transplanting - from trays to pots

Discussions on growing and cultivating tobacco.
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kbadkar
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transplanting - from trays to pots

Post by kbadkar »

I'm excited to see my little sprouts growing up. They're about 4 weeks old now since I sowed the seeds. They range from 1/2" to 1-1/2" tall and some have the second set of leaves at about a 1/4" across. They are in 8 little (3x3) planter trays in a larger base tray with a plastic top. I have a similar set up with 12 peat plugs, but while I was away on a trip more than half of them succumbed to damping off. I guess because the clear plastic top fit too tight and it got too humid. They are sitting in a sunny window. So here are my questions:

1. When should I take the clear plastic tops off? Won't the little planter trays dry out real quick if I do.

2. Am I running a risk of cooking the little buggers in a sunny window with the plastic tops on?

3. Is there any harm in the plastic tops collecting huge amounts of condensation from the humidity and the drops falling on the tender little plants?

4. When should I transplant to intermediate sized pots? What is the procedure you recommend? I've scoured the internet sources and found conflicting advice. Generally, it seems you should wait until the leaves are the size of your pinky finger nail. One site recommended letting all the sprouts overgrow in the little planter trays and then pulling them out by the stem, pricking a deep hole in the new pot and just drop the roots in and pack the soil around. When transplanting, I've always taken as much soil as I can with plant to not disturb the tender roots and replanted the whole "plug" of soil and roots.

Any advice about how to handle the tobacco babies at this critical stage would be greatly appreciated!
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android
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Post by android »

hi there.

i'm no expert with tobacco specifically, but can answer from a general plant growing perspective.

if you're leaving your plants covered 24/7 you're bound to get some fungus (damping off). obviously you've seen that. if i were you, i'd uncover them at least every other day, if not during a period of time each day. it's always good to get gasses exchanged. you're definitely running the risk of cooking them if you just leave it on the window sill. it can easily reach 100+ deg in something like that on a sunny day. i don't think the condensation drops will fall from high enough or often enough to make a substantial impact on the plant.

when i plant my seeds in a few days, i think the best course of action will be to grow them until they look too big for the planter cell and then plant them into 5 gallon buckets. as far as the planting process, making a small cove the size of the plug should suffice and then just packing the soil back in around it. if you desire to just plant them in the garden, i don't think an intermediate pot is necessary... maybe i'm wrong on this but that seems logical.

hope this helps.
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Smitty
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Post by Smitty »

I started at about the end of December with mine. Here is what I did. I used the peat cups with the plastic tray and clear lid. I wound up putting about 5 seeds in each cup, that was filled with potting soil. Once watered I left the lid on and had the condensation build up also. It caused no problems leaving the lid on. If you feel better about it then open it up turn it upside down and collect the water off the lid once in a while. Or prop open a corner about 1/2". Once they got the 4 leafs I was able to puck out the tallest plants. Lift them up close to the leaf and you will be fine. The roots are fine and almost as long as the plant, so there is no ball or plug, just a strand. I used a pencil to make holes in the soil and dropped the root into the hole. I had no problems doing this and lost no plants during it.
I did find that with very young plants the harsh Florida sun, even in winter, is brutal on baby plants. I kept mine in the shade on the porch most of the time.
pierredekat

Post by pierredekat »

I sprout mine in these.

Image

The cool thing is that there's a plastic tray underneath that I keep an inch or two of water in, and whatever moisture the plants need is wicked up to them.

So if you can "float" your peat pots in a similar fashion, you shouldn't really need the plastic lid.

The other good thing about this setup is that you don't pummel your sprouts, watering them from the top.

Of course, that's generally not a problem, because tobacco shares one very important quality with its cousin, the tomato, in that it can produce new roots off of anything that touches the ground.

So tobacco sprouts can grow for awhile, get spindly and fall over, and whatever portion of the stalk bends over and falls on the ground just gives you that much more root capacity.

My first year, I was panicking about some of the sprouts looking like corkscrews from falling over and changing directions and falling over and changing directions. But eventually those corkscrew plants became some of my best, since they developed extra roots because of that.

So embrace that vine-quality that tobacco plants have, every time you transplant. Let them go until they start to crowd each other, pluck them up one-by-one, and then bury everything but the top two leaves.

Even if they're 6-inches tall. Just shove the whole works down in the ground, all but the top two leaves. And watch them take off growing like the weeds that they are.
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kbadkar
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Post by kbadkar »

pierredekat wrote:
Of course, that's generally not a problem, because tobacco shares one very important quality with its cousin, the tomato, in that it can produce new roots off of anything that touches the ground.

So tobacco sprouts can grow for awhile, get spindly and fall over, and whatever portion of the stalk bends over and falls on the ground just gives you that much more root capacity.

My first year, I was panicking about some of the sprouts looking like corkscrews from falling over and changing directions and falling over and changing directions. But eventually those corkscrew plants became some of my best, since they developed extra roots because of that.

So embrace that vine-quality that tobacco plants have, every time you transplant. Let them go until they start to crowd each other, pluck them up one-by-one, and then bury everything but the top two leaves.

Even if they're 6-inches tall. Just shove the whole works down in the ground, all but the top two leaves. And watch them take off growing like the weeds that they are.
Thanks, Robert, that's the best advice I've found so far! I was at a loss about what to do with my spindly little corkscrewy babies.

I think you guys just saved my sprouts and saved me from lamenting their demise.
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Nick
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Post by Nick »

I gotta get my little seeds in the ground, darn it!
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