Potting on seedlings

[IndigoElectron]

I have some tomato, chilli and pepper seedlings that I want to pot on deep, to encourage roots to form from the stem. When I do this, must I make sure the roots are straight, or can they be curled up at the bottom of the new pot? I don't know how long the roots are, or if the new pots will be deep enough, I just know the new pot must not be too much bigger than the old one. I've heard of plants getting pot bound, but don't really know what this means. Thanks

[chilli_grower]

I am going to be potting my tomatoes on deep later on today, I will post some pics of how I do it.

(It wont necessarily be the right way though, but it has never let me down)!

[Bigmallly]

I tend to use Rootrainers for deep potting on when plants have got a bit leggy. Pot bound is when the the pot is full of roots when you knock it out...........

[rustylady]

I have some tomato, chilli and pepper seedlings that I want to pot on deep, to encourage roots to form from the stem. When I do this, must I make sure the roots are straight, or can they be curled up at the bottom of the new pot? I don't know how long the roots are, or if the new pots will be deep enough, I just know the new pot must not be too much bigger than the old one. I've heard of plants getting pot bound, but don't really know what this means. Thanks

How big are your seedlings now, and what are they growing in at the moment?

[Kristen]

I'm not convinced that potting on deep is a good thing. If you are going to do it get a really deep pot (like a Rose pot). In a regular pot all that you will be doing is putting the existing roots, on the plant, right at the bottom of the new pot and they won't have any compost below them to grow down into, so will have to make roots upwards (not their natural state, so will not be as efficient as growing down).

By all means plant them deep when you plant them out, so that you get fresh feeding roots from the stem and, in a greenhouse, the first truss will be lower so more trusses before you hit the roof ... but I think potting on deep into regular, rather than deep, pots is likely to be less effective than just potting on at normal depth.

[Kristen]

Having said that! If we are talking about pricking out (as you mentioned seedlings) then I usually plant them up to the first seed leaves. This does put the roots lower in the pot, but only by an inch or so, and gets me a more stable plant.

[chilli_grower]

ok, well, here is 'The Boss' holding one of the plants I repotted today.

Look carefully at the distance between the soil line and the start of the first leaf.

To be honest I could have potted this one a bit deeper....

As pointed out by Kristen, I used a big pot, so that there is still some soil beneath the roots.

THis will do me for another month, then they will be going into the flower buckets....

[batman]

Very instructive photo, and very cute assistant!

[chilli_grower]

haha!!! thank you!!!!

[chris]

Well those photos have just made me realise how far my plants are behind


Sent from my iPhone using Grow Your Own Forum mobile app

[chilli_grower]

You cant be that far behind!!!!!!

[IndigoElectron]

Yes, 'The Boss' is very cute! How old is she?

Here's some pics of the seedlings (pepper, aubergine and chilli in that order).







They're in a mix of MPC and perlite, in pots which are about 7 cm across and 8 1/2 cm deep. I put them in there as soon as they'd germinated, because the heated propagator isn't in a very light place and I was worried about them getting leggy. I can't remember how long they've been in the new pots, maybe a couple of weeks?

The reason I wanted to pot them deep now is because I thought they were getting a bit leggy again. I think the pots they are in now were initially too big for them - I read something recently about there being a chance of rot, if you repot in too big a pot. I didn't know this at the time though. Next time I will keep them in the 1 inch modules longer.

I can't see any roots coming out of the bottom yet, so should I pot them deeper in the pots they are in now, in bigger pots, or should I leave them where they are?

[WendyC]

Leave them to grow in those pots, being careful not to overwater them.

[IndigoElectron]

Thanks Wendy. Unfortunately I accidentally left them sitting in a tray of water last night :-( I water them from below to try and avoid over watering, but do you think they will be okay? How long should I let them sit in the tray of water for?

[WendyC]

I should think they'll be fine but won't need watering for a while. I tend to go on the weight of a pot to tell when it has had enough water and again when they need watering.