Starting Vegetables From Transplants

1
Starting Vegetables From Transplants

• Definition transplanting is the shifting of
  plants from one soil or growing medium to another
• Goal is to produce vigorous plants ready to be
  planted in the garden

2
Why use transplants?

• Improves the earliness of the vegetables
• Avoids problems of seed emerging through soil
  crusts or in cold soils
• You can more closely control depth of planting
• Make best use of expensive or unavailable seeds
• Seed germinate under ideal conditions

3
Not All Vegetables Transplant Well

• Plants difficult or not to transplant include
• Root crops (carrots)
• Leafy biennial herbs (dill and fennel)
• Heading types of Chinese cabbage
• Cucurbits (cucumbers, pumpkins, squash)
• Do not like their root systems disturbed
• Vegetables growing quickly when seeded in the
  garden (lettuce, spinach)
• Transplanting is not worth the effort

4
Vegetables Traditionally Transplanted 

• Small seed vegetables
• Tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, broccoli
• Some vegetables are traditionally started from
  transplants because they do not produce seed or
  the seed lacks uniformity
• Sweet potato, Irish potato

5
Sources of Transplants

• Two approaches
• Commercially Grown Transplants
• Growing Your Own Transplants

6
Commercially Grown Transplants

• Advantages
• They are easy
• Inexpensive if you only need a few plants
• They do not require that you commit time and
  space commitments
• Better (ideal?) growing conditions and care

7
Commercially Grown Transplants

• Disadvantages
• It can be difficult to find good quality
  transplants
• You may not be able to find transplants of a
  specific cultivar
• The transplants may introduce diseases, insects,
  and weeds into your garden

8
Commercially Grown Transplants

• To select quality transplants look for
• Healthy plants
• Free of insects or diseases
• Vigorously growing
• -Avoid transplants that already have flowers or
  small fruit a sign of stress
• "True to type
• All the plants are actually the vegetable and
  variety that the label indicates
• Properly handled

9
Commercially Grown Transplants

• To select quality transplants look for
• Transplants that are not leggy or spinly
• A source that regularly deals with transplants
• Purchase transplants early in the season before
  they are picked over

10
Producing Your Own Transplants

• Key factor in determining success Having an
  adequate amount of protected growing space to
  produce transplants
• May need
• Specialized structure
• Supplemental lights

11
Producing Your Own Transplants

• Advantages
• Can ensure disease-free transplants
• Transplants available when needed
• Best use of expensive seed
• Produces cultivars that you desire
• Gives you a good feeling

12
Producing Your Own Transplants

• Important factors determining your success
• Growing media
• Container size
• Environmental conditions
• Light
• Temperature
• Moisture

13
Producing Your Own Transplants

• Growing Media
• Want to use a soil-less growing media that does
  contain soil from your garden or yard
• Why not use garden soil?
• Tends to be poorly drained and subject to water
  logging
• Contains insect pests, diseases, and weed seed

14
Producing Your Own Transplants

• Growing Media
• Characteristics of a good soil-less growing media
  
• Free of pests
• Uniform
• Well aerated and drained
• Low in soluble salts

15
Producing Your Own Transplants

• Growing Media
• Common components of a soil-less growing media
• Peat moss
• Provides the base for most soil-less media
• Decayed remains of spaghum moss
• Vermiculite
• Mica-like material that has been heated to a high
  temperatures
• Provides pore space and retains moisture and
  nutrients
• Perlite
• An inert light weight voltanic material

16
Producing Your Own Transplants

• Light
• Is the environmental factor that is most likely
  to be limiting for growing your own good quality
  transplants
• Interrelated with temperature and moisture
• Inadequate light often leads to cold temperatures
  and too much moisture
• Too little light causes weak spinly plants
  susceptible to diseases
• Vegetable transplants need more light than
  standard houseplants

17
Producing Your Own Transplants

• Light
• Components of light
• Intensity
• Wavelength
• Plants require different wavelengths than our
  eyes perceive
• Day length
• Plants use day length to tell when summer or
  winter is coming
• Inadequate levels of any of these components will
  cause a plant to sense inadequate level of light

18
Producing Your Own Transplants

• Temperature
• In windows there can often be large temperature
  fluctuations between day and night or sunny and
  cloudy days
• Cooler than optimum temperatures may
• Encourage disease
• Cause rough fruit in tomatoes
• Cause bolting in biennials
• Warmer than optimum temperature may cause weak
  spindly seedlings

19
Producing Your Own Transplants

• Moisture
• Too much moisture is often associated with cool
  temperatures and dark conditions
• Too much water is associated with diseases which
  require moisture for spread
• Examples root rots, leaf spot
• Ways to avoid problems with diseases fostered by
  too much water
• Thoroughly water when seeding
• After seeding water in the morning so leaves will
  be dry before night and spot water only the dry
  places
• Too little water rapidly kills young seedlings

20
Producing Your Own Transplants

• Container size
• Is a compromise between having enough room for
  the transplants you want and providing the
  transplants with room for growth
• Will influence
• Growing environment of the plant
• The amount of space a plant has and how close it
  is growing to other transplants
• Wider spacing or larger containers generally
  produce bigger and more vigorous transplants

21
Hardening-off Transplants

• Definition Hardening-off is the process whereby
  transplants stop growth and develop greater
  tolerance to stress so they can survive being
  planted into the garden
• Is critical for both commercially grown
  transplants and transplants that you grow on your
  own

22
Hardening-off Transplants

• Hardening-off causes
• A slowing of growth
• Greater cuticle and waxes on leaves
• Build-up of sugars and starch
• Ways to harden-off transplants
• Only water the transplants when they start
  wilting
• Stop fertilizing
• Expose transplants to cool temperatures and/or
  higher levels of sunlight
• Put the transplants outdoors for a portion of the
  day
• Make sure not exposed to freezing temperatures