I've been playing with different things to see how germinated tomato plants react to different conditions.
I started seven weeks ago by germinating generic PL tomato seed in six cell seeding packs and by sowing in a flat. The seed, soil, light, and nutrition were identical. The photo below shows my home made light table which I put in my shop. It has four 6500 K, daylight, fluorescent bulbs.
(Click photos to enlarge)
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The seed germinated in the cell packs and flat in four days. I allowed the seedlings to grow in the flat for two weeks and transplanted four of them to four inch square pots. The seedlings in the cell pack were not changed at this time. The following photo shows both the cell pack seedlings and the transplanted seedlings after seven weeks of growth. I am trying to determine the value of up potting seedlings. The seedlings in the photo have been grown identically with the exception of four of them being up potted disturbing the tap root.
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I then started an experiment to determine the value of different seed starting soils. I had been looking in different garden centers for a brand named "Promix". I already had an eight quart bag of "Miracle Grow" seed starting mix with fertilizer. I couldn't find the Promix, so I bought a 32 quart bag of "Fertilome" transplant soil. I like the transplant soil because it's texture was made of peat moss ground almost into powder. It has bone meal and kelp meal added. It has no sticks or other materials mixed in with the exception of the nutrients. The Fertilome mix only cost $4.95 for 32 quarts. I believe the Miracle Grow mix cost the same for only eight quarts.
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In the photo below the Miracle Grow soil is in the three cells on the left. The Fertilome soil is in the three cells on the right. I planted some generic beef steak seeds one week ago. The seed in the fertilome soil germinated in four days. The seed in the Miracle grow hasn't germinated after seven days. The Fertilome soil seems to absorb and retain more moisture than the Miracle Grow.
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I believe it is interesting that the soil not designed to germinate seed germinates seed better than soil designed for seed germination.
Ted
Sani,
Its probably a combination of both disturbing the roots and more soil to acquire nutrients from. I removed the seedlings from the left side of the six pack five days ago and replaced them in the same cell they were removed from. I can't tell much difference in size of the those removed and replaced and those not touched. All six of the plants in the cells had yellowing leaves indicating nitrogen depletion. The yellowed leaves of the disturbed plants now have significantly more green coloration than the undisturbed plants. I don't think five days is enough time to see much difference. I probably will be able to better judge differences in a couple of weeks.
Ted
Its probably a combination of both disturbing the roots and more soil to acquire nutrients from. I removed the seedlings from the left side of the six pack five days ago and replaced them in the same cell they were removed from. I can't tell much difference in size of the those removed and replaced and those not touched. All six of the plants in the cells had yellowing leaves indicating nitrogen depletion. The yellowed leaves of the disturbed plants now have significantly more green coloration than the undisturbed plants. I don't think five days is enough time to see much difference. I probably will be able to better judge differences in a couple of weeks.
Ted
Ferti-Lome has always been one of my favorite brands of gardening products. They usually sign up the smaller garden centers as distributors. To find a local distributor of their products, follow the link and enter your zip code in the "distributor locator".
https://www.fertilome.com/VPG-Products.aspx
Many of their distributors only carry a few of their products. Some will have "HI Yield" supplements, but not garden soil. Some will have the garden soil, but not the supplements. I have never been able to find a list of their varieties of garden soil products even on their web page.
I found my bag of soil at a garden center in East Texas while searching for Promix.
Good Luck
Ted
https://www.fertilome.com/VPG-Products.aspx
Many of their distributors only carry a few of their products. Some will have "HI Yield" supplements, but not garden soil. Some will have the garden soil, but not the supplements. I have never been able to find a list of their varieties of garden soil products even on their web page.
I found my bag of soil at a garden center in East Texas while searching for Promix.
Good Luck
Ted
Ted,
I found a couple of garden centers that carry Ferti-lome but both of them are into the Ultimate Potting Mix. I emailed Fertilome CS asking them about the transplanting mix.
For some reason, it's often like trying to pull teeth from chickens when it comes to getting info on where to buy stuff. For instance, I want to buy at least 100 and maybe 200 pounds of Tomato-tone fertilizer next year. I e-mailed the company, as the largest bags and dealers sell here are four pounds. They promised they would let me know - that was nearly three months ago.
Mike
I found a couple of garden centers that carry Ferti-lome but both of them are into the Ultimate Potting Mix. I emailed Fertilome CS asking them about the transplanting mix.
For some reason, it's often like trying to pull teeth from chickens when it comes to getting info on where to buy stuff. For instance, I want to buy at least 100 and maybe 200 pounds of Tomato-tone fertilizer next year. I e-mailed the company, as the largest bags and dealers sell here are four pounds. They promised they would let me know - that was nearly three months ago.
Mike
I've been told the Ferti-Lome Ultimate is a very good germinating soil, but it does have tiny sticks in it. You could probably screen the ultimate and the result would be similar to the transplant soil without the bone meal and kelp meal. The small garden center where I found the transplant soil had it because they purchase and sell about 8000 tiny seedlings in the spring. They use the transplant soil to up pot the seedlings before they sell them. It may be designed more for commercial purposes rather than retail sales.
I've also been having problems lately getting any kind of responses from companies when I ask for information. Guess they are all understaffed.
Ted
I've also been having problems lately getting any kind of responses from companies when I ask for information. Guess they are all understaffed.
Ted
What kind of garden or operation do you have that would require 200 lbs of tomato tone? That amount will take care of a lot of plants.
If your selling seedlings at farmers markets or something like that, Fertilome may be happy to deal with you direct. They seem to work mostly with small distributors. If you have a tax number, they will probably sell to you wholesale.
Ted
If your selling seedlings at farmers markets or something like that, Fertilome may be happy to deal with you direct. They seem to work mostly with small distributors. If you have a tax number, they will probably sell to you wholesale.
Ted