Transplanting Seedlings



"Stretchy" tomatoes...light too far away.

 The learning curve is steep when it comes to gardening.  And it seems that you pay for each step up on the curve with the death of more plants.  But hopefully, after the trials of this season, we will have a better grasp on what works and what doesn't.

Take the seedlings for instance.  I've had a pretty good germination rate so I think I get the water/heat/light thing pretty well.  But once the seedlings sprouted, I ran into the same problem that has led me to buy starts from the store after 6 unsuccessful weeks of growing my own seeds.  The seedlings are growing too tall before they set their true leaves.  In particular, the tomato plants.

So, after a bit of research, I figured out that the problem is light.  My plants are spending energy growing taller to reach for a light that is too far away.  While they do this, they neglect spending energy on leafing out.  It makes sense.  They want to make sure that they have a stable source of energy before really committing themselves to developing.  Isn't that what most of us do?

I can transplant the tomatoes so that the long stems that they have created will help develop more roots.  I do this by burying the seedling all the way to their seed leaves.  But if I don't correct the lighting issue, they may just grow up and not out yet again.


Transplanted tomato babies.



We moved the plant table to a south facing window.  That should help some.  But I'm quickly running out of space as I transplant from 1" pots to 4" pots.  I'm not sure where we will put everyone.

I also started using a fertilizer today.  It's called Grow Big by FoxFarms.  It's not organic, but I need something that will really get these babies going before I lose them all.  It's not a lot of money to lose, but it's a lot of time.  If I have to replant everyone I will be two weeks behind schedule.  So we're feeding these babies and crossing our fingers that they transplant well.