This seed sowing business,not sure what I'm doing

[Wellrottedmanure]

Bit of a newbie after some old hand advice -

In my naive enthusiasm I went mad filling up sowing trays of brassicas celery etc and as a consequence had densely packed trays of seedlings (which were looking great)
I then diligently went to attempt to pot them on into bigger pots.Despite being as gentle as possible the disturbance (and my over entusiastic watering ) has led to their demise!.
I'm re stocked with seeds and my plan is now to sow the brassicas in individual 3 inch pots,my theory being then, the only transplantation will have to be when they go in the ground (when they are nice and hardy).Im fortunate to have loads of pots and space so there isnt a limit on this.
Am I being daft and missing something or does any one else do it like this.
I appreciate some seeds will not germinate but I figure after 10 -14 days i will just pop another seed in! and eventually I should have plenty of mini plants to pop outside with none of the trauma of early transplantation.
Would love your thoughts
Cheers

[Capsid]

If i can handle the seeds individually (such as brassicas, tomatoes, sweetcorn, beans etc) then I plant them individually in to pots or modules or space them evenly out in a seed tray. That way there is no need to prick them out and they can be planted out directly to their final positions.

For smaller seeds, then the trick is to sow them thinly so they can be teased apart very gently when pricking out.

Can you give some detail as to their demise? All may not be lost.

[Bigmallly]

Welcome to the vine......sounds like a good plan, plant 2/3 seeds per pot then take out the weaker seedlings (you may be able to pot them on), leaving the stronger one to grow on before planting out. Good luck.............more comments will follow.

[Two_Sheds]

my plan is now to sow the brassicas in individual 3 inch pots,my theory being then, the only transplantation will have to be when they go in the ground

the trouble with that is: that you don't want too big a pot with little seedlings in it, or else the soil will go sour. The general advice when potting on is just to go one size bigger (than the last pot).

You could use your seed trays, or modules, and just sow more thinly. Pot on as the seedlings get bigger.

Brassicas actually like being transplanted, so that isn't a consideration.

(when they are nice and hardy)

brassicas are already hardy (it just means that frost won't kill them, it doesn't indicate size or toughness)

[Wellrottedmanure]

Thanks for such quick replys.Can I just ask then - if sowing thinly, what sort of success should I expect in transplanting the little fellas.Should the majority manage the transplanting or is 50 percent success level a more reasonable target?
Obviously skill and technique has to have a role but is there a general consensus on what sort of level of success is reasonable (for a beginner)?


Thanks again for your input

[elsie-scot]

Any seedlings looking weak - much smaller than others, or very little roots, I don't transplant, found most of the rest grow on ok

[womble]

Thanks for such quick replys.Can I just ask then - if sowing thinly, what sort of success should I expect in transplanting the little fellas.Should the majority manage the transplanting or is 50 percent success level a more reasonable target?
Obviously skill and technique has to have a role but is there a general consensus on what sort of level of success is reasonable (for a beginner)?

If I sow brassicas in pots, I do them in modules and I would expect virtually 100% germination and no losses when it came to putting them out in the ground.
I might lose the odd one, but it would be an exception.

And I don't treat them well, I just bung em about.

[Two_Sheds]

If I sow brassicas in ...modules and I would expect virtually 100% germination

Same here. Once you've got the germination cracked, the rest is easy: you don't tend to lose plants during transplanting unless you're really cack-handed. Transplantation itself isn't a problem (unless you're doing parsnips, carrots or anything else with a tap root)

[Flummery]

I often sow brassicas in modules, one per hole. Sometimes, however, to keep myself interested (!) I sow them in a 3" pot. When I have true leaves and can handle them, I put them in the ground in their permanent position. At the moment I have one-per-module kohl rabi and all-per-pot summer cabbage.

As some of you know, I don't grow celery!

[Guttata]

When transplanting don't worry if they go a little limp most transplants can suffer transplant shock, they will soon pick up. As to success rate as long as you look after them it should be near 100%.

Given how many seeds you get with some brassicas I always put two seeds in a pot and then culled the weakest seedling.

[tamsin]

With a lot of seeds, even in tray, I make holes evenly spaced (with a pencil of similar) and drop a seed in each. That way it's easier to control the spacing than sprinkling.