Transplanting too many times

[veg4681]

I'm wondering how many times you transplant your seedlings/plants before putting them in their final growing place. I don't like bothering with seed trays as I find them too shallow and I'm forced to transplant to bigger pots sooner or later, an extra task I hate . I like the deepest of pots to start off my veggie so that I never have to continue transplanting until they're ready to go to the final bed/pot.

So is it possible to start seeds off in tubes/pipes that are so long, you need never do the transplanting many times? I know it's a stupid question but anything to cut down on the number of transplanting.

[sewer rat]

Depends on veg ! I start my all my brassicas and lettuces in 12 cell trays and they get planted out direct from these.
Courgettes, cukes and toms get started in 3" pots and are planted out direct from these.
Beans and peas are direct sown, as are swedes, turnips, radishes, beetroot, parsley etc
Chilli plants etc are started in 48 cell trays, then into 3" pots then into final pots or position from the 3" pot.
Leeks are sown about 30 seeds to a 1 litre pot and when ready for planting out, I remove the clump from the pot, trim the roots to about 1 inch, spearte the plants and that's it.
I do not have time to be continually potting on my veg - too many to be practical - so the less time spent on this the better.

[rustylady]

I use cell trays, a couple of seeds per cell and pull out the extras. I haven't used seed trays for years. Peas and beans do well in roottrainers (or toilet roll "inner tubes") - the whole thing can be planted out.