Instead of using a seed-starter tray, why not just plant every seed directly in a little pot full of soil?
Why use trays instead of planting directly?
Instead of using a seed-starter tray, why not just plant every seed directly in a little pot full of soil?
For example, why not put the seed in picrelated at the very start?
>a lot of plants in small area
>you can easily cover the plants with a single humidity dome
>smaller grow light can cover your plants
>big pots can hold too much moisture that small plant cant consume
>watering is easy when you can just pour water on the tray rather than going trough individual pots
>its easier to transport outside and transplant
>if the roots hold the soil intact its easy to plug them out, if you only need a small headstart the plants dont get enough time to fill a large pot
Its all situational depending what you are growing, how much plants you have and what is your grow setup.
See, OP is smart. This is what he wanted to know, but instead of just asking, he phrased it in a way that would allow someone to prove why he's wrong/stupid.
This is also how I get answers from PrepHole, usually by posting something confrontational and clearly wrong and then waiting to be corrected. If you ask nicely you're far less likely to get in-depth replies or any reply at all.
Ancient principle of the internet.
Well its not wrong to plant directly in a larger pots and it does not make you wrong or stupid if you do it correctly and have a reason to do so. You could write a similar list pointing out the benefits of going with a bigger pot.
I think it might be wrong though, which is why I made this thread. The crux is the following:
>big pots can hold too much moisture that small plant cant consume
I have a suHispanicion that seedlings die/rot more easily in big pots of soil than in seed starting trays. it's just been my experience
Seedlings have a high attrition rate. An added bonus of the seedling tray is you only keep the winners. You can plant 4 seedlings in a big pot and if only one survived you've wasted a ton of soil on one plant.
Infopig cope ITT, didn't even read, just quoted. Thanks for the info on lettuce, piggies. You literally can't help yourself when presented with an opportunity to prove someone wrong.
>OP asked a question about gardening
>Gardeners responded
So, you don't know anything about the topic and have nothing intelligent to say and your hot take on the thread is to sperg out about people disagreeing on the internet.
Feel bad about being retarded and please never post here again lady.
wigga pls if I was trying to do that I would've written:
why do retards insist on using seed-starting trays when you can just plant them directly in cups of soil? They're adding a whole extra unnecessary step
Why not just get a soil block mould, or make your own, and skip cups entirely?
>http://www.ecosnippets.com/gardening/how-to-build-a-soil-block-maker/
Because that's extra steps. Seed tray is about time saving when you have a large volume.
What benefit do these have if they're just soil? You still need to use cells anyway. I know they're used for rockwool but I dont see any benefit for using soil like that
You don't use cell with soil blocks. That's the point of them. It also helps prevent seedlings getting root bound
What do you put the blocks in
They just sit directly in the trey until you either transplant them into your garden, or a larger soil block if they need more time and more soil.
Moulds for large blocks are designed to have the small blocks easily nest.
i like cardboard trays
I have the mini blocker and the two inch blocker. Instead of buying the even bigger blocker just take your soil mix and form it around the block by hand, I do this for things like eggplant, tomato, and pepper that would need transplanting into bigger sizes. Most things you'd just need the smaller blockers because they'll get transplanted in 3-4 weeks anyway.
The point is to save space, Under grow lights so that when stuff is getting transplanted out into the garden you can then move things like bigger plants up to size. Something like lettuce doesn't need to be in a transplant tray for more than 4 weeks before being transplanted outside and doesnt need a 5inch sized pot. You're maximizing grow space and the amount you can grow/transplant. Alot of plants get terminated or fail to germinate so you can be more selective, again maximizing space. People who grow large quantities simply don't have enough room to grow everything in full size pots to start. Pretty obvious. Large pots really only apply to tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, shit like that.
It's not that I want to use cups, it's that when i DO start a seedling in a cup, it tends to fare worse
Because it's more efficient to start seedlings like that
This anon obviously has lots of sex.
You're the retard that keeps posting the dogtard threads aren't you.
You can just transplant from that size (looks about the same as 6pks) into the ground. you don't have to pot them up and for most plants there is not much benefit.
If you're asking why a tray that contains many plants you can water and move around as a single unit might be preferred over 72 individual cups I don't think we can help you.
I think pots/cups are worse for seedlings because:
1) my watermelon seedlings had about 20% rot rate in soil cups (very large sample size)
2) my apple seedlings had 100% rot rate in soil cups (n = 6)
3) my heirloom tomatoes had a 0% rot rate in egg cartons, which I'm using as a proxy for a seed-starting tray (n = 48)
This data conclusively demonstrates that you're an awful gardener.
I planted 48 tomato seedlings and none of them rotted, I think it demonstrates the opposite
I had an incredibly low attrition rate with my tomatoes. nearly 100% actually made it to mature plant stage.
>I missed the point completely
So you're an awful gardener and use woke math. In reality if the bulk of your seedlings die and you're proud of the one species that survived...your overall survival rate is still garbage and you're retarded.
I have never ever had a potted plant rot in a greenhouse.
This doesn't prove much. In my experience tomato seeds prety much always all sprout, regardless of medium. They wold have worked just as well in normal soil. Apple seeds have a much harder seed coat that tends to cause problems and makes it harder to see if a seed is even viable in the first place.
We do that to keep them inside while its still cold-ish outside.
winter
pests
Not everyone lives north of the tropic of cancer or south of the tropic of Capricorn, anon... apparently there are even white people who live near the equator (who garden) but I'm not willing to personally verify that because i like that snow scares away brown people.
10-20 trays with cups are great, can bottom water, and only deal with planting the most vigorous seedlings. Less wasted soil.
little tiny pots that are three inches tall and an inch and a half wide would fall over all the time
Seed raising mix is sterile so there's no problem with fungus, plus you know anything that sprouts is your seed. But it costs money, so using trays reduces the amount you need.
Does a plant tolerate fungus better when it's somewhat grown vs. when it's a brand new seedling?
Yes. Mainly because a seedling is so small, a fungal infection that might cause a black spot on a leaf of a larger plant will kill the whole thing. Also because their roots are small they need more water which also encourages fungus. There's a thing called "damp" which affects seedlings where they shrivel and wilt like celery in the crisper too long. Using commercial seed raising mix prevents this, also washing the trays of you reuse them.
If you want to go whole hog independent and stick it to the man you can make your own mix by cooking screened compost. I've done it, I made a wood compost and river sand soup and boiled it in a cooking oil can. Much easier just to buy the stuff in bags
Fungus can result from things like bad soil, improper ventilation or over watering--the conditions that cause the fungus are hard on the plant the fungus itself is usually the least of your problems.
You can directly put seeds in the medium after soaking the seeds for a night in case of some herbs and spinaches
But if you're going to plant fruiting trees (tomatoes and other vegetables)
It's better to grow seedlings on a seed starter tray cause the germination rate is not 100percent so by doing so you're putting healthy seedlings into your growing medium
You can grow more seedlings then you need and only plant the healthiest ones.
You sneak the rest to the nearest golf course