"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2011-05-15 16:23:10 +0100, Jake Nospam@invalid said:

On Sun, 15 May 2011 15:41:16 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2011-05-15 15:27:46 +0100, Kate said:

pruned a bit

Hi
What is the advantage of potting them on? I normally buy plugs & plant
them straight out into the ground, is that a mistake?

Kate xx

I think it depends on the size of the plugs, their root growth and the
weather. Some will simply be too small and 'feeble' to fend for
themselves, especially if we have a cold snap or very heavy downpours
of rain. For that reason, some people shop around a bit to see who
sends out the best developed root-systems. In the past, before I
married a nurseryman, I've bought plugs and done just as you say but
with very mixed results. We find that potting them on into 9cm pots
gives them time to grow a strong root system before they're put into
the ground or into containers.

I'm not fastidious about the old "9cm pot" idea. Largely because I
don't have enough space. There are some plants that need the space but
I get excellent results with many varieties using cell trays. These
days I get trays that are half-seed-tray size and have either 9 or 12
cells in them. Impatiens and petunias, for example, seem to like the
space of a 9 cell tray whilst bedding begonias come on better in 12
cell trays than in larger cells. FWIW, I've found these half-seed-tray
size cell things better than the usual full size trays you find in
garden centres, if only because the individual half trays can be
turned round so the plants in the middle get more light.

We sell some of those things in cells as well, Jake and Lobelia goes out
in trays or rows of cells from a tray but as we're dealing in many
thousands of plants to be sold to thousands of people over several weeks,
they can't possibly be left in cells all that time. That's why some of
the companies advertising plugs now are saying they're having a 'sale', I
should think!

Thank you Sascha for confirming what I have been saying "Getting rid of what
the personal buyer has not bought"

Mike


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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
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The hot weather will have brought a lot of
things on more quickly than usual. Things like Bacopa and Bidens,
Lysimachia nummularia, Isotoma, Verbenas, Scaveola - sprawly things -
would just be a horrible mess. Bigger and more beefy plants like Petunias,
Million Bells, that sort of thing go into 10cm pots and develop a nice
hearty root system.

I grow everything in coir as I find that (reliably) results in a far
stronger growth of both roots and plant above ground. Here, around mid
May (next week - hooray) is the time to start planting up the
containers with what will be well-developed plants.

I've done half a dozen containers today. It's always fun choosing just
what to use where. I've got to finish them tomorrow and in the meantime,
hope for a bit of rain, too.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon