Thinning and re-potting

[brandon558]

I have read and searched the site about this but want to make sure I do this the right way.

My tomatoe seedlings are under lights and looking good they are maybe 2 inches tall. They are in starter treys and some have two or three in each one. Is this ok to have a couple in each one? Should I thin them out by clipping or should I save them and carefully take them out and plant them each in their own pot?

When they form their true leaves is that a better time to up-pot them?

Also cukes are looking good too..roots are beginning to run through the bottom of they treys though. Is this also time to up-pot or wait and when they are bigger carefully get their roots out?

Also have been reading where many say when up-potting use miracle grow potting soil...ifi do that do I not need to fertilize them? Which is better for the plant?


Thanks

[rainbowgardener]

I have read and searched the site about this but want to make sure I do this the right way.

My tomatoe seedlings are under lights and looking good they are maybe 2 inches tall. They are in starter treys and some have two or three in each one. Is this ok to have a couple in each one? Should I thin them out by clipping or should I save them and carefully take them out and plant them each in their own pot?

When they form their true leaves is that a better time to up-pot them?

Also cukes are looking good too..roots are beginning to run through the bottom of they treys though. Is this also time to up-pot or wait and when they are bigger carefully get their roots out?

Also have been reading where many say when up-potting use miracle grow potting soil...ifi do that do I not need to fertilize them? Which is better for the plant?


Thanks

So your tomato seedlings are two inches tall and don't have true leaves yet? That sounds like maybe they aren't getting enough light. Do you have your lights right down close to the plants, just a couple inches above them, on for 16 hrs a day?

Usually, I try to wait until the true leaves are at least showing, even if not fully developed, but if they are that big and crowded, I would separate them now. When you put them in pots, bury them all the way up to the leaves. Whether you clip some out or plant them all, just depends on how many plants you want/ have room for, but they do need to get thinned/ separated, to keep from stunting each other.

How big are the cucumber tops? Do they have true leaves? Cucumbers are big plants. Definitely by the time they have true leaves they will need to be in a pot, maybe before.

IF you use the M-G potting soil, you don't need to fertilize. If you leave them in seed starting mix, then you will need to fertilize. I don't know that there's a difference to the plants, except that the M-G potting soil is time release, so probably keeps a more uniform level of nutrients, vs giving it a whole bunch at once and then it declines and going through cycles like that.

[brandon558]

lights have been on but I did look and see one of the bulbs was not working correctly. But I have that fixed now. They look as if they are starting to get their true leaves.

How often do you water...every other day? I have read differnt things so not exactly sure for tomatoes and cukes,

thanks for all your help!

[rainbowgardener]

Hard to say, because I don't know your soil/ set up etc. For seedlings in a very small amount of soil, probably not less than every other day, possibly daily. You don't want them staying wet all the time, you definitely don't want them sitting in standing water. But you also can't let seedlings totally dry out. The goal is to keep them as uniformly just barely damp as you can. So the opposite of more established plants with better root systems, you want to water frequently but not too much.