The link in my bio takes you to my blog and the article on how to save leggy seedlings, including a cheat sheet. But it's not a reason to discard a seedling. Leggy seedlings! Almost everyone who grows from seed has come across this problem. Keep in mind though that strong and sturdy plants can not be bent that easily! Most tomato plants, even if not grown leggy, benefit from this way of burying. Why most tomatoes benefit from beeing transplanted laying down This method is in fact useful for all tomatoes – not only leggy ones. The root ball is essentially transplanted laying on its side. The other one is bent into position, to demonstrate how the first seedling was buried. One can be seen already buried to a depth where it can stand up straight on its own again. They flopped over and leaned against the window, where they where growing. The picture shows two leggy seedlings, which where not able to support their own weight before transplanting. The thin stems can normally easily be bent in a 90 degree angle (or which ever angle suits you) to fit the plant in its new surrounding while still bury the stem as required. If your new container or planting bed isn’t deep enough to achieve the necessary depth you can bend the plant into shape. Your aim is to have a bit of earth underneath the roots and also to burry the tomato a little bit deeper than it was buried before. Try for your new container to be a little bit deeper than the current one. Milk cartons are also big (deep) enough to avoid repotting while the tomatoes are still inside. So I just tear the containers open all along the side to free the roots and the soil. I use recycled milk cartons as seed containers which hold up for just one season. Wiggle the stem a bit (hold on to it at the very base) and pull the plant out slowly and carefully. After that you should be able to slide the root ball right out of the pot. Otherwise use a thin object like a stick or knife. If the container is flexible you can squeeze it a bit from all sides to do so. Wet soil can be heavy and sticky and cause the roots to tear in the transplanting process.įirst loosen the soil around the sides of the container. No matter if you transplant it into the garden bed or another container, the process is always the same: Make sure to NOT water the plant on transplanting day. This advice should be kept in mind, no matter if the seedling is leggy or not. Depending on the size of your growing container, you will need to repot your tomatoes before planting them actually out in the garden. This is some general advice, that all tomatoes benefit from. What ever the case: this is no reason to despair! How to Transplant Tomatoes – General Advice Or a warm couple of weeks in early spring speed up the growing like crazy. Sometimes that’s because late frost delays the planting. Because I grow almost everything from seed without using grow lights, it seems inevitable. We show you how to save leggy seedlings!Īlthough I do my best to plan seeding time and transplanting time well each year, I almost always get some leggy tomatoes anyway. But there is no need to replace them! If transplanted correctly, even super long and thin tomato seedlings will grow up to be strong and productive tomatoes. Depending on the growing conditions the seedlings have this is sometimes unavoidable. Sometimes seedlings get long and leggy and even start flopping and tumbling over because the stems are so thin.
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