How long can they stay in the peat pots?

megany · Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:16 pm

A friend got me a jiffy kit, so I went ahead and planted a few seeds indoors. They've all been doing really well -- but the tomatoes grew way faster than I anticipated (they are in the back rows). They're about as tall as my hand now.

How long can they stay in the peat pots, before the lack of space becomes harmful? It's still too cold to plant them outside, probably another three weeks or so before I can transplant them.

If they need to be repotted, would small plastic cups be enough space for the next three weeks? [url=https://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee368/mamabello1/210734_10150169636884513_773494512_6553256_977364_o.jpg]Like this person on the forum did[/url]?

[img]https://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w208/cancercrusader/d146ddcc.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w208/cancercrusader/61a5b93c.jpg[/img]

DoubleDogFarm · Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:06 pm

Megan,

I would up pot all your tomatoes. Right up to the cotyledons or pinch them off and go deeper. I'm moving all mine into 6" pots. Gallon roughly. remove the nets first.

Eric

rainbowgardener · Fri Apr 15, 2011 8:14 am

Agree about potting up the tomatoes, though if you are short on space 3" pots will last them for awhile or large plastic drink cups (with drainage holes).

Some of the peppers in front look really crowded so they will need to be up potted as soon as they get true leaves, also, or else thinned.

megany · Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:01 pm

Eric -- Great, thank you!

We'll pot them up today, and rainbowgardener -- I think we are going to use large plastic drink cups with drainage holes.

rainbowgardener wrote: Some of the peppers in front look really crowded so they will need to be up potted as soon as they get true leaves, also, or else thinned.

Yeah, definitely -- we thinned the tomatoes. I planted two in each, and in almost all of them, they both grew really well. I didn't even think about taking one out and putting it elsewhere, I just thinned them by cutting one back. Would that work? I'd love to save the extra pepper seedling in each peat pot if that's possible. But I don't want to risk uprooting the other one by trying to lift one out.

Rogue11 · Fri Apr 15, 2011 10:06 pm

megany wrote: I'd love to save the extra pepper seedling in each peat pot if that's possible. But I don't want to risk uprooting the other one by trying to lift one out.

You might not have to. When I cut the netting on my peat pots to up-pot my peppers the soil came apart in my hand and I was able to separate the two plants easily. So if the roots are not too intertwined it might work for you too.

johnny123 · Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:49 pm

If you repot the tomatoes bury the whole stem and just leave the leaves showing above the soil.

Kisal · Sun Apr 24, 2011 12:04 am

Rogue11 wrote:
megany wrote: I'd love to save the extra pepper seedling in each peat pot if that's possible. But I don't want to risk uprooting the other one by trying to lift one out.
You might not have to. When I cut the netting on my peat pots to up-pot my peppers the soil came apart in my hand and I was able to separate the two plants easily. So if the roots are not too intertwined it might work for you too.

I would agree with this. In fact, you could remove the netting and just use a clean, sharp knife to cut the root ball in half. Cut straight down through it, right between the stems of the plants. Then, using a good soil mix, plant each section in its own plastic pot, as DoubleDogFarm describes. It's possible that not every seedling will survive, but a good majority of them probably will.