Seedlings Without Picking: Advantages And Disadvantages

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Growing seedlings with a pick has both its fans and ardent opponents. Is this procedure really necessary - this question is of particular interest to novice farmers. Growing seedlings without picking has its advantages, but this method also has disadvantages. What rules should be followed in order for this process to be successful?

Transshipment instead of picking

In its classical sense, picking means shortening the taproot of seedlings to stimulate branching of the root system, as well as moving seedlings from a common nursery to individual pots. However, not every plant tolerates this procedure equally well and has a beneficial effect. If it is good for tomatoes, then peppers and eggplants do not tolerate such an operation well.

At the same time, when a beginner in gardening is afraid of damaging the delicate roots even in tomatoes, there is a way to grow seedlings without picking. For this, seeds are sown directly into separate plastic cassettes, peat cells with a diameter of about 5 cm. Here, when planted in a loose substrate, they can develop for quite a long time, without shading each other and without competing for both sunlight and food. To prevent the seedlings from stretching, additional care should include additional lighting.

From these containers, when the seedlings get stronger and the root system has mastered the entire earthen lump, the plants are transshipped in a larger container. If the picking is recommended to be carried out at the stage of two true leaves, then there will be no trouble during transshipment when two pairs of leaves have already developed on the seedlings. In this case, the pinching of the roots can be omitted. Plastic cassettes are advantageous in this respect in that they are soft enough to press down on the bottom and lift the earthen ball in the cup. So it is very easy to get it out of the nursery. In a new pot, the plants are immersed to a greater depth than they grew before. You can cover the stalk with soil mixture up to the cotyledon leaves.

What are the disadvantages of the method you need to be aware of?

What is the disadvantage of this method? He can fail in the event that the gardener comes across seeds of unknown quality. They may not develop as well as others, and the area of the cassette will be wasted. Here you can play it safe and distribute 2 seeds in one cell, and then simply cut off the less developed seedling with scissors so as not to disturb the root system. And when sowing in a common container, the farmer has the opportunity to disassemble and sort the resulting seedlings in order to select only the best - strong, healthy and developed specimens for further care.

If you still prefer sowing seeds in a common nursery, if you have a developed root system, you can also do without pinching the root. The soil under the seedlings is moistened from the container before transplanting, but just enough so that you can easily pry the soil with a stick or fork. It is not necessary to erode the ground to a state of dirt, so that the roots do not stick together during the transplanting process - they should be free to position themselves in their natural position and not be crushed by the soil in a new pot.

You need to take out the seedlings carefully, supporting the stalk with your fingers at the level of the cotyledon leaves. It is undesirable to touch the root collar - this is a weak point of the seedlings, and if damaged, foci of diseases quickly appear here.

In common containers, seedlings are often pulled out. With such specimens, the planting depth can be increased - to real leaves. For this, the cotyledons are pinched off, but so that the petioles do not break off along with the skin of the stalk.