Posted on 03/09/2012 10:51:08 AM PST by JustaDumbBlonde
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Good afternoon gardeners! After a high of 81 degrees yesterday, we are at 50 degrees today after experiencing high winds and 3 inches of rain last night. Radar would indicate that there is more rain to come, as I see it in Texas right now. I hope that all of our Texas gardeners are catching up on much needed rain! PTL!
We have so many new gardeners in our group, in addition to folks with the desire to begin gardening, that I thought a primer on transplanting might be useful. Please feel free to add to the discussion with your regular practices. And, as always, please feel free to ask any questions that you may have. This group loves to share information, and advice is free for the asking!
Because I plant over 100 tomato plants every year, I've got my transplanting down to a science that works for me and allows me to move down the row quickly. My tools are a bulb planter, a old spoon from the kitchen, a small bucket and several 2-liter soda bottles. (One day I'd love to do a thread on all of the common non-garden-related items we all use in our gardens.)
I start off my mixing up several bottles of a starter fertilizer, either the TNT pictured below, or Miracle Grow Quick Start. Whatever you use, make sure it is a low-nitrogen product, or you will grow lovely leaves and not much else. I also put some tomato food around the base of the tomato after transplant. Please notice the N-P-K formulation on these products. Similar products from any manufacturer are fine, these are what stores in my area offer for sale.
My tomatoes are planted through a commercial quality landscape fabric for weed control and moisture retention. It has other benefits, but weed control is my major concern. I begin by measuring off 30 inch increments and marking them on my fabric, then I go back and cut X's in the fabric and fold the corners under to access the soil.
Begin by digging your hole. I use a bulb planter because it makes the perfect diameter hole for a transplant that comes from a commercial 6-9 pack, or the small newspaper pots that I make myself. Tomatoes should be planted "deep", so dig your hole accordingly.
Here is an example of a bulb planter:
By "deep", I mean that you are going to plant more than just the roots, you are going to plant at least half of the stalk as well, up to 3/4 of the height of the plant is perfectably acceptable. Bonnie Plants, which supplies the likes of WalMart, Lowes and Home Depot garden centers, used to suggest 80% of the plant stem, but they have since backed that off to 2/3. This method is really the ONLY way to grow the strongest possible plant. Roots will develop on the entire length of the stem that is buried, giving your plants lots of roots to anchor the plant, as well as the ability to absorb more moisture and nutrients. In the photo below, the top of my index finger is indicating how deep I'm going to plant this tomato.
The next photo shows that I have pinched-off the leaves of the plant up to the point that I will bury the stem. This is not a required step, many folks let them stay, but it is my personal preference to remove them to avoid air pockets around the new roots.
Next, gently place your plant in the hole you've prepared. You can see from the photos below that there is enough room in the hole to surround the delicate roots with looser soil to accomodate quick spread and avoid transplant shock.
In the next step, you should replace the soil you removed with the bulb planter, just enough to cover the existing rootball. I use the small bucket to break up the soil and hold it until I'm ready to put it back. If you're not working on landscape fabric, of course you can keep the soil on the ground next to the hole. The important thing is making sure you break it up well.
Then water that soil in with your starter fertilizer/water mixture. Water until the loose soil is underwater and then allow it to soak in. It only takes a minute or less.
After the water soaks in and settles the loose soil, fill in the remainder of the hole, and build it up to a small pyramid. The next rain or watering will take that pyramid down to level ground and, if it doesn't, that's okay too. At this point if you have not already fertilized your soil, place a tablespoon or two of a good tomato fert around the base of the plant. DO NOT let the crystals touch the stem!
My final step is unfolding the landscape fabric to cover the soil, and standing back to watch the growth!
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The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
Congrats on the weight loss! I’ve lost 10 too, by reducing the size of my portions to half. Finally got straightened out on the Lyme disease I’ve battled for nearly 4 years, and was able to stop some medications that had weight gain as a side effect.
Before I figured out it was Java, I was so disgusted I was considering a switch to Firefox (which I have used before) or Chrome. Thanks for the input on Chrome. BTW, when I ‘googled’ the error message and got answers, it did give the versions of Java that had the ‘bug’ that was causing my problem.
My nephew was in California playing tennis and the match was underway, my brother was frantically texting me to watch & couldn’t understand why I couldn’t get it .... I didn’t have time to download the latest Java. Thank goodness someone suggested the compatability view .... I pulled it up, typed in the web address for the livestreaming link and voila ... tennis! I saw the last couple of points of his doubles match, but it was better than seeing nothing. :-)
BTW, see this post on the Recipe Thread ... I think you will find it most interesting:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2857329/posts?page=37#37
Lots of rain here in the last three or four days and it looks like most of the rest of today will be rain.
Congrats on your weight loss too. I didn’t know you’d picked up the lyme desease. I’m so sorry to hear you did. It is a terrible thing to experience. I’m happy, thought, that you are licking it.
I love the rain. Of course I was born and raised in a “rain forest”, SE Alaska. We don’t get inches of rain up there, we measure by the year/foot.
We are planning on taking our camper up there during summer 2013. My late inlaws, back in the 60's and 70's, used to make that drive at least every other year! From Louisiana, seems like a once-in-a-lifetime drive to me and they did it a dozen times. Took 5 or 6 days to get there.
Feature that I'm enjoying in Chrome ... it spell checks while you are typing, just like Word does.
FireFox does that same spell check as you finish typing a word. When posting on FR you don’t have to do that extra step to check spelling.
Seed starting question for anyone:
I have one grow light (2 bulbs in a 48” reflecting shop light) over an old table in the basement. I have no access to the two sunny windows in my house.
How can I keep the grow-light close enough to the seedlings, when they grow at different rates, and are planted at different times?
Our pup is SO happy the sun is out again and she can go for walks and play in the yard. We have been stuck in the house with a 50+ lb Old English Sheep dog that thinks she is a lap dog. Not good.
I’ve never travelled the Alcan, but my sister has done it quite a few times. She and her husband would travel in May to take advantage of the berries, which she canned as they travelled and the fiddle head ferns, plus other wild veggies along the way.
They took their time, sometimes 2/3 weeks, depending on their schedule, picking berries, canning, goofing around, and whatever they did. She loved it.
Oh my stars, I can imagine the pups happiness, after being cooped up all those days.
Your 50# sheep dog sounds like my Dad’s boxer, he thought he was a lap dog too...and he liked to “kiss” whoever allowed him on their lap. Thank goodness my lap wasn’t long enough for him.
FanFan, (I’m new at least so.....) I would just focus on the taller of the bunch, they say you can keep them 2” away from most seedlings.
I’m planning on using jack chain attached to ceiling hooks and shortening the chains with zip ties as I go.
I just picked up full spectrum 4’ T8s lamps @ Home Depot and changed my ballast for T8s, I’m an electrician so that part was easy, just hoping the full spectrum lamps will work - they’re certainly bright enough!
I really don't have a good answer for that one, fanfan. Think what I would do is try to group the seedlings into 2 heights and put them under the light for 12-hour shifts, and adjust the light for the other group. Might be able to do three 8-hours. You can always keep the shorter ones around when lighting the taller group(s).
We were planning on doing some fishing and I was going to can some along the way, but I had never even thought about the berries. Great idea! I’d like to charter a boat for halibut, and I’m not sure what part of Alaska is the best for that. The trip is still in the planning stages and I have research to do.
Another thing you could do - put a 2x6 or two under the short seedlings to bring them up to the height of the taller seedlings perhaps?
Great idea Sparky. Then you don’t have to adjust the light up and down.
Ketchikan,Junea, Sitka are about the best for halibut, I think, but I’m from the panhandle and think they have the best fish, clams, etc.
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