Tips and Tricks for Transplanting Seedings

This year we took a different approach to starting our seedlings.  Instead of starting all of our seedlings in cow pots (I have an explanation for this, promise:), we started most of them in little jiffy seed starting pods.  The little disks that you throw in warm water and they puff up.  There were two reasons for this: 1.  last year we had to tarp off almost the whole basement and put a large heater in the center to keep the seeds warm enough to pop and 2. we were waiting for our shipment of cow pots to come in when we were ready to start planting.

We have learned a lot from using the little disks.  There are both good and bad to them, as I'll explain. If you start your seeds in the little disks then you will need to transplant them after 2-3 weeks, as well as if you start multiple seeds in one larger pot.  Now of course you can just pull out all but one seedling from each pot, but if you want to get the maximum amount of bang for your buck, then you're going to want to transplant those additional seedlings.

Before we get down and dirty transplanting, let's talk cow pots.  What the heck are they!?  Well, they are pots made of cow poop.  Before you close your computer in disgust, they don't smell, aren't mushy, and have no noticeable relation to cow manure.  The genius of these pots is in how they nourish plants and are completely biodegradable so you can simply put the whole pot in the ground.  I love the idea of organic poop pots!  It's nature's natural cycle, and let's face it; everyone's soil can use a little more poop!  Especially here in the suburbs, it's necessary to constantly fertilize the soil to keep it full of nutrients that animals naturally return to the soil.

You can order cow pots online here.  If you don't want to order them, then be diligent and look around your local gardening store for natural, organic pots that will break down and feed your garden rather than the plastic variety that pile up and pollute the planet!

Wether you are transplanting from pods or pots, the most important thing to remember is to label the new pots you are putting the seedlings in!  We have a few (ok, over 30) plants that are unknown because we forgot to label them.  Actually, we didn't properly label the seeds when we planted them, but point is make sure you have a system in place because even if you have 5 plants, you'd be surprised how easily it is to mix them up.  Especially when you have more than one type of tomatoes, peppers, etc.  Got your pots labeled?  Ok, now let's talk soil.

Here's another lesson learned this year: don't use garden soil when starting plants indoors.  So last year we had a bunch of potting soil left over from the previous year. Since we start planting in January, there is no soil to be found at any stores.  Last year we were able to get by with the soil we had, this year not so much.  Desperately searching for bags of dirt everywhere, we were able to score a few totally frozen bags at Home Depot.  It was the Vigoro organic garden soil.  Realizing we couldn't be choosy, we just used it.  The problem is it is a chunky soil, with wood chips and such, ideal for being outdoors mixed with whatever soil is already in the garden.  Not good for starting little seeds that are extremely delicate.  After one round of planting with just the soil (and not much luck), we started mixing it with organic miracle grow potting soil and it has been working like a charm.  It's important to remember plant's needs when potted indoors and young are very different than when they are outdoors and larger!  Look for organic potting soil, preferably for vegetables that has food in it.

Before putting the soil into the pots, we like to put a small piece of paper towel down just as insurance the soil won't fall out.  While this is not necessary, if your soil is dry when putting it in the pot some will fall through.  The paper towel allows water to come out and everything, just takes away the initial soil loss.

The amount of soil you put in the pot before adding the seedling depends on the type of plants.  Most plants will require a little bit of backfilling as they grow to keep them sturdy and not scrawny.  So for most plants, fill the pot about 2/3 the way up.  Tomatoes are another story.  In the wild they grow as a vine, rooting from the stem as they snake across the ground.  Since we grow them vertical to make it easier to harvest the tomatoes, most people don't realize the stem will continuously push roots from the bottom up.  You know how tomatoes have all little fuzzies on the stem?  Those are small roots, waiting for soil!  If you want your tomato seedling to grow big and strong, when you transplant them leave plenty of room to backfill as the plant grows.  This will help thicken the tomato stem making it sturdy and prevent it from being damaged by the elements when you eventually plant it outside. When transplanting tomatoes, fill the pots only 1/2 way up.  It looks silly at first, but in a few weeks, the soil will be at the top of the pot and you will have one damn good looking tomato plant!

Once you have your pots labeled and filled to the correct level with the proper soil, it's time to actually transplant your seedling.  First I'll talk about transplanting from the little pods, then separating young plants from the same pot.

Ok, biggest thing to remember when transplanting from the pods is MAKE SURE YOU TAKE THE OUTTER WRAPPER OFF!  Like when you eat a candy bar, peel the the plastic off before biting down, same goes with plants.  My dad and I made that huge mistake, not having used the pods a ton before, and we lost a bunch of early tomatoes that way!  The outer casing on the pods prevented the tomatoes from properly rooting and therefore stunting their growth as well as their ability to absorb nutrients/moisture.

It was really hard to rip up all those tomatoes and reuse the pots, however there was no hope for them.  Tomatoes we had planted a month after are now much larger, greener, and healthier.  There was no recovering from being root bound (and grown in the wrong soil).  Lesson learned the hard way.  Don't make our mistakes!

Once you removed the wrapper, simply place the plant in the correct pot and cover up to the first two leaves with soil and gently water.  Done!

Now if you have multiple seeds popped in a container and want to separate them in order to transport them, grab a screwdriver.  Slotted head to be exact.  You can use a chopstick, butterknife, or really anything to gently cut a hole in the soil around each plant and carefully pop a small dirt circle with the roots out.  Then move it to the assigned pot and cover up to the first two leaves with soil.  Repeat for the rest of the seedlings.  Again, you don't have to keep ALL the seedlings.  It is perfectly acceptable to simply pull all but one plant out of each container.  This is a technique to use less pots at first as well as less seeds to get more plants.  My dad developed this technique last year, and we quite like it!  Check out his post from last year and you'll understand why we wound up with over 120 tomato plants in the garden!We quite like doing it this way, and I think next year we will go back to planting all our seeds in multiple pots and separating them instead of the pods.  I find the pods are very hard to keep at the correct moisture level when the plants are sprouting because they are so small and dry out very quickly.

Good luck with your seedling endeavors and let us know if you have any questions/ comments about your experience with transplanting!  From us and all our little friends, happy planting :)

~Margaret