Seedling ready to come out of propagator?

[onefivenine]

Hi there,

I'm just wondering if this 100s and 1000s tomato seedling should come out of the propagator yet.
It only appeared today. It's on its own in a 3" pot.




I could move it to a warm sunny window sill upstairs or out into the growhouse, or is it too early to move it?

[Irie Jan]

I would not put it into the greenhouse just yet. It is still a bit cold at night unless you have a heated greenhouse.

You could move it to a nice sunny window sill, turn the pot a little every day to help the plant stay nice and straight otherwise it will lean towards the light. Remember to move it away from the window at night because a window sill can still be a bit cold as well. If you keep it in the propogator for too long the extra heat wil make it grow too fast resulting in a leggy plant.

[onefivenine]

Thanks very much Irie Jan. I will move it up to the warm sill in the kitchen.


I have some leggy lettuce still in the propagator unfortunately sharing a seed tray with some peppers which have yet to germinate. Lesson learned I suppose!

[Flummery]

Lettuces don't need the heat of a propagator. I just grow them in a pot covered with a poly bag on the windowsill. I sow everything like that! And everything has its own pot so I can remove the poly bag as soon as the first green shoot shows. It stops them getting too leggy. I agree with Jan though, that it's too early to leave them in the unheated greenhouse. I take mine out in the day but bring them into the house at night.

[Irie Jan]

lettuce usually germinates quite easily, Just in a tray, perhaps with a plastic bag to stop the compost from drying out till germination, then remove the bag!

How far along are they? If they have more than just their seed leaves you can try to prick them out into another tray. It will slow them down just for a little while but they should soon pick up again!

I use an old dinner fork to gently dig around the seedlings and lift the roots, holding just by the seed leaves then pot them on into another tray or bigish pots till ready to plant outside.

I have planted cut and come again salad leaves just a tiny bit deeper when potting on and they appear to be ok! These were seedlings that were quite established but a bit overcrowded.

[onefivenine]

The lettuce is pretty leggy but a few have more than just seed leaves so I'll prick them out and move them to a windowsill. In an attempt to slow it down I've uncovered the lettuce and used the lid of a mini-bell cloche to cover the other have of their tray - over the pepper seeds.
That leaves the main lid of the propagator which I've placed sideways over one other 100 and 1000 yet to sprout, and two tumbling toms, one of which I can just see starting to poke through All in 3" pots.

Thankfully I still have two window sills free and ready to fill up!

Thanks again

[Flummery]

Amazing how fast they fill up at this time of year!