Rockets Rockets Rockets

[nosebleed21]

any tips on growing rockets?
is it ok to plant them
in a small container?shouls I thin it to give it more spacing?

[imafan26]

When the seedlings are about 1" tall thin to 4 inches apart. Rocket is best planted in the coolest time of the year. When they are young they can be sweet with little bitterness but in the heat they are a lot more bitter and will bolt faster.

[applestar]

It's a good idea to fill your container to 1 inch from the top for maximum root growing volume. For plants that need cooler soil, and to keep down weeds in general, you can fill to two inches from the top and add 1 inch layer of organic mulch.

With most plants, you can gradually add more soil as the plants grow.

[nosebleed21]

thanks @all I'm so excited about this vegetable as we don't have it in stores from where I live..will definitely fill the next container for the next batch

[nosebleed21]

oops I may have thinned it too early next time then thanks for the tip

[rainbowgardener]

Thin too early is not a problem except that the little plant babies don't have much root system yet, so it is easier to dislodge/ disturb the ones you are trying not to thin, in the thinning process. But if everyone survived and is doing fine, no problem. They did look way crowded in the picture you showed and would have needed to be thinned pretty soon.

[nosebleed21]

Thin too early is not a problem except that the little plant babies don't have much root system yet, so it is easier to dislodge/ disturb the ones you are trying not to thin, in the thinning process. But if everyone survived and is doing fine, no problem. They did look way crowded in the picture you showed and would have needed to be thinned pretty soon.

Thanks will post again very soon please advise if I still need to in

[rainbowgardener]

"please advise if I still need to in "

??

Does that mean if I still need to thin?


If the picture is how they are looking now, then yes, most definitely, you still need to thin. I wouldn't try doing it at least until they get true leaves; in the picture it doesn't look like they have that. Let them get true leaves and a little bit bigger. Then you are going to have to thin A LOT. If you have more places to put seedlings, you can transplant some into other pots. But you likely have way more little plants there than you are going to have room for and some are going to have to become compost.

Another reason for letting them go a little bit longer before thinning is that then you will be able to see which ones are stronger and growing better and which ones are weaker, so you can cull the weaker ones.

But did you catch where imafan said "thin to 4" apart"? That means one plant every four inches. They don't have to be that far apart right now while they are still small, but that is the ultimate spacing you will be going for. You can get there in stages. Once they get true leaves, you can thin enough that none of them are touching and each little plant has a little bit of space around it. Then as they grow, you can keep culling weaker ones, until you get to ultimate spacing.

[nosebleed21]

Update! 03.13.14

[imafan26]

Definitely ready to thin now. You can either put the cullings in a salad or transplant some of them out.

[nosebleed21]

What about watering requirements?

[rainbowgardener]

What about watering requirements? Yes they need to be watered. Not sure what the question is.

[applestar]

I think like most mustard family, they get more pungent when kept dry.