Pricking Out Seedlings
What is it and why you need to do it, and your gardening questions answered!
Pricking out
When to prick out?
It is time to give seedlings more room after the first ‘true leaves’ have formed. Seedlings are ready to be ‘pricked out’ when they have two or more sets of ‘true leaves’ and are large enough to handle.
‘Seed leaves’ are the first pair of leaves to appear, before the plant develops any real root system. ‘Seed leaves’ are simple, usually oval in shape and often look very similar from plant to plant.
After the ‘seed leaves’, the ‘true leaves’ appear and these will resemble the leaves of the adult plant. The development of the ‘true leaves’ triggers the plant to begin more rapid root growth. This is the best time to prick out. Seedlings may germinate at different rates – only prick out those that are ready.
Be Prepared
Water the seedling an hour or so before you start, to make sure the roots are well hydrated. If the compost has been stored outdoors give it time to warm to room temperature.
Prepare the pots in batches in advance.
Fill each pot to the top with moist compost.
Tap the pot gently a couple of times on the bench to consolidate the soil. Do not compress the soil at all.
Use a dibber, a stick or your finger to make a hole in the centre of the soil in each pot. Make the hole deep enough to accommodate the roots comfortably (rather than them being squashed into the hole).
Once you’ve prepared the pots, tidy the area, before working with the seedlings.
Work Carefully
Always hold a seedling by a leaf (if possible a seed leaf), rather than the delicate stem. If the stem becomes bruised or damaged the seedling will not recover, if a leaf is damaged, a new leaf will grow.
Use a dibber (spoon handle/pencil/stick) to gently tease out a seedling or group of seedlings from the tray/pot. Loosen from underneath, aiming to keep as much soil as possible at the roots. This minimises disturbing or damaging the young root system. Gently separate individual seedlings using a dibber (or similar tool).
Transfer seedlings into the prepared pots. Hold the seedling gently by a leaf and if necessary support the weight of the roots from underneath with the dibber as you transfer.
Water the seedlings in gently. If you don’t have a watering can with a fine rose, use a spray bottle or old milk bottle/pop bottle and put lots of small holes in the lid.
Aftercare
Check the seedlings every day and give them a light watering as required. Seedlings are more likely to rot (‘damp off’) if they have wet leaves at night, so avoid soaking the leaves if watering later in the day. Watering into a tray under the pots instead at night can help.
Composts generally contain enough plant food to give the newly transferred seedlings a good start. If the seedlings are likely to be in the pots for several weeks before being planted out, start feeding with a dilute liquid fertiliser after a couple of weeks.
As the seedlings grow, you will need to harden them off, before planting outdoors. Gradually acclimatise them to the outdoor conditions, by slowly increasing the time that they are outside, until the plants are fully accustomed to the outside temperature, during the day and night. Allow at least ten days to do this, preferably longer. While hardening off, the young plants will need watering but should be protected from heavy rain.
When the young plants are transplanted outdoors, they may still need some protection against strong or cold winds.
There are lots of step by step videos you can watch on YouTube. Here’s a link to one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UN_mLOck00
I find ‘Pricking out’ a really relaxing job to do. Work carefully, really take your time and enjoy!
Missing you all… Take care of yourselves please,
Suzanne.
Gardener’s Questions
Every week Suzanne answers questions from green-fingered (on not so green-fingered) folk all over the community, you can submit a question via the comment section below or on our facebook page.
David Hindmarsh: How do I keep my shop-bought basil alive? It keeps committing suicide!
The first thing I do, with supermarket-bought basil, is repot it into a bigger pot. This gives the root system more space to develop and extends productivity.
Use compost that has good drainage; either put some pebbles in the bottom of the pot or mix the compost with some horticultural grit or sand.
The supermarkets like their suppliers to cram lots of plants into a small pot so they look good on the shelf, the plants are not really intended to survive longer than a few weeks if left in their original pots. They have been forced to grow quickly with exactly the right conditions. Once away from that ‘perfect controlled nursery’ environment the plants will need a bit of care to survive.
As there are lots of plants in one pot competing with each other, they will quickly use up any nutrients in the soil. This is often why shop bought basil seems healthy for a couple of weeks and then suddenly appears to ‘give up’. When you re-pot, you could also try carefully separating each plant and potting them up separately (although I do tend to keep them all together as this minimises disturbing the root system).
Once re-potted, to keep your basil alive longer, keep the soil moist but not too wet. Think of a Mediterranean climate. Have a look here for more information https://www.thespruce.com/overwatering-your-herbs-1761871
Basil likes to be kept in a warm sunny position – it grows best in a ‘Mediterranean’ type climate and therefore needs a good amount of sunshine throughout the day to be healthy. Keep the plant on your sunniest window sill and if you have a sunny yard or garden, you can move the pot outside in the daytime when it’s hot, during the summer.
Pinch out and use the newer leaves first rather than the old larger leaves (the newer leaves also have more flavour!). This encourages more growth and a bushier plant. Also remove any flowers that appear, so the plant concentrates its energy into producing leaves rather than flowers/seeds. Funnily enough, I happened to read this wee article last week, which explains it beautifully: https://www.ruralsprout.com/prune-basil/
These links might also give you more information:
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-basil/
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/dec/13/how-to-keep-basil-alive-james-wong
Barbara Metcalf: Why does one Christmas cactus flower in winter and my other spring/summer?
It might simply be that they are different varieties of flowering cactus (they are actually succulents not cactus despite their name). There are varieties that flower in the autumn and winter and some that flower in spring. There’s lots of information about forcing flowering (as suppliers do to ensure they are in flower around Christmas time, for example). The two factors that determine flowering are the temperature and the amount of light the plant receives. To force flowering these are controlled to mimic the plant in its natural environment. As both your plants seem to have the same growing conditions, I would suggest the one in flower now, is a later flowering variety.
https://www.hortmag.com/container-gardening/easter-cactus-how-it-differs-from-christmas-cactus
Debra Todd: When do my oranges start falling off my tree? Some are starting to get big
Wow, the tree looks great! You can pick the oranges when they are beginning to turn yellow to orange. Use a sharp knife or pair of strong scissors to remove them cleanly. They will not fall when ripe, so start harvesting and using those that are ready now.
Here’s a little background information on Calamondin Orange Trees:
http://www.nodiggardener.co.uk/2014/03/growing-our-calamondin-orange.html
Why not have a go at some of these recipes?
https://gardeningonthego.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/making-marmalade-from-the-calamondins/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/enbest10/calamondin-recipes/
Chris Folwell asks: What is this plant? They’re popping up all over my garden!
I think this is Abelia – grandiflora ‘Frances Mason’. Does it flower? If so it should have lots of small cone shaped, light pink flowers in mid-summer which have a slight scent.
https://www.shootgardening.co.uk/plant/abelia-x-grandiflora-frances-mason
https://www.thegardener.co.za/the-gardener/the_gardener_categories/abelia-x-grandiflora-2/