dormant seedlings

Lee Poulsen wpoulsen@pacbell.net
Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:26:57 PST
What has worked well for me for crowded seedling pots is when I realize that the plantlets are too overcrowded, which is shortly after they come out of dormancy, I simply remove the entire contents of the small pot and without disturbing anything (much easier to do with moist media full of growing roots), and place it in a larger pot so the surface is at the top of the new pot. It is very much analogous to planting a potted tree or bush in the landscape. So far, the plants I've done this with love having more growing space starting early in the growing season.

As for no nutrients for several years, until I finally get around to repotting them out of their seedling pots, starting the first year they come out of dormancy and each year thereafter, I always place a small quantity of 6-month time-released fertilizer (smaller than the amount suggested for full-grown potted plants) at the beginning of the growing season. The seedlings greatly appreciate this (and it allows me an additional year or two of procrastinating repotting them to a larger pot…!)

--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena, California, USA - USDA Zone 10a
Latitude 34°N, Altitude 1150 ft/350 m

On Jan 21, 2013, at 11:36 AM, Diane Whitehead wrote:

> You can carefully tip out the pot so that you don't break the ball of  
> soil, and put it into a larger pot.
> 
> Diane Whitehead
> 
> 
> On 21-Jan-13, at 11:02 AM, Ina wrote:
> 
>> the way I have
>> sown them, there is no way I can keep them in the containers that  
>> long.
>> I sprinkled the seed.  They are crowded.
>> 
> 




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