Alasgun
Deeply Rooted
Having just posted a little ditty in the seed starting thread made me think to offer this.
much of the how, when and why determining our collective ”move to the outdoors’ is based on our success during the transplant phase. The bigger things get, the harder they are to transplant!
Around here tomato’s are the exception and i like them to be between 2-3 ft tall when moved into the greenhouse. Tomato plants are quite tender and easily broken and a lot of folks have issues during transplanting. They’re a pretty hardy plant and will recover from some abuse but there is a way to have “your cake and eat it to”.
Ours go thru the usual up-potting until they get a foot or so tall then they get moved into 4 gallon square buckets. These are “specially prepared buckets” that get reused every year. That first year i took the tomato bucket’s and split it down the side in one of the corners then cut the entire bottom off, then using the red plastic tape (easier to remove than duct tape) re-assembled the bucket and moved a plant in to it. It now functions just like any other grow container except it now has “zippers” on all the seems!
When the plants get tall i’ll use 3 tomato stakes tied together at the top; te-pe fashion!
Now they can continue to flourish and many bear fruit while still in the house. When they get transplanted to the green house beds i simply excavate a square hole making sure my bucket fits the opening then position the plant right next to the hole and remove all the tape. Then gently lift the potted plant and holding it over the hole my wife will remove the bottom and i carefully lower the plant To the bottom of the hole. Now it’s an easy matter to spread open the sides just a bit and pull the bottomless bucket out of the hole, spread it enough to get it off the plant and backfill the hole. Typically i leave the stakes till the plant grows into the wire trellis above it then they are removed.
We only grow a couple plants each year so they don’t take up too much room while in the house and it’s nice to have ripe fruit when your still shoveling snow outside!
much of the how, when and why determining our collective ”move to the outdoors’ is based on our success during the transplant phase. The bigger things get, the harder they are to transplant!
Around here tomato’s are the exception and i like them to be between 2-3 ft tall when moved into the greenhouse. Tomato plants are quite tender and easily broken and a lot of folks have issues during transplanting. They’re a pretty hardy plant and will recover from some abuse but there is a way to have “your cake and eat it to”.
Ours go thru the usual up-potting until they get a foot or so tall then they get moved into 4 gallon square buckets. These are “specially prepared buckets” that get reused every year. That first year i took the tomato bucket’s and split it down the side in one of the corners then cut the entire bottom off, then using the red plastic tape (easier to remove than duct tape) re-assembled the bucket and moved a plant in to it. It now functions just like any other grow container except it now has “zippers” on all the seems!
When the plants get tall i’ll use 3 tomato stakes tied together at the top; te-pe fashion!
Now they can continue to flourish and many bear fruit while still in the house. When they get transplanted to the green house beds i simply excavate a square hole making sure my bucket fits the opening then position the plant right next to the hole and remove all the tape. Then gently lift the potted plant and holding it over the hole my wife will remove the bottom and i carefully lower the plant To the bottom of the hole. Now it’s an easy matter to spread open the sides just a bit and pull the bottomless bucket out of the hole, spread it enough to get it off the plant and backfill the hole. Typically i leave the stakes till the plant grows into the wire trellis above it then they are removed.
We only grow a couple plants each year so they don’t take up too much room while in the house and it’s nice to have ripe fruit when your still shoveling snow outside!
