Compost and Pricking Out in Gardening
Compost and Pricking Out in Gardening
By Sarah Nabila
Apart from ending up with too many plants, there are other good reasons for sowing a few seeds at a time in small pots and then pricking out to other pots or trays and avoiding the temptation to simply sow in trays and then weed the seedlings out.
Starting a few seeds at a time gives them the best conditions at the fragile start of their life. You do not want hundreds of germinating seeds vying for goodness from the growing medium, not do you want intertwined roots.
A few good seedlings is preferable to lots of sickly ones, so it is best to transfer to other pots or trays when selecting your strongest seedlings. Also, if space is at premium, large trays can be a problem.
For sowing, use a proprietary seed compost or growing medium. This has only a limited amount of fertilizer in it because, at this stage, most of the nutrients will come from the seeds themselves.
Once you prick the seedlings out, they will need extra food, and so potting compost should be used. There are arguments for and against using either a soil based compost or a soil less compost as a growing medium, but in the end it comes down to a personal preference and what is available locally.
When your seedlings do start to grow, they should be pricked out as soon as their first true leaves make an appearance. This is the second pair of leaves as the first pair is the seed leaves. To prick out your seedlings, place each one very carefully in its own individual pot.
Bedding plants, which are often needed in much larger numbers than other plants, are often pricked into trays or cellular trays. The tray is filled with compost and a hole is made for each seedling.
Remember that you should never leave plants in trays for too long as they are shallow and the roots will soon become terribly intertwined.
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