I couldn't see your picture, so I copied the URL below.

Perhaps someone else more familiar with growing their own seedlings can answer your question.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1345907}}

Does anyone else have any advice, or know another forum/source of information from experienced growers?
Thanks,
Anthony

I can't see your picture Anthony and the link Jean posted just gives a 403 forbidden access error message. Can you fix it so that we can see the picture? It would be a big help.

Dave

Very weird, I can see it, and it worked when I posted. I will try a few more posting methods (Dave you already helped me on this! I am may keep the jiffy 72 cell pack for next year, but will remove the peat before I transplant, use 3-inch pots, regular potting soil (maybe mixed with some seeding medium), plenty of phosphorus, and will let them get rootbound before I pot them up to the 8/10 inchers).

Here is another attempt:

{{gwi:1345907}}

Jiffy sevens or nines are just about the worst thing one could ever use for growing tomato seedlings in, Many people will contradict me on this,and say that they are wonderfull- but from my own experiences they are nothing but trouble from the start,roots are constricted and never make any real growth until you get them right out of the jiffies and into something decent.

Miracle potting mix should be just fine and placed in three inch to five inch pots and then left for four weeks to develop, keep the mixture slightly moist at all times , do not let it dry out, and especially checking it on hot days, if the surface seems a bit on the dry side water with about an egg cupfull of water, use plenty of seaweed solution mix, one thing that promotes massive root growth and is sometimes available bottles of liquid that is rich in Fulmic and humic acids but it is expensive and can often be obtained from shops and busineses that deal in Hydroponic equipment.

When Potting seedlings into pots dont ram the mix in tightly, fill it with about one inch of mix-then place the seedling in, then dribble loosly the rest of the mix into the pot to the rim - and then just knock the bottom of the pot a couple of times on a hard surface to tamp it down- then water it in slightly, the roots will race away and fill the pot in about four weeks or five.

Anthony, I've waited to see a picture to hopefully better understand your concern but then I thought.....how can I look at a picture of some roots and not be able to compare the root mass with what you've had before. None of us can, only you.

One thing I will say is that I would never ever use peat trays or cups, etc., to grow seedlings b'c they wick water away from the medium in them.

Why did you pull out the one plant you refer to? Are all your others like this one in terms of tall and lanky? I don't think I'd attribute that solely to poor root development.

I never pot up as much as you do I just go from the germination artificial mix to plastic inserts, 32 to a standard nursery tray and use an artificial mix in those as well. And then they're grown in those 2 inch cells until time to plant out at about 6-9 inches tall.

I'm sorry I'm of no real help but I wonder how much any of us can help when we haven't seen the root systems you got last year.

To be truthful, I haven't the faintest idea of the root systems on my plants other than when they go to the soil from the plastic inserts and at that stage they are rootbound which is just what I want.

Carolyn

Hi Carolyn, this should work:

I agree, without seeing last year's roots, hard to comment, I did think about this before I initially posted, but thought that the root development is so weak that the pic would speak for itself. Four years ago I followed exactly what you said you do (seeded in seeding mix, then to 4-cell plastic pots until set out), worked fine but took quite some time for plants to get big and start producing. I am only doing 40-60 plants (40 for myself), so figured I had the time/space to get them bigger. Season is so short in Toronto that I wanted a headstart. That led me to start seeding a month earlier for the last 3 years.

For the first 2 of those years, I ended up with large strong seedlings with thick stems, the plants were only quasi-leggy (tall like this year's specimens, but not nearly as lanky, and far more lush), and as for roots, for those 2 years I removed plants from their 8-inch pots by grabbing the base of the stem and pulling out the whole root ball (roots were evident on the outside of the 8-inch root ball, and the entire pot-shaped clumps of dirt held together, presumably because of the roots).

When planting this year, I had to carefully turn the pot upside down, carefully hold the ball of dirt and place it in the holes. Most fell apart because so few roots. If I grabbed the above plant by the base and pulled, all of the dirt would have stayed in the pot, leaving a 1-inch wide hole in the dirt where the roots were.

So briefly summarized differences this year compared to last 2 years: started in jiffy cells vs. seeding mix, transplanted into 3-1/2 inch pots into MG soil instead of regular soil, did not feed with high-phosphorus fertilizer for April and May, and watered thoroughly only when plants seemed about to wilt (vs. watering every 3 days or so). Timing, exposure to sun, varieties grown (for the most part) same this year as other years. Result this year is tall weak plants with no roots that got extensively sunburned when I set them out. Oh well, will do things differently next year, and will post some pics of what they look like a month from now (too painful/embarassing to post a pic of what they look like now!).

bump attempt to see if Carolyn/others might have another comment (now that I have managed to post the pic).

From your excellent photo, it looks as if the original seedling had it's roots so restricted by those infernal jiffy sevens or nines, and could not develop into a proper plant because of it, higher up the stem it is fairly obvious that the poor frusterated plant was making a last ditch effort to grow by putting out water roots from the stem higher up, and will probably do quite well once it has done that.

bump attempt to see if Carolyn/others might have another comment (now that I have managed to post the pic).

*****

Anthony, there's not much more that I can say except to suggest staying away from peat trays/pots and that I see no need to pot up so many times b'c all you get is an increasingly large fibrous root ball that is more and more fragile in terms of final planting out. Just my opinion.

If I had that plant that you show in your hand I would have just replanted very deeply and it would have grown just fine once in contact with good soil.

Carolyn

Thanks Carolyn. To be clear, I used those jiffy peat pellets, not peat pots/tray, so wicking was not an issue, post-germination growth seemed stunted compared to growing medium that I have used in the past. Agreed re. sticking the pictured stem deep, but for that one all of branches were gone and I had one spare plant of that variety (and no more room for an extra plant), so just decided to rip it out...and was surprised at the root development.

Most of the spindly sticks that I have in the ground are developing thicker darker leaves up top and are sprouting many suckers, so I will allow the suckers to grow from the bottom up, will pull some weaker ones out and plant them in a trench, and will be (carefully) adding 4-5 inches of soil to the garden.

- seeded in jiffy peat tray mid march

****

Anthony, thanks for the clarification b'c in your first post what you said was jiffy peat trays and since Jiffy does make peat trays that's what I thought you were using.

Carolyn

Sorry for the lack of clarity, but it did result in you passing on some useful information about peat pots/trays wicking away water!!

Well as of tonight I have carefully un-planted approx. 15 plants and re-planted them in a trench with the healthy tip sticking out. They look much better now!