Ready to transplant?

Hi everyone!

It's me again :D. It's fun to garden and I'm learning a lot, thanks to you all :thumb:
My Gaillardia and Cornflower seedlings are growing well. I just want to you if they're ready to be transplanted or should I wait? What say you?



Mouli

 

Hi there greenmouli. If it was me, I would pot them on (3 inch pots) and let them grow on a bit to get them established before planting. Hopefully, if I'm wrong, someone will say so. Cheers...freddy.

 

You`ll need Dai on this one I imagine to confirm but my cornflower are already out and blooming, is this the way to do it for next year?

 

freddy: I plan to plant them into pots, not in the ground as that's not an option.

lollopop73: Since Gaillardia and Cornflower are perennials too, I figured they can be grown anytime of the year - of course they'll bloom only at around this time, but I can wait for the next year if they all grow well.

 

Hi Greenmouli

If your cornflowers are the usual centaurea cyanus, they can certainly be grown in pots but they'll need good light otherwise they'll go looking for it and become very leggy. In this country, they're grown as annuals but where you are, they may perform as biennials or short lived perennials. I guess the gaillardias will be the same.

Looking at your seedlings, I'd be inclined to pot them on into their final containers now. That's assuming you've still got those warm temperatures.

 

I would agree with Freddy, here, Mouli. Pot them into 3 inch pots, and grow them on a bit. I think they would struggle going into anything larger. Keep them moist but not overly wet, and they should come on a treat.:thumb:

 

Hi David and Flinty!
Transplant into a 3-inch pot? By that do you mean that I transplant into the 3-inch pot which would be its permanent home or a larger one which would be its permanent home?
Also, why not plant it in larger pots? Just curious to know...
I really appreciate all your help. You guys are awesome!

Mouli

 

Hi greenmouli. The 3inch pots would just be a temporary home until they get established. Once they are a good size, it's then time to put them into the final pot. I'm not quite sure why, but it seems SOME plants like to be 'potted on' in stages. I'm pretty sure it's something to do with the roots being restricted and therefore making more root growth (if that makes sense). As I've said before, I'm no expert, so hopefully this helps. Cheers...freddy.

 

Hi Greenmouli

Cornflowers are native British wild flowers and in the past, Iâ??ve grown them as annuals in the old fashioned way, sowing the seed direct into the borders. With cornflowers, you can do this in autumn or spring but I think gaillardas prefer a spring sowing. You then thin out the seedlings you donâ??t want and leave the others to just get on with growing where they are. If you have a bare patch, you can transplant some of the excess seedlings but I found cornflowers to resent root disturbance, a bit like annual poppies. It seemed to trigger their reaction to run to maturity. For that reason, my preference would be to keep transplanting to a minimum.

What sort of final container did you have in mind for them? Pots or troughs?

 

Hi Freddy: That sounds logical, but I've already lost my Balsam and all my healthy Sunflower seedlings after transplanting, so I want to make sure I don't kill these beauties too.
Hi Flinty!
The only option I have is pots. Any suggestions as to the size of the pots?

 

The idea of potting on, as I understand it, is so that the plant's roots fill a 3" pot, say, and then a 5" pot, then 7" and so on.

If you put it straight into a 7" pot the roots will grow to the outside of the pot and do not fully utilise the centre of the pot.

Also, a small plant in a 3" pot is easier to manage - the watering is more likely to reach the roots, whereas in a 7" pot, say, the water may be sufficiently uneven that it misses the small plantlet.


"already lost my Balsam and all my healthy Sunflower seedlings after transplanting"

Its the first transplanting, from seedling to first pot (what I would refer to as "pricking out") that is the most tricky. Every chance of breaking roots, or damaging the plant itself.

Thereafter there should be little / no root disturbance as you pot-on to larger pot sizes - you can stand an empty pot, of the same size - or event the plant itself, in its pot - in the new larger pot, firm the compost around it and only then remove the plant from the smaller pot and just lower it into the ready-made hole. Firm it in, water, and the plant should suffer no stress at all.

So I don't think that pricking-out into a small pot, and potting on, should be any more stressful than pricking-out directly into a larger pot, but should have benefits of being able to better manage, and establish, the plant throught he potting-on process.

My mother bought me 12 small plantlets of Penstemons a month or two back. More than half of them are dead already, and I've molly-coddled them all I know how :(

I would recommend misting the plants after pricking-out several times a day. Maybe even put them in a plastic bag. This reduces the stress through transpiration (water lost through their leaves when they "breath") by them being in a humid atmosphere. However, higher humidity will encourage disease and damping-off, so they do need some air periodically too.

In the Spring I use one of those cheapy PVC-sheet greenhouses (which itself is inside my conservatory, so no wind to reduce temperature etc.) and put all the stressed plants in there for a while, and keep misting during the day. It gets too hot in the summer though.

 

Hi Kristen

I agree with your approach for many plants but there are just a few I'd always prefer to disturb as little as possible e.g. the annuals with a short flowering season. Cornflowers can be sown directly into ordinary soil and grow on happily with never being transplanted at all. When I did transplant some, they didn’t grow as big or last as long as the undisturbed ones. I know cornflowers can give a short blaze of glory in the summer of a temperate country but I can only guess what they’ll do in southern India during the rainy season, at sea level, grown in pots.

Greenmouli

Sorry to hear you're taking heavy casualties. Looking at some of your other posts, it could be that your young plants are starved of light. You obviously don't want to fry them in hot
sun but they do need plenty of light, evenly distributed. And are you able to get good compost ? I always mix my compost with vermiculite, ranging from about 10% to 30% depending on the plant, because it helps to avoid waterlogging and their roots seem to love it.


I don’t know if you’re growing tall or compact varieties of cornflower but a 3 litre pot per plant would be the minimum, I’d say.

 

Hi Kristen: First of all I couldn't resist going through your blog before I read your reply. I was transfixed! Such a beautiful and rich garden you got. I envy you (don't get me wrong, in a friendly way though) I seriously wish they grow more beautiful and prosperous . Thank you so much for educating me about the reason for going from small to big ones. I'v read in many places that you need to first transplant them in 3" pots then into bigger ones and I was confused as to why. Now I know why Thank you again.

Hey Flinty!: Starving of light could be an issue, yes. I have now built a small fenced space in my terrace to grow plants so I'll shift most of my pots there. Of course here in India (the place I live in Madras/Chennai) it gets scorching hot during noons even during rainy season (which is now, but don't imagine it to rain a lot now - it'd take 2 more months for the pouring rains). So, I'm thinking of using may be some plastic sheet on the top to reduce the sun.

Just for your information, we have six seasons here:
1. Pre-winter (called Cold Season) - mid. of Nov. to mid of Jan.
2. Winter - mid of Jan to that of Mar.
3. Spring - mid Mar. to mid May
4. Summer - mid May to mid Jul.
5. Rainy - Jul. to Sep. (anywhere in between depending upon different places)
6. Autumn - Aug. to Nov. (anywhere in between depending upon different places)

I am thinking of making two square boxes out of thermocole and put the whole square of Gaillardia and Cornflower into them. Would that work? I mean the thermocole boxes?

Mouli

 

Mouli

I admire your determination!

Google says that in India,Thermocole is synonomous with EPS (expanded polystyrene) so I'm assuming that you're thinking of making a big seedlings tray? Or are you intending a more permanent structure like a raised bed made of EPS?

When they're small, plants certainly love to grow in EPS because it's warm around their roots and the horticultural industry sells millions of plants in EPS trays each year. If you were thinking of something more permanent, you'd have to use big blocks of the stuff to give you strength and durability.