Pros and cons of picking up seedlingsfurther. The process of ensuring effective growth of seedlings in home and greenhouse conditions is quite laborious if we use a continuous version of sowing seeds.
Most gardeners choose this method due to its simplicity at the initial stage, requiring only the presence of a certain form in which the sowing is carried out, often a wooden box. Thus, it is not necessary to check the germination rate of the add one hundred percent, as with the individual sowing of seeds in separate trays or forms.
Solid sowing can be done in two ways - row or continuous field, having previously prepared a special soil, fertilized it with all the necessary macro and micro elements in order to create a favorable environment for seed germination.
Both methods are not perfect and require a subsequent pick of a seedling.
What is a pick?
Picking is the seating of the seedlings that formed the first foliage into a wider space, giving preference to the individualization of each germinated shoot.
What is the purpose of plant picking?
This process is necessary in order to carry out the culling of too weak shoots and to enable the strong to fully develop their root system in view of the correct vegetative formation of the stem, leaves, inflorescences and obtaining high yields in the future.
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A vivid example of a sapling after picking and without its implementation speaks for itself.
Seedling dives take place at the age of two to three weeks.
If there are no greenhouses, then the pickling of the seedlings is carried out twice, if further cultivation is provided in the greenhouse, then the dive is carried out once.
The second dive process takes place at a seedling age of twelve weeks, if necessary in order to increase the space for root development.
It is possible to replant shoots in completely different forms and pots of different depths, providing sufficient space for the growth of the roots of seedlings. The most common container for the first stage of a dive are peat sectional forms and cups, plastic forms, plastic cups and even modern tetra-pack bags of juice and milk.
Preference for which of the possible options for packaging decides to give each gardener on their own, based on the quality characteristics and the possibility of repeated use of these.
How to dive seedlings correctly?
In order for the picking process to bring the expected results, it is necessary to carry out all the work with jewelery neatly so as not to damage the first formed roots.
For this purpose, with a special wooden stick, each shoot is carefully taken from the general sowing together with the soil and transplanted into a previously prepared hole in the ground, so that the root system is freely located without any bending of the still very weak root processes.
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Before starting a dive, the common tray with seedlings is watered in order to facilitate the analysis of the seedlings into individual shoots, the shoots are removed, too long root formations are cut, the plants are planted in a general shape at a certain distance or in a separate container, and thena bright place for further development and rooting.
Pros and cons of picking seedlings
The following factors are positive factors for picking:
- grow strong and resistant plants to the effects of environmental factors;
- high yields;
- obtaining a qualitative result of growing seedlings in one hundred percent indicator of plant homogeneity due to careful culling of weak seedlings;
- avoidance of stem refinement and weakness;
- is an excellent development of a fibrous species of the root system, which is able to effectively provide plants with moisture and nutrients;
- high performance due to sowing a homogeneous seed mass;
- saving space in the initial stages of growing plants to the time of landing in the ground.
The negative characteristics of the picking include:
- the ability to infect plants with various diseases due to constant transplantation into the new soil or the spread of infection due to touching one of the infected plants with their hands, thus causing an unfavorable environment for the remaining shoots;
- labor-intensive work during execution, requiring special attention and perfect accuracy in order to preserve the first root formations of plants;
- development delay due to the enhanced formation of the root system is fraught with a shift in the period of harvest.
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Picking tomatoes and pepper seedlings
Pepper and tomatoes are vegetable crops that tolerate picking very well and take root very quickly and delight them with their endurance and crops.
The frequency of picking of tomato seedlings depends on the variety of tomatoes - tall ones dive twice, while undersized ones - once. In order for the plant to develop a fibrous root system, the main root is shortened by one third with scissors.
After planting in the form of seedlings should not be subjected to temperature extremes and too much irrigation, which threatens to rot the roots and the solid wilting of the leaves.
The planting of the pickled tomato seedlings into the ground should be carried out before the inflorescence appears, due to the better adaptation of plants to external climatic factors, after hardening and formation of a full-fledged root system in the soil, the plant is ready to give all its strength to the formation of large fruits.
Pepper seedlings are picked in the same way as tomato seedlings. The only difference is the execution of pepper picks after the third leaf appears on the shoots, and the tomatoes after the first two leaves appear.
The most important point in picking absolutely all vegetable crops is to preserve the integrity of the first roots that have been formed, if they are damaged - the plant may not survive or eventually develop into a weak, low-yielding plant.
Read also the article about sowing pepper to seedlings!
Video about the mandatory picking of seedlings
