Seed snails

[rary]

Both tomatoes and marigolds doing well in the seed snails and as the tomato snail is made with clear plastic I will find out if Nico''s concerns about clear plastic are valid, which is something I,should have considered at the time. Unfortunately I cant upload any photos as nether my tablet nor phone has jpeg

[Mark Rand]

Thanks for posting about this Ray…my OH is very interested in experimenting with this.
I can see sweet peas would be so much easier to grow on if started off like this too Mark - I’d be interested in hearing how yours get on.

After three weeks, I've got five of Old Spice and seven of Royal Family out of a dozen of each that I sowed. They all look healthy. I hadn't chipped any of the seed coats.
That's all that I really need for the little bit of garden that they'll go in, but I wonder if I could unroll the 'snails' and see what's happened to the missing seedlings...

[rary]

I decided to pot on my tomatoes, but as they needed to be protected from the cold they are quite leggy, they definitely have more root, but unfortunately as I have lost the dexterity in my fingers they are not as easy to pot on, so even though this method saves a lot of space I will need to stick to using cell trays.
This is the snail that I made with the bread wrapper and though it was clear plastic there didn't seem to be any difference to the root formation, though as I have said they were not getting the proper light

[Nicos]

No harm in looking Mark….some may take a bit longer…

[mothhawk]

I planted out my peas yesterday under fleece. Each pea had long roots and had stayed separate from the next, no untangling of roots and a great saving on compost. I shall definitely use this method for peas again, and also flower seeds, that I usually sow in trays, as I always lose patience with splitting the seedlings apart and untangling roots.

The roots of the peas in the outside ring of the bubble wrap had grown in the compost but against the inner wall of wrap so when I unrolled it their roots were exposed, while the roots of peas in the inner rings were more wholly enclosed in compost, though there was no difference in the amount of root or top growth. Wish I'd thought to take pictures.

[Nicos]

Ah…interesting about the roots MH.
Sounds like my theory was correct, but good to know the actual growth wasn’t affected.
I hate untangling fine roots too, so this method sounds great!
My other method of untangling is gently dropping a clump of seedlings on a surface and they will separate more easily - to a certain extent at least with only a few casualties( got this idea after collecting several trays of seeds off the lawn when the blowaway blew away)

[mothhawk]

Sowed some self saved tagetes in a snail and they are cosseted on a heated tray.

[rary]

Ah…interesting about the roots MH.
Sounds like my theory was correct, but good to know the actual growth wasn’t affected.
I hate untangling fine roots too, so this method sounds great!
My other method of untangling is gently dropping a clump of seedlings on a surface and they will separate more easily - to a certain extent at least with only a few casualties( got this idea after collecting several trays of seeds off the lawn when the blowaway blew away)

Isn't it marvellous how inspiration comes to you due to an accident, I wonder how many good practices came from accidents

[rary]

Potted on some French marigolds sown in a seedsnail made using a reasonably thick black plastic, interestingly the seeds sown in towards the middle of the snail are further on than the outer rim, dont know the reason why this would be, possibly the inner rings are that bit warmer, or more moist though there didnt appear to be any difference in moisture content that I could see, but will sow something else and see if there is any difference.

[Mark Rand]

I lifted up the seed snails with sweet peas in this morning. I think I've left them a bit long.
I'm going to need a trenching spade to plant them!

I've put them out to harden off for a bit.

[Nicos]

Those look smashing Mark- great start for them rather than having bunched up roots.

[rary]

My other method of untangling is gently dropping a clump of seedlings on a surface and they will separate more easily - to a certain extent at least with only a few casualties( got this idea after collecting several trays of seeds off the lawn when the blowaway blew away)

Watching G.W on telly from Friday night I noted that one of the presenters used a similar method when potting on his seedlings, evidently must have read you post Nicos

[Nicos]

Watching G.W on telly from Friday night I noted that one of the presenters used a similar method when potting on his seedlings, evidently must have read you post Nicos

I do like to be leading edge Rary!

[Mark Rand]

Planted out the sweet peas today. I'm definitely sold on the concept:-

[Containergardener]

Trying sunflowers in a snail