Tomatoes from seed

[chesster51]

New here and have a question please. I've grown a lot of herbs in my AG from the pre-seeded pods with great success. I have purchased some heirloom tomato seeds and want to give them a try in my 7. Received my AG grow anything seed pod kit and wondering how many seeds I should put in each pod.

Thanks, Rick

[Shawn]

First let me say Welcome to the forum chesster51.  We are happy to have you with us.

Usually people place two or three seeds in a pod.  Once they germinate and grow about 2" you select the healthiest one and trim out the others that germinated.

Also, no more then two plants in a machine.  While AG says it can handle more (and they do) many find that if you grow more then two they can get quite dense and crowded.  Take a look thru some of our member gardens to see how their tomatoes are growing.

[chesster51]

Mar 20, 2019 5:43:47 GMT -5 Shawn said:

First let me say Welcome to the forum chesster51 .  We are happy to have you with us.

Usually people place two or three seeds in a pod.  Once they germinate and grow about 2" you select the healthiest one and trim out the others that germinated.

Also, no more then two plants in a machine.  While AG says it can handle more (and they do) many find that if you grow more then two they can get quite dense and crowded.  Take a look thru some of our member gardens to see how their tomatoes are growing.

Thanks for the response. I'm only using my AG until the plants are big enough to transplant and moved outside. Is this reasonable?

[Shawn]

Mar 21, 2019 17:50:12 GMT -5 chesster51 said:

Mar 20, 2019 5:43:47 GMT -5 Shawn said:

First let me say Welcome to the forum chesster51 .  We are happy to have you with us.

Usually people place two or three seeds in a pod.  Once they germinate and grow about 2" you select the healthiest one and trim out the others that germinated.

Also, no more then two plants in a machine.  While AG says it can handle more (and they do) many find that if you grow more then two they can get quite dense and crowded.  Take a look thru some of our member gardens to see how their tomatoes are growing.

Thanks for the response. I'm only using my AG until the plants are big enough to transplant and moved outside. Is this reasonable?

Yes it is reasonable.  The only thing you need to be careful about is if you have two plants in one pod.  You need to be careful is you want to separate them.  It may or may not work well.  But yes, you can transplant them   Just make sure it is time to plant outside (depending on your location)

[MaryL]

Hi chesster51, welcome!  I love to use my AG’s as a seed starter, they work very well for that. Even without the “seed starter tray” that the company sells.

[chesster51]

My seeds germinated fine and are growing well in the AG. Two are over 6" tall and were transplanted yesterday into large grow bags. I had trouble getting the long roots out of the cages, most were severed on one of the plants. What is the best way to accomplish this? Also, since I've never done this, what is the best transplanting  procedure to guard against shock and have a better success rate? I don't think the first two are going to make it.


Thanks, Rick

[Shawn]

chesster51, I know with my peppers when I terminate a project I can not get them out of the cage, but the one time I did transplant I did it cage and all and the plant did fine.

As for actually transplanting and what is good to do or not.  I can not help.  I am not an outdoor gardener and only first started a few hanging planters off the deck rails and my transplant of the peppers.

I am sure someone will be able to assist.

[MaryL]

When the seedling is that far along with the roots I, like Shawn, transplant the whole thing too. Cage and all. I suppose you can try to cut the cage off but I’ve never tried it. 

Regarding shock, it’s been hit or miss for me.  I can say that in general, the bigger the seedling the less luck I’ve had. I read someone here say that if you let the water get low first before transplanting that the seedlings take better to the moist soil. I’ve never tried it though.  Makes sense.