Transplanting Plants

Transplanting plants is a very easy process but a little hard on the back. It requires a properly prepared bed or container.

In order to get a jump on the growing season, seeds are started in doors in "flats." A flat is anything that holds more than one seedling pot.

What can be transplanted?

The following can generally be started inside and then transplanted to the garden: tomatoes, peppers, squash, watermelons, cauliflowers, broccoli and cucumbers.

Plants that do not do well as transplanting plants are root plants like carrots and turnips. Green beans also are not very good at transplanting. But since green beans are a versatile crop and many can be planted in one spot, it is not feasible to try to transplant them.

Before transplanting plants that have been grown in doors it is best to harden them off. The term hardening refers to any process that helps in a firming or hardening of a plant's biological process.

Some will reduce water some will increase water in order to prepare the plant for transplanting. I usually just water it as I usually do. I have not noticed a lot of difference between different techniques. The same with any fertilizing I am doing.

Some will set them out in the sun for a few hours each day and repeat this process adding more time each day.

As for me, I just plant them. It shocks them but they seem to do just fine.

When transplanting vegetable plants, keep in mind that the process can be a shock to the plant when taking it from a controlled environment to an unstable one.

The plants I am transplanting have been in a semi-controlled environment so they are not too shocked by the transplanting. The two videos I have posted explained the procedure in detail.

One caution is to try to transplant on a cloudy day when the temperature is hot outside. And try not to transplant on a windy day. Following these two suggestions can help relieve a lot of stress the plant goes through.

Since I am using pots with bagged soil, I do not need any special tools. My hands work fine for this.

When putting them into the actual garden bed, I may need a little shovel to help dig out the soil. But that is all I need since my soil is ready for planting.

Transplanting vegetable plants is fun and rewarding. By doing this we should have about a six weeks head start for harvest then if we waited and planted them in the ground from seeds.

We will do some seed planting in the ground just so we can see the difference. If I had a green house, I would just plant the seeds in the ground and be done with it.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions then contact me on the contact form or just email me at schulzedavid@msn.com. In about a week we will add an updated video to see how our plants are doing.

I noticed that my plants were too wet from the cover. What I should have done was cut another hole in the bottle to relieve some of the humidity being produced. A hole would have allowed for some air circulation.

That night the temps got down so I put the plants in the shed, thinking it would be the safest place. Something in there ate one one of the large broccoli plants all the way to the ground. Not sure if it was bug or mouse.

So I have put out some mouse traps. I also fogged the shed for any bugs.

Go to Transplanting Home Page from Transplanting Plants.

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