Advice, please! I am about to buy sweet pea plants. There seem to be about
five little plants in each pot. Should I plant the whole contents of each
pot "as is", or separate out the five little plants and put them in
individually? I have seen advice in Amateur Gardening to separate them, but
some seed packets advise treating each pot of seedlings as a unit. What
works best?

Alan Jones

Alan Jones wrote:
: Advice, please! I am about to buy sweet pea plants. There seem to be
: about five little plants in each pot. Should I plant the whole
: contents of each pot "as is", or separate out the five little plants
: and put them in individually? I have seen advice in Amateur Gardening
: to separate them, but some seed packets advise treating each pot of
: seedlings as a unit. What works best?
:
: Alan Jones

I sow mine, 3 to a 6" pot and plant it as it is but they take just as well
if you divide them carefully and water in well, as a friend did at the
allotments last year

On 29/3/07 17:47, in article ,
"Alan Jones" wrote:

Advice, please! I am about to buy sweet pea plants. There seem to be about
five little plants in each pot. Should I plant the whole contents of each
pot "as is", or separate out the five little plants and put them in
individually? I have seen advice in Amateur Gardening to separate them, but
some seed packets advise treating each pot of seedlings as a unit. What
works best?

We sell ours about 10 plants to a pot (a 'long tom') and suggest planting
them as a unit. Perhaps you could put them in the middle of a wigwam of
canes or, even better, pea sticks and let them find their way up with just
a little help from you. If you try to separate them, you might damage the
roots which will be quite entangled.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

On 29 Mar, 17:47, "Alan Jones" wrote:
Advice, please! I am about to buy sweet pea plants. There seem to be about
five little plants in each pot. Should I plant the whole contents of each
pot "as is", or separate out the five little plants and put them in
individually? I have seen advice in Amateur Gardening to separate them, but
some seed packets advise treating each pot of seedlings as a unit. What
works best?

I do 6/8 per pot, 3 pots and do 15 individual in carboard loo rolls.
That way I have 3 wigwam (2 lotty and 1 home), 3 centre piece and 5
individuals for the poles. Also I do more individuals in loo rolls
because my youngest likes doing them and we offer them to friends or
we do a bit of 'guerilla gardening' and dot them about in the streets.
I do sun flowers in them too and leeks because they get a good root
lenghth and I can just push them out of the bog roll without too much
disturbances. But most of all I recycle )

Sacha wrote:
On 29/3/07 17:47, in article
, "Alan Jones"
wrote:

Advice, please! I am about to buy sweet pea plants. There seem to
be about five little plants in each pot. Should I plant the whole
contents of each pot "as is", or separate out the five little plants
and put them in individually? I have seen advice in Amateur
Gardening to separate them, but some seed packets advise treating
each pot of seedlings as a unit. What works best?

We sell ours about 10 plants to a pot (a 'long tom') and suggest
planting them as a unit. Perhaps you could put them in the middle of
a wigwam of canes or, even better, pea sticks and let them find their
way up with just a little help from you. If you try to separate
them, you might damage the roots which will be quite entangled.

Many thanks to you and the other members who replied. I will put each potful
of seedlings in as a clump.

Alan Jones