Seedlings running
In one of his books, Paul Stamets
explains that it's essential to keep the mycelium (vegetative stage of a
fungus) running. In other words, don't let your cultures sit and
stagnate --- they need to grow!
While true for fungi,
Stamets' admonition is even more true for spring seedlings. My goal is
always to keep our seedlings running...or at least moving along at a
steady jog.
Potting up is one sure method of keeping little seedling roots and shoots
growing fast. But when I moved herbs out of their starting flat at the
beginning of March, I left about half the seedlings behind, figuring
that ultra-slow-growers like thyme and oregano probably wouldn't notice
the difference. Plus, I just didn't have enough window space for twice
that many new pots.
For
the first day or two, the left-behind seedlings grew faster than the
potted up seedlings --- such is the way of transplant stress. But a week
after that, the difference was striking. The seedlings that I'd allowed
to spread out into bigger pots had suddenly acquired twice as much leaf
area...a fact that was true even for the minuscule oregano and thyme
that barely seemed to be making a dent in their living accommodations in
the flat.
Unfortunately, I couldn't
repot all of the herbs because I just didn't have enough room indoors.
But since those extra seedlings were just that --- extras --- I decided
to give them a bigger and more dangerous place to run. The ultra-sunny
flowerbed in front of the trailer just might be warm enough to let these
seedlings survive spring freezes. If the next burst of cold holds off
long enough for their tender roots to get established, I'll bet the
herbs get their feet under them and outgrow the indoors seedlings by the
end of the month. The race is on!
Up next: tomato seedlings
with their second sets of true leaves need more root space ASAP. Next
week, Mark and I might make a little cold frame around the front of the
trailer to house the broccoli, cabbage, and onion seedlings so there
will be more room indoors for big tomato pots. In the meantime, the
babies get a hearty dose of manure tea to provide a quick fix of nitrogen for faster growth. Gotta keep those seedlings running!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Love the hat!
I'm surprised you would transplant seedlings that small. Should't one wait until the seedlings have at least four true leaves?