Anyone try Gurney's Floating Seed Start Trays?

[Califgardner]

1st year seed starting so I chose to try these trays. They come with a plug (more like a sponge) with a hole in the center for the seed. The plug sits in a Styrofoam tray that floats on top of the water. All is working very well but questioning if I need to re-pot? Also, do I need the roots to be in dirt before putting in garden?javascript:
Planting: 30 various tomatoes, 24 various peppers, some onions and a few squash.

[rainbowgardener]

I have not used them, but I looked them up. It looks like the little plug is small, it would just be for germinating the seed. And the gro-plug has no nutrients in it. So yes, once the seed is well sprouted, you would need to pot it up. You can probably just pop the whole little gro-plug in a pot of potting soil, so it should make for easy transplant (presuming you only put ONE seed in each plug).

And yes, I think your plants will survive transplant into the garden much better if they are in soil first. It will be growing water roots right now which are more tender and fragile than roots grown in soil.

I have an AeroGarden which is also growing in water. In the spring, I take the plants out of it and pot them up. But they really need to be babied for awhile, until they get adapted to soil.

[Califgardner]

Thank you rainbow gardener. This question has been bugging me for a while. My tomatoes are about a foot tall now so I had best get with it. If I will be planting in the ground in a week or two, would you still recommend transplanting now?

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah, actually I would. In my experience, it would not work real well to put those directly from the water to the ground, which is very dense. I would put them in a pot with potting soil for a couple weeks. You will need to water it very frequently at first, but you want a very well draining soil, so it doesn't stay soggy.

But you grew a foot tall tomato plant in one of those little plugs? Do you put fertilizer in the water? It has to get nutrients from somewhere. I imagine it's got a foot of roots floating in the water, but those will be very fragile.

I'm thinking it probably should have been transplanted out of there a few weeks ago, but let us know how it all works for you...

[Califgardner]

Thank you for the advice. Yes, everything is growing very well except for the Hatch chiles which are growing slowly probably because I didn't invest in a propogation mat for heat. There are a lot of roots growing in the water and I hope they aren't tangled. I will start re-potting them tomorrow. Holy cow, I have over 100 plants to do.... Well, I figured if this didn't work out, I can always purchase plants like I normally do and make corrections from learning next year.
I planted about 30 Ace (my favorite), 6 early girl, 6 mortgage lifter (heirloom), 6 amish (heirloom), 15 Hatch chiles, some zucchinis, habaneros and jalapenos.
My avg. last frost is April 1st, so best get going.

Thanks again.