Transplanting Seedlings
Inside my main greenhouse, we've already planted lots of seeds for the coming gardening season and they're all growing so nicely.
Starting from seed is not difficult to do, but it does require careful attention and patience. And once the seedlings start to develop, it’s important to keep up with maintenance care - thin out seedlings that are weak, prick out those that are growing too big for their seed starting trays, and transplant them into larger pots and flats.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- The tiny seeds we planted just a few weeks ago are already sprouting and ready to move. These seedlings are lupines – those colorful pea-like flowers with an upper standard, or banner, two lateral wings, and two lower petals fused into a keel.
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- Here at my farm, most of the seedlings start off in our commercial-size Urban Cultivator. The automated system provides a self-contained growing environment with everything the plants need to thrive.
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- The seed trays sit over reservoirs and are automatically watered from the back of the unit. The trays receive about 18-hours of light a day.
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- Every winter my Skylands gardener, Wendy Norling, comes down to help at the Bedford farm. She comes just in time to transplant hundreds of growing flower seedlings. It’s a great way to learn about my farm and how its growing season differs from the one up in Maine.
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- As the seeds germinate and begin to mature, it’s important to check their development, so they continue to thrive. Regardless of how perfect seeds may appear, germination is never guaranteed, so multiple seeds are always planted in each seed starting tray cell. This provides a better chance at least one in each cell will take root.
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- When the seedlings are a couple inches tall and have reached their “true leaf” stage, which is when each seedling has sprouted a second set of leaves, it’s time for a process called selective thinning. Selective thinning prevents overcrowding, so seedlings don’t have competition for soil nutrients or room to grow.
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- When thinning, Wendy carefully inspects the seedlings and determines the strongest ones. She looks for fleshy leaves, upright stems, and center positioning in the space. The smaller, weaker, more spindly looking seedlings are removed, leaving only the stronger ones to mature. These stronger specimens will be transplanted into larger cells or pots.
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- These tools are great for transplanting seedlings. The tool on the right is a pair of extra large tweezers. The one on the left is from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It’s called a widger. It has a convex stainless steel blade that delicately separates the tiny plants.
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- A good quality organic mix designed for seedlings will be fast draining and light. These mixes are formulated to encourage strong, healthy growth in new plants.
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- Using the widger, Wendy carefully moves the seedling from the tray to its new and larger pot. The widger also helps to avoid damage to the plant’s leaves or roots.
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- Our greenhouse cat, Blackie, loves to watch from the nearby counter.
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- Wendy gently firms up the surrounding soil. She avoids handling the seedling by its tender stems, which can bruise easily. The stronger plants now have more room to grow before getting transplanted into the ground.
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- The purpose of transplanting is to provide enough room – overcrowding can stress the sprouts.
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- The seedlings are then loaded into our trusted Polaris vehicle, so they could be transported to one of my hoop houses, where they can continue to grow. Foxglove, Digitalis, is an attractive plant that grows throughout the United States. It grows in the wild and is cultivated in private gardens for its beauty. Its bell-shaped flowers are usually bright purple but can sometimes be white, cream yellow, pink, or rose and generally bloom in the spring.
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- Ryan places the trays where they have good exposure to the light. I have several hoop houses here at the farm. A hoop house is a semi-circular-like structure covered in polyethylene, which heats from incoming solar radiation to warm the plants.
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- These seedlings will remain here until spring when they are transplanted outdoors.
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- Right now, these shelves still have room, but it won’t be too long before they are all filled with healthy strong flower and vegetable plants for the garden.
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- And then come June, the gardens will be bursting. Remember my lupines? They grow so wonderfully here at the farm.
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- And here is a foxglove in bloom – completely grown from seeds right here at Cantitoe Corners.
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- Here is my garden in early summer. When I started it, I wanted the plants to be mixed, so every bed is planted with a variety of specimens. Every row of flowers is interesting and colorful – a beautiful sight every year.
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