On the 18th Jan, I reported that the seedlings had germinated. A few days later, there were so many that I decided to thin them out. Today, I decided to thin them out again since some more had germinated and, in any case, I wanted to reduce them to about three seedlings per propagator cell. So here is a pic to illustrate:
And another:
A bit pathetic, don’t you think? But we must remember that the seeds are minuscule. At this stage, the seedlings are barely attached to the compost. In the first pic, some of them are lying down. That’s because of me mauling them, but they will buck up. Because they are barely attached to the compost, it is better not to pour water directly into the cells – the seedlings are easily detached from the compost. If necessary, just ‘mist’ them using a spray bottle. I use an old window cleaning fluid bottle which was, of course, thoroughly washed.
The seedlings are reasonably spread out. They should be OK for two or three weeks. They can sit in the propagator on the south-facing spare-bedroom window ledge. The temperature in that room is about 20C and they will get some sun there. They should be OK.
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The weather over the last week or so has been splendid! Here in the North West of England, we had a couple of days of clear skies and reasonably hard frosts. Because I left my two baccy plant plots very roughly dug over, the frost got deep into the ground. The frost freezes the water in the soil and expands it. When the water in the soil thaws, it leaves billions of little holes which fill up with nitrogen (and oxygen) from the air. This is called ‘conditioning’. At the moment, we have several inches of snow lying on the surface. It is now beginning to melt, which will nicely moisten the ground thoroughly.
Happy days!
27/01/2013 at 09:47
A very fiddly job isn’t it, Junican.
I used the head of a darning needle as a spade when the roots were just showing on the surface, I’m always worried about causing damage by pricking them out later when the roots are longer.
A quite nerve-wracking process.
27/01/2013 at 15:28
When I was thinning, there were so many seedlings that it didn’t matter if I made a few mistakes. I’m determined now not to be tempted to transplant them to pots too soon. I didn’t have any trouble last year when I waited until the seedlings were quite well developed.
27/01/2013 at 16:06
I don’t take the seedlings out of the modules until the leaves spread just wider than the compartment they are growing in, by then they are ready to pot on into the next size. For some reason, a little root restriction until the roots fill the pot, seems to help them grow bigger faster.
28/01/2013 at 01:04
Curious, Rose. I have little experience, but I have not observed even 2″ pots becoming root-bound. It seems to me that tobacco plant rooting systems simply are too small and weak to do so (which was the big objection to using fibre pots).
I like the ‘general principle’ of not transplanting seedlings until the leaves exceed the size of the pots.It certainly sounds like a good general tip. But there is also the requirement that the soil outside should not be less than 15C when planting out.
This next season becomes more interesting all the time!
28/01/2013 at 08:45
Tobacco root systems are not small and weak, they have to hold up a tall plant with huge leaves like sails against the wind.
My seedlings don’t get chance to get pot bound, but I do like the roots to have reached the sides of the pot and bound up the soil, it makes repotting easier.
When the roots are just coming out of the bottom of the pot and the leaves are slightly wider than the top of it is the time to repot and it makes them much easier to handle by the root ball rather than the leaves.
Just a note on repotting for those not used to it.
Slide your fingers either side of the stem so that the top of the pot is cupped in your hand, turn it upside down and on large pots give it’s bottom a smack, if it’s a module a squeeze,and keep doing it until the plant falls into your hand with it’s root ball uppermost.
I have seen people grab the stem and pull the plant out of the pot, it makes me wince every time.
29/01/2013 at 00:55
I was talking about the seedlings, Rose.
29/01/2013 at 10:13
Oh I see, Junican.
But they are just babies and doing their best. : )
By the way, today I’m putting the 30″ high polytunnel/cloche out to warm the soil ready for the new potatoes in pots and later the tobacco for hardening off.
You get an earlier crop if you chit the new potatoes on the windowsill then pot them up in 3″ pots and put them “under glass” in February, ready to plant in the ridges when they’ve got going.
When the potatoes get planted out I’m going to cover them in agricultural fleece after those late frosts last year wiped out a lot of the English potato crop.
Better safe than sorry and fleece is not expensive.