Newbie from Boston area!

[hjsullivan]

Great starts! Welcome from PA! Gardening kind of grows on you

Thank you so much! And boy, are you right! I only had my first garden last year. I'm a full blown addict now. Over the fall and winter I also got into house plants lol. I have them everywhere. In my room, at work... it's getting out of hand .

 

[hjsullivan]

Off hand I can think of basil being a good one to prune, impatiens, along the idea of flowers. When your peppers start to blossom, remove the one that is in the crotch of the first branching, to promote more blossoms.

I have no basil, but I do have impatiens and marigolds. I'll keep you abreast on their progress and maybe you can help me decide when to trim . I literally have no idea what I'm doing lol.

And for the peppers, I grew them from purchased plants last year. So you're saying, when they start to get those little white flowers, I snip the flowers off there the little stem off shoots from the "stock" (if you will? not sure what it's really called haha).

thanks!

 

[catjac1975]

I have no basil, but I do have impatiens and marigolds. I'll keep you abreast on their progress and maybe you can help me decide when to trim . I literally have no idea what I'm doing lol.

And for the peppers, I grew them from purchased plants last year. So you're saying, when they start to get those little white flowers, I snip the flowers off there the little stem off shoots from the "stock" (if you will? not sure what it's really called haha).

thanks!

Just the first flower in the center. I read it encourages more blossoms and fruiting. Could be an old wives tale. But, I do it. I have never trimmed marigolds.

 

[hjsullivan]

Just the first flower in the center. I read it encourages more blossoms and fruiting. Could be an old wives tale. But, I do it. I have never trimmed marigolds.

Are we talking about both the impatiens and the peppers?
Or just one or the other?

 

[catjac1975]

No peppers. Trim the impatiens above the first leaves and they will branch out and get bushy.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome Sunshine! I'm glad you joined but even happier you are jumping in. Hope you stick around.

I was raised so far back in the sticks in East Tennessee that people used to say we had to pump sunshine in. Not true but we may have pumped a lot of moonshine out.

You are likely to get some conflicting advice here. We all tend to do things a little differently but different things work. I'm in the camp that does not pinch things back unless I have a reason. For example, if my indeterminant tomato starts get too large I have been known to pinch them back to just above the first true leaf. They will sucker out and keep growing. One thing I regularly trim back is my sweet potato starts, they get so long I don't wan to transplant them that big plus I stick the trimmings in water and root them, giving me even more slips. But pinching back starts to cause them to sucker and branch out, no, I don't do that.

One potential risk of having the starting soil too moist is "damping off". That's where a fungus grows pretty much at the soil surface and rots the plant stem, causing it to turn black and shrivel, killing the plant. That's a big reason starting mix is normally sterilized, to try to keep those spores away, but they can blow in from outside. I've lost seedlings from that before. If you can water from the bottom ( @digitS' has talked about his method before) and you can keep the top of the soil dry you really cut back on this risk. I have a small fan I blow on the plants to help dry the soil surface. I understand your concern about them drying out but too much moisture can keep the roots form breathing and cause the starts to drown too. There might be a bit of a learning curve here.

One trick I use to keep my starts from getting leggy is to hang sheets of white paper on the sides to reflect light back in on the plants. It made a big difference on mine.

Again welcome. I think you are going to fit right in.

 

[so lucky]

Sunshine, one of the hardest things about gardening is learning when to plant seeds, to have properly sized seedlings at the right time to set them out.
Some seedlings are quick growing and like cool weather, like lettuce, cabbage, peas.
Some are quick growing and don't like cool weather, like tomatoes, squash, green beans, cukes.
Some are slow growing and don't like cool weather, like peppers, and maybe eggplant.
The trick is to plant the seeds timely so that the heat-loving plants don't get too large before the soil warms up enough to safely plant them outside.
The lucky thing is that the heat-loving fast growing seeds can be replanted if necessary, since they grow so fast. (Except maybe the tomatoes, and you can just plant them really deep or lay them sideways to plant if they are gangly). Or, as Ridge suggests, pinch back the indeterminate ones. I don't even start cuke or squash seeds indoors, since they grow so fast outside by planting them in the warm garden soil.
Your seedlings look great, by the way!

 

[hjsullivan]

No peppers. Trim the impatiens above the first leaves and they will branch out and get bushy.

Sweet, thank you so much!
I really appreciate all the knowledge here

 

[ninnymary]

I'm a lazy gardener, I don' trim anything! Everything does just fine.

Mary

 

[hjsullivan]

Welcome Sunshine! I'm glad you joined but even happier you are jumping in. Hope you stick around.

I was raised so far back in the sticks in East Tennessee that people used to say we had to pump sunshine in. Not true but we may have pumped a lot of moonshine out.

You are likely to get some conflicting advice here. We all tend to do things a little differently but different things work. I'm in the camp that does not pinch things back unless I have a reason. For example, if my indeterminant tomato starts get too large I have been known to pinch them back to just above the first true leaf. They will sucker out and keep growing. One thing I regularly trim back is my sweet potato starts, they get so long I don't wan to transplant them that big plus I stick the trimmings in water and root them, giving me even more slips. But pinching back starts to cause them to sucker and branch out, no, I don't do that.

One potential risk of having the starting soil too moist is "damping off". That's where a fungus grows pretty much at the soil surface and rots the plant stem, causing it to turn black and shrivel, killing the plant. That's a big reason starting mix is normally sterilized, to try to keep those spores away, but they can blow in from outside. I've lost seedlings from that before. If you can water from the bottom ( @digitS' has talked about his method before) and you can keep the top of the soil dry you really cut back on this risk. I have a small fan I blow on the plants to help dry the soil surface. I understand your concern about them drying out but too much moisture can keep the roots form breathing and cause the starts to drown too. There might be a bit of a learning curve here.

One trick I use to keep my starts from getting leggy is to hang sheets of white paper on the sides to reflect light back in on the plants. It made a big difference on mine.

Again welcome. I think you are going to fit right in.

I'm just taking it all in and trying different things to see what works . You guys are really great, and so willing to help! It's much appreciated by people such as myself just starting out. I'm so very excited to be learning so much! But it's also a little intimidating at the same time lol.

My friend, who is also trying tomatoes (from his trip to Tuscony) for the first time, had a great idea about watering. He filled the tray about a 1/4 or 1/2 full, left them for a half hour to soak and then drained the pans. I'm going to try that approach moving forward . I definitely don't want moldy plants! Good to know about the roots needing air too! I guess that makes sense why you want to have good airy soil! I'm also planning on setting up a fan when I get home to move the air around hehe.

Thanks so much!
I'll be sure to keep you all posted!