Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

How do I deal with too many seedlings in one pot?

EscapetothegardenEscapetothegarden Posts: 188
in Plants
Hello!

I planted too many seeds in one pot.  I think I was just in a rush/end of the day kind of thing and lots of things had been going wrong (my tomato seeds taking ages germinating) so I thought hey ho if they grow - great! And I just left the pot and randomly watered it…and they have all sprung up…

They are either verbena bonariensis or ox-eye daisy 👀 

I’m not sure what to do - do I wait till they are a little bigger before doing anything? 

Also, do they need to be potted out individually? In (a gazillion) teeny pots? 😬

Thank you ☀️


Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I think those are your daisies. Yes I’d prick them out individually … little pots or those module trays would be ideal. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    The bigger ones certainly look to be at the right stage for pricking out. I would use a module tray insert because I have some, but you could use small pots. I think I would use something pointy like a pencil to carefully lift out the bigger ones then maybe leave the smaller ones to grow on for a bit longer.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Edit: If you don't want that many plants you could prick out what you do want and ditch the rest. There's no need to keep all of them if you don't have room for them, and because they're a single variety you'd be fine just keeping the bigger ones (with mixed colours in a seed pack, sometimes one colour will germinate sooner so you need to keep a mix of sizes to be reasonably sure of getting the full colour range).
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • EscapetothegardenEscapetothegarden Posts: 188
    Thank you @Dovefromabove for your reply - happy to know what they are! 
  • EscapetothegardenEscapetothegarden Posts: 188
    Thank you for the tips @JennyJ - will see what I can use!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Just pull some out. When they start seeding everywhere you'll have hundreds anyway!  :D
    Ox eye daisies can just be planted in a clump where you want them so I wouldn't bother faffing around too much with potting individually. Just make sure they aren't going to crowd out other smaller plants, because they can do that quite easily - they get pretty big.  
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    If you don’t want that many you can tip the whole lot out of the pot and just tease it apart.  Give it a watering before you do. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • EscapetothegardenEscapetothegarden Posts: 188
    Thank you @fairygirl and @Lyn! 👍 




Sign In or Register to comment.