i would think the the question would be.. do you need to separate them ....

you would pot the up.. when you gently tip one out of the pack.. and see thats its roots are near filling the smaller cell ...

or when roots first appear out the bottom of a drain hole ...

back in the day.. something just tells me.. there were often more than one in a cell pack.. the colors were mixed.. so it didnt really interfere with the show ...

you dont have to do things.. just because they say so ... eh?? .. or better yet.. experiment ... separate some.. get fed up ... and leave others.. and then report back to us..

good luck

ken

There should be one plant per cell. If they aren't divided up and allowed to grow on their own, the individual plants won't be sturdy and well developed.

Commercially, the seeds are sown in flats, then transplanted one by one into cell packs. If you've used a decent potting mix in the cells, and haven't waited too long, you should be able to separate them very easily.

Pre-drill holes in the cell packs with a sharpened pencil or dowel; stick in the seedling, then water with a misting nozzle to float the soil into place around the roots.

As long as the plants have been grown properly....cool and plenty of light....so that they aren't leggy and spindly, they'll transplant just fine. There shouldn't even be any root damage or "transplant shock ".

I am by far not an expert just learning from my mistakes. :)

If you don't want all the seedlings you could let them grow a bit longer and snip the smaller ones off in the cell leaving the strongest. Don't pull them out or you will risk disturbing the roots of the one you want.

I like to repot my seedlings as soon as the first leaves (cotyledon) are big enough for my fat little fingers to handle. The longer you leave them the harder it is to separate the roots. When separating make sure the soil in the cell is well watered. I find the wetter the soil the easier it is to separate them. I replant the same as rhino_1 described. If the roots are tangled I have separated them in a pail of water gently washing the soil away exposing all the roots. If still tangled I float them in water and very gently shake each one. With a bit of patience they will come apart.

If you want only one per cell next time you plant gently shake a few seeds on a piece of white paper. Then take a tooth pick and dip it in water then touch one seed with the wet toothpick. The seed will "stick" to the toothpick and allow you to put it in the cell individually. I do this for all my small expensive seeds.

Unfortunately many seedlings were harmed for me to get to this point LOL.

Thanks folks! I think I (hopefully) have time to separate them........ This sounds like a real challenge! Guess I'll know better next time...... ;)

cugal it is really easy if you get to them fast. Ones in the 72 cells you can just crumble the soil away till you expose each seedling. Wet soil is really the key.

as i said.. and you note your time is valuable ..

try a multitude of methods.. you have plenty to fool around with .. i dont buy that they HAVE to be separated ... sure.. for retail mass production.. each plant is a profit source.. and why give away extras.. but for the home hobbyist.. who cares ... and extra plant per cell.. just requires a little extra fert .. and you are ferting all the time now.. with highly diluted fert.. right????

and become the resident expert ...

way back when.. i started a pack of impatiens seeds ... about 3 moths early.. lol ... trust me.. i had about 50 billion plants by the time they could go outside.. i got all kinds of methods tested.. lol .. the last ones were in a 9 by 9 aluminum cake pan .. disposable.. and by the time i got those outside.. the rootmass.. would have made a nice jute-like doormat.. lol .. needless to say.. those went in the compost pile pretty fast ..... but boy did i learn ...

ken

I would want my snaps 1 to a cell. I have noticed moss rose in the greenhouses have several to a cell but I separate them & have more plants.Your snaps will want to fall over but don't plant them deeper because they will form another leaf at the base & become sturdy.This is why it's good to sow in a community container.Then I take sharp scissors & thin so they can get a little larger before transplanting.
Have fun!
rose

Thanks everyone for all your insightful tips! Just thought I'd update GW on how the transplanting went...... I'm retired, so my time is worth nothing. Please keep that in mind when evaluating my sanity.... Turns out I had about 300 seedlings to separate! Took about 3 hours.... Now if I didn't crush the stems LOL...

Cugal, you did the right thing by separating them. It really isn't a tedious or tine consuming jub once you know how. Ken is so wrong....the objective is to grow high quality plants...not high quantity. The seedlings need to be given some space so that the individual root systems can develop. Quality is very important to back yard growers.

Sturdy little seedlings are amazingly tough, springy, and easy to separate. A loose, porous growing medium helps, too.

I can not agree with the mix being wet when separating seedlings. I always do mine on the dry side where a clump of seedlings falls apart when dropped on the bench. Touching only the leaf they separate easily without root breakage. Al

You're right Al........... Wetting them posed a problem for me! Dry was much easier.........

I find the dry side interesting and must explore it further.
Of recent I been separating seedlings fully immersed in water. While my method might not be sound I don't lose many seedlings. I would be very interested to find out the seedling mix folks use that a dry separation works better. *grin* fun fun

It is fun how things work for different people.

I, too, like to have the potting medium on the drier side....but it is essential that the seedlings be as turgid as possible. I'll water the day before. My germination flats are very shallow and dry out pretty quickly.

The medium I use for my germination trays is a Fafard product, very much like Pro-Mix or similar. It's not a so called germination mix, but is still quite fine textured. Most people would be happy with it as a medium for all of their container gardening, but is only fit for germinating seeds, imho. Porous, light, almost fluffy when a bit dry. Tiny seedlings are very easily separated from this medium and from each other without any problems whatsoever.

Yes,different strokes for different folks.I would never say my way is the best but it has worked for me for decades.I still tweak things all the time.I don't like the soil too moist when transplanting because it gets my fingers all muddy.Watering good the day before is good. But sometimes you don't always get er done.I tap out the ball of seedlings & hold over a pan & drop them from about 2 feet .If things go right the seedlings will fan out & be just right for transplanting.
rose

Rose....I think that you have a good policy...do what had always worked for you, but be open to tweaking at any time. :-)