Re-Potting: A Photo Essay
Apr. 10th, 2010 04:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluesgardenThis morning I had two trays of tomato plants (I can't call them 'seedlings' with a straight face at this point) that were in desperate need of re-potting. One other tray has already been re-potted and the remaining one and a half don't need it. Uh, yet.
This is one in need of more space.
So, first things first - wetting the soil so everything settles in a bit better when it goes in the pots.
This container ought to do it. If you look closely at the bottom of the tomato plant, you'll see that it looks kinda fuzzy. Once you bury them in soil, those little hairs will turn into roots and give the plant more support and a better nutrient gathering system. Not all plants work this way, but tomatoes do.
Heh - big plant, wee little container. Definitely time to go larger.
The roots were feeling the space constraints.
Much better.
As D chipperly pointed out, I now have top shelf tomato plants, literally. The rest are still hanging out on the middle shelf. :P
They're looking just a bit flopsy because they were just re-potted and were carried to and from the potting shed in 30 mph winds. I find wind rather inconvenient this time of year.
In other news - pepper seedlings!
I should point out that my tomatoes didn't get near this size before going in the garden last year and we all know how that turned out (they did just fine - so fine they tried to take over the neighborhood). The BM1 I'm using as seed starter this year does actually have a bit of fertilizer in it and these were all started several weeks earlier than last year's. (eta: And the actual lights! I forgot that bit. They're getting more this year than last year's sunny window.) The picture I used for the icon on this post? Yeah, that's from April 24, 2009. If you have smaller tomato seedlings/plants at the same age as mine? Do not worry.
My tomato plants are scaring me again. *eyeballs them suspiciously*
This is one in need of more space.
So, first things first - wetting the soil so everything settles in a bit better when it goes in the pots.
This container ought to do it. If you look closely at the bottom of the tomato plant, you'll see that it looks kinda fuzzy. Once you bury them in soil, those little hairs will turn into roots and give the plant more support and a better nutrient gathering system. Not all plants work this way, but tomatoes do.
Heh - big plant, wee little container. Definitely time to go larger.
The roots were feeling the space constraints.
Much better.
As D chipperly pointed out, I now have top shelf tomato plants, literally. The rest are still hanging out on the middle shelf. :P
They're looking just a bit flopsy because they were just re-potted and were carried to and from the potting shed in 30 mph winds. I find wind rather inconvenient this time of year.
In other news - pepper seedlings!
I should point out that my tomatoes didn't get near this size before going in the garden last year and we all know how that turned out (they did just fine - so fine they tried to take over the neighborhood). The BM1 I'm using as seed starter this year does actually have a bit of fertilizer in it and these were all started several weeks earlier than last year's. (eta: And the actual lights! I forgot that bit. They're getting more this year than last year's sunny window.) The picture I used for the icon on this post? Yeah, that's from April 24, 2009. If you have smaller tomato seedlings/plants at the same age as mine? Do not worry.
My tomato plants are scaring me again. *eyeballs them suspiciously*
