Potting on seedlings
 

When I pot on tomatoes, I put them in so that the first leaves are just above
the compost level in the new pot.

Should you do that with other plants as well?

eg I am potting on some sunflowers and they are about 1.5 inches of stem before
the leaves.

How deep should I do them please?

Potting on seedlings
 

On 26/04/2013 18:48, stranger wrote:


When I pot on tomatoes, I put them in so that the first leaves are just above
the compost level in the new pot.

Should you do that with other plants as well?

eg I am potting on some sunflowers and they are about 1.5 inches of stem before
the leaves.

How deep should I do them please?

Do you mean the "First leaves" or the cotyledons (Seed leaves)?
Remember when handling seedlings ALWAYS hold them by the leaf/cotyledon
and NOT by the stem.
As I was taught, you wouldn't pick up a baby by its neck.
You ask how deep.
Well that depends on the pot/container depth, many seedlings will root
up the stem so planting a little deeper will help give you more roots.,
but don,'t over pot.
Most of us have learned by trial and error.
In gardening the best way to learn is to experiment, What works for one
person doesn't always work for another.
Remember plants don't read the books, and will do as they please. What
may grow to 4ft in one place may reach 8ft in another place or another
garden.
David @ a surprisingly sunny end of Swansea Bay, after a few hail
showers around lunch time.

Potting on seedlings
 

On Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:48:11 +0100, stranger wrote:



When I pot on tomatoes, I put them in so that the first leaves are just above
the compost level in the new pot.

Should you do that with other plants as well?

eg I am potting on some sunflowers and they are about 1.5 inches of stem before
the leaves.

How deep should I do them please?

I don't have a greenhouseso my seedlings are grown on window ledges
and tend to get leggy. Tomato seedlings are OK planted deeper, up to
the seed leaves, because they will root further up the stem. I've
done that very thing today.

Pam in Bristol

Potting on seedlings
 

On Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:48:11 +0100, stranger wrote:



When I pot on tomatoes, I put them in so that the first leaves are just above
the compost level in the new pot.

Should you do that with other plants as well?

eg I am potting on some sunflowers and they are about 1.5 inches of stem before
the leaves.

How deep should I do them please?

I take a "play by eye" approach to everything I grow from seed.
Essentially this means look at the seedlings. Do they look
"stretched"? If they haven't had quite enough light they will be
"leggy" - a lot of stem in between the leaves.

If I had 1.5 inches of sunflower stem before the first pair of leaves,
for example, I'd probably bury an inch or so of that stem.

Over time, you'll gain experience and be able to judge for yourself
whether a seedling looks right or not. But at this early stage in both
your planting self-education and the seedlings' development you're
unlikely to lose anything by going too deep but could lose plants by
going to shallow. So I'd err on the side of burial.

--
Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where the
showers of April have arrived!