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plug plants
Michael Bix
Posts: 1
Hi all I am asking for help with plug plants that I am trying to pot on and the plants are perennials
Would like to know what is the best way to plant these as ever time I plant them they die off in the video it shows to water them above but in the instructions it tells you that sit them in a tray of water for 10 minute or untill compost turns dark what correct I have replacement plants on they way and this will be third time lucky and I am not a expect in gardening so any help would be appreciated as I don't think company will replace them again and all so what compost do you recommend as I been using b and m compost at £1.99
Please help
Michael
0
Posts
hi Michael the compost I use is j/I compost 2 /3 any one (as doghouse /riley says some companys have a big lot of plants go out the last lot I got from T/M came but carrier had knocked them around with T/L C they came back the container they came in I use it often to grow plugs on and it works ( aplastic container 8x5 with 48 squares in about 3/4inch fill with comp use a pen to make a hole plant seeds fine compost over ////the bottom of container lifts of water in the base put top plants in put plastic cover on top also you can buy a propper made one for about £10 ish michael
I don't know if it any help whatsoever but if I am potting on (usually cuttings or seedlings) I use second hand pots, quickly rinsed out and the cheapest general compost I can find and I seem to get a success rate of 95%, so I would highly recommend a big dose of blind ignorance. It may bring you the same good fortune I have found. I do sprinkle a handfull of fishblood and bonemeal so I don't know if that's the magic bullet?
As for watering, I have an old washing up bowl filled with (if lucky, rainwater) tapwater in which I sit the pots for 15/20mins. Then just leave them alone in a sheltered South facing part of the garden. As others say, at the end of the day there's an element of luck involved but let's hope you just got a bad batch, anyway good luck with your next attempt.
Michael, T&M send out plugs raised in hothouses with bottom heat and misting systems. Invariably they have poor root systems as they rush to fill orders. The best way is to pot into 9cm pots any compost will do, water from underneath and keep them sheltered in semi shade or shaded GH. Plugs take 6-8 weeks to form a decent root system especially perennials, which are slower growing than the annual plugs sold. Feed them with a liquid seaweed food which I've found gives a good root system in a reasonable period. Once the roots fill the pot they can go out. I don't know what you've got but T&M usually flog the easy stuff so they'll establish before winter comes. Don't over water, that's the usual cause of plug death and never from above. A tip as to when to water is the weight of the pot. Lighter it is means watering so they can dry out quite a bit before watering.
In the past with plugs, into compost ie whatever and water with a fungicide, very few failures.