few of the seedlings away so only a few are left?

Does that also apply to the chillis and peppers? for example the capsicum with 2 seedlings...should i cut one to only leave the other one? or leave them both until i need to re pot at which point i seperate them?

thanks for the link, i will have a read
 
potting up after the 2nd set of true leaves sounds about right. how big are you potting up to?? you just want to ensure the roots always have their space to grow. I would maybe pot up earlier from the pellets like the Baranco. I usually try to just have one seed per container....maybe 2. they're inexpensive and then you don't have to worry about disrupting them when they're that young. That's a lot of basil in one pellet.

I was fine last year with leaving them in a south facing window all day with no light. In fact I'm doing the flouro route this year with almost 24 hours of light right above the seedlings and honestly haven't seen too much of a difference...if any. you look like you're off and running so like pepperfreak said, make sure you don't overwater.

There are thousands of posts on here about getting started so search around and you'll find your answers....just try not to get too overwhelmed. Keeping it simple will still work!!
 
Ballzworth said:
how big are you potting up to??

That's a lot of basil in one pellet.
Click to expand...


I will be moving up to 6cm pots initially.

it is indeed alot of basil in one pellet! i purchased a "in the box set" which came with a tray and 12 pellets - i just divided all the seeds amongst the 4 pellets (it came with 3 herbs), obviously that was wrong, i just assumed they gave you enough for the amount of pellets.

As i said i will be doing a second batch so now now my mistakes. Anyway its just the peppers and chillis i'm really interested in and i only planted 2/3 seeds in each.

I have some chilli de cayenne on the go as well but only one is showing so far - i know im on the right track as they are growing at least, just trying to not over complicate things.

thanks for the assistance
 
By thinning the basil (and other plants) I mean to either pluck all but one maybe two seedlings per container. But, I would probably go and try potting them all in your bigger pots now, thus saving them from being plucked.
 
I would only leave one pepper plant per cell or pellet. I usually just use scissors to snip the smallest one away as the first set of leaves are just starting to form. Or if I only have only a few seeds sprout and need to seperate to grow both, I use a kabob stick and push it all the way down beside the one I want to move and gently lift the seedling up and place it in the new home. If I do this I do it when the seedlings are very small so there isn't many roots to disturb. Either way you choose, it is better to do it while the plants are very small before the roots get tangled together.

I agree that they look like they need more light. Give them as much as you can. I use standard floro shop lights about 2 in above the plants.

Hope that helps!
jacob
 
Jacob is right, you can easily transplant the peppers while they're that young. I've done it myself more than once. I use a small seafood fork to lift the seedling out of it's place and then I just put it into another small container of soil and water it in real good and that does it.


Alan
 
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