Starting Your Own Transplants

Starting Your Own Transplants

WHY? Commercial greenhouses do a good job of growing transplants, so why should you bother? There are many reasons but the most important ones to me are:

I like seeing those seeds sprout and grow in my kitchen in February and like being in on the whole process of growing the vegetable -- start to finish.
I can choose from 200 different varieties of tomatoes, instead of just the dozen or so that will be available as transplants. The same wider choice is available for broccoli, onion, squash, etc.
I can have transplants when I want them in just the right quantity. (Have you ever tried to find fall broccoli transplants in July?)

I control the treatment the transplant gets and am assured of high quality, vigorous plants. Lack of care from the retailer often stresses commercially produced transplants and they may never perform well for you.
I like to use lots of transplants, so producing them myself saves me money.This brings us to the question of why use transplants anyhow? Why not just plant seeds?
In some cases, like tomatoes, it's pretty obvious -- we would never get a crop. Certain long season vegetables need a headstart on the growing season
In cases where it's not absolutely necessary, transplants often are recommended to maximize production. Keeping your garden space full and busy is one of the cardinal rules of intensive gardening. I can sow leaf lettuce directly into the garden and let it occupy a bed for 2 months or I can set out transplants and be eating lettuce in a month.
Transplants fill up a bed faster. That makes for less weeding and more efficient use of water.
Another principle of intensive gardening is spacing plants so that they have exactly the amount of room that they need. Correct spacing is easy with transplants, but very haphazard with direct seeding.

HOW? Sometimes efforts to start vegetable seedlings indoors disappoint beginning gardeners. The most common complaint is that the plants are leggy and more spindly than those available from greenhouses and garden centers. This is due to too little light. Of the components needed for starting seeds and growing healthy seedlings -- soil, a temperature of 65 - 75 degrees, water, fertilizer and light -- light is the most difficult to provide. Windowsills and lamps with incandescent bulbs are simply not suitable for growing quality plants.

Fluorescent lamps are still the most available, affordable and widely used lights for growing plants indoors. The light fixture needs to be adjustable, so that it can be lowered to a position 2 to 4 inches from the plant's tops. The amount of light provided by fluorescent fixtures drops dramatically as the light fixture is moved farther above the plant.

Since the quantity of indoor light is far below that of sunlight, keep the fixture on for at least 16 hours a day for growing vegetable seedlings. An inexpensive appliance timer can be very handy, so you don't have to remember to turn the light on and off. Keep the bulbs clean, as dust reduces the light produced

A few more notes:

Use clean, cell packs or recycled cartons or containers.
Fill them with a quality potting soil or soil-less mix that is sterile and pH balanced.
Water gently or from the bottom with room-temperature water.
Once a week use a soluble fertilizer with a 1:2:1 or 1:2:2 ratio. Use it at half strength.

Time Required to Produce Transplants of Various Crops

Lettuce and most greens	2-3 weeks
Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower	4-5 weeks
Onion and leeks	5-7 weeks
Tomatoes	5-7 weeks
Peppers & Eggplants	7-8 weeks
Squash & Cucumbers	2 weeks

WHEN? Timing is very important. You don't want transplants ready before the garden is ready for them, but you want them ready on time. Here are some guidelines that should help you time your transplant operation:

The squash family should be sown into individual peat pots or 4 inch pots and handled as little as possible. The others can be sown in a seed tray and then "pricked out" to proper spacing about the time they get their first true leaves. If you do this double transplant, give them another week.
When counting back remember that Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, eggplant, melons, okra, peppers, pumpkins, squash and tomatoes should not go into the ground until it gets warm. That's usually mid to late May in the Puget Sound area. Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, leeks can go out in April and chard, lettuce, mustard and onions can be planted as soon as you can work the ground in March.
Be sure to add a few days for hardening off your transplants. Exposing your transplants to outdoor conditions for several days in gradual steps will prepare them to endure the cold and the direct sun. See " Hardening Off Transplants."

By Holly S. Kennell, WSU Extension Agent, King County

For more information contact your local WSU Extension Office.