potting on from seeds

what in your opinion, is the best medium to pot on fuchsias,lupins,hollyhocks ,etc
many thanks

 

You won't go far wrong with a bag of multi purpose compost from the garden centre with a few stones in the bottom for drainage.

You want nice big deep pots for the lupins and hollyhocks though.

 

how deep, im currently transplanting into 3" pots, is that big enough

 

I like to pot things up in a home made John Innes mix. This consists of :-

A) Compost as a base.
B) Sharp sand to help drainage, as compost can get very soggy.
C) Loam - ie soil from the garden. This makes the mix go further (ie cheaper). Soil has in it lots of nourishment, for when you forget to feed. And it recycles and improves the soil in my garden as I will return this, well mixed, mixture to the border. The inclusion of loam is especially good for plants that are to be in a pot for a long period, ie longer than a year.

The official John Innes ratio is 3 peat (ie compost), 2 sand, 7 loam. Mine varies - often 2,1,2 for the sake of simplicity. I don't think the precise ratio is that important.

3 inch pots sounds fine for seedlings. The main thing is to keep increasing the size of the pot as soon as the plant give the slightest signs of being pot bound. In my experience the larger the pot, the larger the plant you get. But you can't jump straight to a huge pot.

 

I use Arthur Bowers multi purpose compost (I don't have time to mix up with my own soil etc., plus its sterile so should be less problems with weed and disease).

Rooted cuttings and seedlings I start off in 3" pots and then pot on 1.5" to 2" at a time - so 3" , then 4.5" or 5" and so on. I have read books that suggest potting on more frequently at 1" each time, but I can;t get my chubby fingers into such a small increase in diameter (1" increase is only 1/2" all round of course).

When the roots have nicely filled the pot then pot on. You'll either be able to see them starting to appear at the drainage holes, or up-turn the pot & plant, knock out into your hand, examine the extensiveness of roots, and if not ready for potting on just slip the pot back on again.

For seedlings that will be planted out after only potting-up I use 3.5" pots. I find that 3" pots leave the plant "struggling" before it gets planted out, and 3.5" gives me a bit more time if I'm not ready to plant out at the planned time - so I can hold the plants a bit longer.