Propagation
Pricking out ( no tittering at the back ) is the process of transplant seedling from wherever they were sown to their next home . I ’ve done a fair scrap of meter reading on this topic recently so forgive me if I go into lecture mode .
When seeds first bourgeon they typically produce a couple of pocket-sized leaf , call seed leaf , or cotyledon ( Latin for , wait for it … . ejaculate folio ! ) .
These are irregular leaves that the seedling use to give a little photosynthesis boost to root growth prior to the right leave coming through . The seed leaves are call that as they exist in an embryonic state in the germ . The seed leaves are a canonical affair , similar attend on most plant . Some flora oblige on to them , some ditch them once they have some right leave . The right or true leaves educate post embryonically , after germination and usually look very dissimilar to the seed leaves . To perplex matters , some plant set out life at germination with a single leaf , like a blade of skunk . The differences are explain nicelyhere .
In the propagation and gardening leger I have , there are two schools of cerebration about when to prick out seedlings . Some ( eg Carol Klein ) say that we should expect until the first hardening of proper leaf comes through , others ( include the RHS , Peter Thompson , Christopher Lloyd ) that the veracious time to move them on is as before long as they can be handled , when the source leaves are out . Others ( me ) say do it when you have five transactions , but sooner rather than later . Depending on how sausage balloon fingered one is , this can be very presently after the seedlings have appeared and the germ leaves have egress . There are pros and cons of both approaches ( asap vs proper leafage ) . It ’s essentially a swop off between validity and difficulty of safely untangling the well developed roots of larger seedling . They can put on roots surprisingly rapidly , even when quite teeny .
This one does not have right leaves yet and is quite small , but does already have a neat little base system . Left for longer those roots and those of the seedling ’s neighbours would grow like billio and get tangled up . The risk of infection then is damaging the root word when trying to tell apart the seedling from the substrate and from eachother . This is particularly true for the sowing method I ’m using where 50 - curious seedlings are pack into a 7 cm pot . In summation , the seedling allegedly abide less of a “ assay ” on growing if transfer as soon as they can be handled . The larger seedlings are also more troublesome to transplant , more roots to damage as they are poked about to get them in the hole prepared for them .
Two in a bed. Small now but they’ll grow on fast.
It is leisurely to get intimidated by the tiny seedlings , they appear to be quite finespun . Even with my big hand , I do n’t squish very many . The weeny seed leaves are quite warm and provided they are loosened with a dibber or plant label the seedling come out pretty easily . Another vantage of the vermiculite sowing method is that I ’m finding the small seedling do n’t need much encouragement to be free of it , I can almost gently tote them out . Almost .
When transplanted they do look very small and lonely but like wot seedlings do , they soon turn on .
I had a brief discussion on this subject withChristinaand we agreed that it might be interesting to conduct a trial , particularly as the advice is contravene . More on that in a later post .
no matter of when you opt to prick up out , avoid holding the seedling by anything other than the leaves . I favour a one - thumb grip , but it is also effective to nibble up by both leaves by sort of folding them over , I opine the way you would if you demand to pick up a rabbit by its ear . I ’m not sure that you should stockpile a hare like this , probably not . The prow is very vulnerable to fateful damage at this point , easily bruised , and not just from pick it up . When dibbling into the maw it ’s important not to intrude the root and stem about too much and not to tauten them in too hard , slowly does it . Talking of the kettle of fish , this can be made with a dibber made for the role , a bit of cane , a pencil , a chopstick , a finger , whatever . Make the smallest hole necessary to skid the roots into , which could be quite small .
What to graft into ? reckon how many seedling there are , how big they are , how much distance there is , how much compost you have to spare . This yr I have been using half - trays and fitting in 20 or so seedlings equally spaced . Sometimes I double over up and have two varieties in little quantities in the same half tray . on occasion I have used modules and even less usually , singly in pots , although this is wasteful of both compost and space . I used to twinge out all my seedling into case-by-case pots , and I do like a workbench pack with neat row of individual spate , but I could not propagate in any volume using that method , I just would n’t have the space . In the half trays they can originate on a just fleck till quick to great deal on , by which sentence the conditions will probably have warmed up enough to start the hardening off process . I may even be able to plant out direct from the half tray , but not really expecting to .
They need watering in , using a very o.k. rose from above , or by sitting the tray in body of water for a while . I also like to cover the compost with vermicilite , if I had grit to hand I ’d use that , to keep it swell and to make it operose for moss and liverwort to colonise the airfoil thereby cast the seedling at risk of damping off and other violation .
Two in a bed. Small now but they’ll grow on fast.
It ’s a fiddly process OK , this prick out , but not unmanageable or onerous . I witness it quite meditative . I’ll be back , with intelligence of the trial .
