So, we mentioned that it looks like some of our plants need to be potted up from our seeding trays into their final container, where they’ll live out their lives until we transplant into the garden. Let’s talk about what we’re using as our metrics for that!
It’s important to get our seedlings into more soil so that they will continue growing. You do have a little bit of leeway in the precise timing of when you do this, but generally you want to pot them up once they’ve mostly exhausted the soil that they are in. If you don’t, you’ll start to see a bit of stress on your seedlings, especially once they are desperate for more soil.
These days, we can just visually look at our various plants and know that it’s time. But, that requires experience and so we’re going to share the methods we used before we had that experience!
One of the more reliable ways is to pull up your seeding tray and look for roots. If you see any roots coming out of the bottom hole on the seeding tray, that’s a very good indicator that its time. But, roots can do “funny” things sometimes, so that’s not always bulletproof.
The next metric you can use is generally around the point where the plant gets its first true leaves. This can look different across various types of plants, but we call them “true leaves” because they actually look like real leaves. The first bit of greenery you see after germination is called a cotyledon, so we’re talking the first leaves after that point.
Sometimes that can fail you, too. Like with onions, for example, since there are no true leaves that you can use. If that’s the case, you can always pull up a plug and take a look. If the plug doesn’t fully release, then chances are good the plant needs more time in the seeding cell. But, if you get a good plug, you’re good to pot them up!
Eventually, you develop a bit of muscle memory with plants and you can just “read” them for when they are ready. So, while you may have to invest some time as a beginner learning these things, each time you do it, you’ll become more and more familiar with those plants and what their roots look like at different stages.
While we do need to do this, and soon, it looks like we’re going to do it Friday evening due to our life schedules. It’s a two person job at our scale, so we both need to be in the same place at the same time!
