- PunkRotten
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1989
- Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:48 pm
- Location: Monterey, CA.
Re: Should I separate (and how) 2 & 3 tomato seedlings
I had a few cells with multiple plants in them. Originally I was going to cut out the ones I didn't want. But I decided to try and use them all. So carefully, I separated them trying to make sure that each plant had as little root loss as possible. I did have to rip away at it to finally free them. After transplanting all it turns out they all made it and are nice healthy plants right now. If these were chile plants all of them might have died. It has been my experience that chile plants do not like to have their roots disturbed and they don't recover from root damage as tomatoes do. Tomatoes are pretty tough plants.
- gixxerific
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 5889
- Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
- Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B
Another way which for some reason I never see people put in these kinds of threads is using water. Preferably from a sink sprayer (low pressure) just take your root ball (of course handling very carefully, trying not to squeeze the stems) and spray the soil off the root ball. They are fairly easy to separate and you don't loose hardly any roots.
Than gently dangle the roots in your new pot as they would be naturally and slowly fill with a light potting mix. It's like they were born there, and they will love you for it.
Than gently dangle the roots in your new pot as they would be naturally and slowly fill with a light potting mix. It's like they were born there, and they will love you for it.