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When to transplant seedlings?

CraighBCraighB Posts: 758
Hi guys I have some cosmos purity seeds that I have sown indoors and they have come through and have 2 little leaves. They were sown in John Innes seed conpost and I have bought some John Innes no1 to transplant them to. I was wondering when do I transplant them to the John Innes no1? I also have some Korean feather reed grass seeds which have come up and they are all just one thin blade of grass at the min. Obviously these haven't got leaves so how do I know the best time to prick these out?? Also one more thing in regards to the reed grass seeds (Calamagrostis brachytricha), on the website I bought the grass seeds from, it says when you do prick them out and pot them up, you should take a small clump of them and put them in a 1 litre pot and then this will form a bushy plant and then to plant 5-7 of these plants per sq meter... How many is a small clump? 3? 5? Any help would be appreciated as always Thanks Craigh

Posts

  • darren636darren636 Posts: 666
    My grass seedlings get pricked out and then clumped together in a new pot- you get an instant bushy plant.



    Cosmos, prick out anytime after the first baby leaves open.

    You could wait until the first true leaves emerge, but its up to you
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    I have often pricked out grasses in clumps, 5 or 6, but they need to be potted on gradually, not put straight into a 1L pot. If they're an inch tall they probably have enough root to be pricked out.

    I prick out cosmos as soon as I can get hold of them or when I get round to it



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • CraighBCraighB Posts: 758
    Thanks Darren,



    So with your grass seedlings how many seedlings do you clump together in 1pot?
  • darren636darren636 Posts: 666
    I've got about 30 seedlings in 1 clump- that's the most I've put in together,

    I've also got clumps of 5- 10 seedlings , these are all in 7cm pots and the individual seedlings are about 10 cm tall.



    These were all self seeded into various other pots I have from a lovely red flowered grass from knoll gardens.
  • CraighBCraighB Posts: 758
    Nutcutlet, so to pot them on gradually would you put them in a small pot individually of say the JI no1 for a while and then into a 1 litre pot of JI no2 when they get bigger?
  • CraighBCraighB Posts: 758
    Darren, well I think I managed to get about 20 seedlings of the grass so I may end up putting them in clumps of maybe 6 or 7 and that way I will have 3 plants to plant as a cluster of 3 in the garden, or should I do just one big pot of all 20 and then plant that one big cluster in the garden? I just didn't know if 20 seedlings of the grass would be too much and be over crowded in one pot?
  • darren636darren636 Posts: 666
    Smaller clumps will be OK, they soon bulk up
  • CraighBCraighB Posts: 758
    Great image in looking forward to seeing them in the garden image
  • CraighBCraighB Posts: 758
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