Why do I need to plant seedlings to sequentially bigger pots? Why isn't
possible to plant a seedling to just 1 pot - the final size required by the
adult plant?

Gareth.

"Gareth" wrote in message
...
Why do I need to plant seedlings to sequentially bigger pots?
Why isn't possible to plant a seedling to just 1 pot - the final
size required by the adult plant?

Gareth.

You get a more a concentrated rootball as the roots are
constrained by the walls of each successive container.
In addition you're adding fresh compost to the outside
providing fresh nutrient to the growing root tips.



michael adams

"Gareth" wrote in message
...
Why do I need to plant seedlings to sequentially bigger pots? Why isn't
possible to plant a seedling to just 1 pot - the final size required by the
adult plant?

Gareth.

I've wondered this myself Gareth. In the wild seeds just drop to the ground and
grow OK without being in pots at all!
Jenny

JennyC wrote:
"Gareth" wrote in message
...
Why do I need to plant seedlings to sequentially bigger pots? Why
isn't possible to plant a seedling to just 1 pot - the final size
required by the adult plant?

Gareth.

I've wondered this myself Gareth. In the wild seeds just drop to the
ground and grow OK without being in pots at all!
Jenny

The vast majority of them do not, most of them don't germinate at all and of
those that do, only a fraction grow into healthy plants and even then, only
if the conditions are right.
Mimicking nature (which is what we are effectively doing) is more of a
struggle because we don't start with an infinite amount of seeds, space or
conditions.

JennyC writes

"Gareth" wrote in message
...
Why do I need to plant seedlings to sequentially bigger pots? Why isn't
possible to plant a seedling to just 1 pot - the final size required by the
adult plant?

Gareth.

I've wondered this myself Gareth. In the wild seeds just drop to the ground and
grow OK without being in pots at all!

In the wild, there tends to be other plants around taking up water. In a
pot, the soil seems to go a bit stale if you've got just one tiny
seedling sitting in the middle taking up water very slowly. Totally
non-scientific! Possibly utter rubbish. But it's how it feels.

It's a matter of degree. If it's fast-growing, you can put into a lot
larger pot than you would, say. a cactus, which may require a whole year
to go up half a pot size.
--
Kay

"K" wrote in message
...
JennyC writes

"Gareth" wrote in message
...
Why do I need to plant seedlings to sequentially bigger pots? Why isn't
possible to plant a seedling to just 1 pot - the final size required by
the
adult plant?

Gareth.

I've wondered this myself Gareth. In the wild seeds just drop to the ground
and
grow OK without being in pots at all!

In the wild, there tends to be other plants around taking up water. In a
pot, the soil seems to go a bit stale if you've got just one tiny
seedling sitting in the middle taking up water very slowly. Totally
non-scientific! Possibly utter rubbish. But it's how it feels.

It's a matter of degree. If it's fast-growing, you can put into a lot
larger pot than you would, say. a cactus, which may require a whole year
to go up half a pot size.
--
Kay


Personally I think its to stop them all fighting over the best part of the
pot; after all you wouldn't want:

Roses having a rumble
Spuds in a strop
Nightshades with knuckle dusters

I'll get my coat : {


--
*..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´ -:¦:- *Jackie* -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*

"K" wrote in message
...
JennyC writes

"Gareth" wrote in message
...
Why do I need to plant seedlings to sequentially bigger pots? Why isn't
possible to plant a seedling to just 1 pot - the final size required by the
adult plant?

Gareth.

I've wondered this myself Gareth. In the wild seeds just drop to the ground
and
grow OK without being in pots at all!

In the wild, there tends to be other plants around taking up water. In a
pot, the soil seems to go a bit stale if you've got just one tiny
seedling sitting in the middle taking up water very slowly. Totally
non-scientific! Possibly utter rubbish. But it's how it feels.

Fuzzy logic Kay - sounds right to me :~))

It's a matter of degree. If it's fast-growing, you can put into a lot
larger pot than you would, say. a cactus, which may require a whole year
to go up half a pot size.
Kay

I tend to plant stuff like parsley and basil in large pots where they stay and
that seems to work for me.

Jenny

JennyC wrote:
snip

I tend to plant stuff like parsley and basil in large pots where they stay and
that seems to work for me.

But not one parsley or basil seed to a pot, presumably?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

"Sacha" wrote in message
oups.com...

JennyC wrote:
snip

I tend to plant stuff like parsley and basil in large pots where they stay
and
that seems to work for me.

But not one parsley or basil seed to a pot, presumably?
Sacha

No. Seed sprinkled sparingly onto the soil. I then leave them to get on with it
:~)
Jenny

JennyC wrote:
"K" wrote in message
...
JennyC writes

"Gareth" wrote in message
...
Why do I need to plant seedlings to sequentially bigger pots? Why
isn't possible to plant a seedling to just 1 pot - the final size
required by the adult plant?

Gareth.

I've wondered this myself Gareth. In the wild seeds just drop to
the ground and grow OK without being in pots at all!

In the wild, there tends to be other plants around taking up water.
In a pot, the soil seems to go a bit stale if you've got just one
tiny seedling sitting in the middle taking up water very slowly.
Totally non-scientific! Possibly utter rubbish. But it's how it
feels.

Fuzzy logic Kay - sounds right to me :~))

It's a matter of degree. If it's fast-growing, you can put into a lot
larger pot than you would, say. a cactus, which may require a whole
year to go up half a pot size.
Kay

I tend to plant stuff like parsley and basil in large pots where they
stay and that seems to work for me.

This just isn't fuzzy logic at all, but simple science. A pot isn't like
the open ground, where there's a continuous movement of moisture and
lots of roots and organisms shlurping away. Every fall of rain entrains
oxygen from the atmosphere, and the water keeps moving.

To reduce it to absurdity, imagine a little plant trying to grow in a
big jar of water. The oxygen supply would be exhausted very quickly, and
nasty anaerobic organisms would be the only things, if any, which would
have a chance of surviving, so the roots would die and rot. A plant is
an aerobic, not an anaerobic, organism. Too big a pot is quite similar
to that situation: the plant's root system isn't big enough to process
all that water, so the water goes stagnant (i.e., anaerobic).

Hydroponic systems keep the water moving and oxygenated: you can't do
that in a pot. So we only move pot-plants up one size at a time so that
they can exploit the growing medium to the full.

Dear old Franz, for ever missed from this group, had impeccable
scientific credentials, and said this was nonsense. But he was a
physicist, not a biologist, and spoke only from his personal
experience -- you don't get science from one individual's anecdotal
knack. And, crucially, he seems to have watered his pot plants very
sparingly, so they never sat in stagnant water, and so didn't suffer
from rot at the roots. You can do the same, and if you have the knack
it'll work out OK; but I still think results will be better if you play
by the rules.

--
Mike.

JennyC wrote:
"Sacha" wrote in message
oups.com...

JennyC wrote:
snip

I tend to plant stuff like parsley and basil in large pots where they stay
and
that seems to work for me.

But not one parsley or basil seed to a pot, presumably?
Sacha

No. Seed sprinkled sparingly onto the soil. I then leave them to get on with it


But that's just it. Several seeds which turn into several plants,
happily absorbing water and nutrients at a fairly even rate per new
plant. *Several* plants in one pot. Not one seed on its lonely ownly,
being drowned by far, far too much water for its needs.
That's why little plants are potted on and on and on. I can
understand the OP's question but I can also state without equivocation
that no nurseryman will waste paid workers' time, cost of pots and cost
of compost to pot plants on from seed tray to 7cm pot to 1 litre pot to
2 litre pot etc. etc. if he or she could get away with planting e.g. a
tomato seed or a tiny cutting in a 1 litre pot and leaving it there.
I wish!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Dear old Franz, for ever missed from this group, had impeccable
scientific credentials, and said this was nonsense. But he was a
physicist, not a biologist, and spoke only from his personal
experience -- you don't get science from one individual's anecdotal
knack. And, crucially, he seems to have watered his pot plants very
sparingly, so they never sat in stagnant water, and so didn't suffer
from rot at the roots. You can do the same, and if you have the knack
it'll work out OK; but I still think results will be better if you play
by the rules.


Agreed. But for some of us it helps enormously if we understand the rules.
For years I was denied the pleasures of gardening because it seemed to be an
infinite collection of arbitrary rules - far to many for me to get to grips
with. You know the sort of thing -'prune back to the second outward facing
bud on the first dry Saturday after the second frost free night'. Well
that's how I remember it anyway.

For me, the more I understand why, the easier it becomes.

Lyndon

"JennyC" wrote in message
...

Agreed. But for some of us it helps enormously if we understand the
rules.
For years I was denied the pleasures of gardening because it seemed to
be an
infinite collection of arbitrary rules - far to many for me to get to
grips
with. You know the sort of thing -'prune back to the second outward
facing
bud on the first dry Saturday after the second frost free night'. Well
that's how I remember it anyway.

I have a recipe like that somewhere..........full of smidgens, dollops,
splash
etc. I'll see if I can find it tommorow :~))

Jenny

I'm trying to get to grips with cooking, and my children reckon I need
formulae not recipes. So I look forward to reading to reading yours if you
do find it.

Lyndon

Lyndon wrote:
"JennyC" wrote in [...]

I have a recipe like that somewhere..........full of smidgens,
dollops, splash etc. I'll see if I can find it tommorow :~))

Jenny

I'm trying to get to grips with cooking, and my children reckon I need
formulae not recipes. So I look forward to reading to reading yours
if you do find it.

Try Delia Smith's books if you don't know about them already: she's very
precise about exactly what to do with exactly how much of exactly what.

--
Mike.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Lyndon wrote:
"JennyC" wrote in [...]

I have a recipe like that somewhere..........full of smidgens,
dollops, splash etc. I'll see if I can find it tommorow :~))

Jenny

I'm trying to get to grips with cooking, and my children reckon I need
formulae not recipes. So I look forward to reading to reading yours
if you do find it.

Try Delia Smith's books if you don't know about them already: she's very
precise about exactly what to do with exactly how much of exactly what.

--
Mike.

I discovered her, thanks Mike. My wife had flu and after a week of eating
practically nothing, she asked for a soft boiled egg. Panic. I really want
her to enjoy this. Bless Delia. She had very precise instructions that
produced a perfect soft boiled egg. (That's how much of a beginner I am!)

Lyndon