As a gardener with many years of experience, I know how important it is to use the correct container when growing seedlings. To make the seedlings comfortable, they grow well and develop in your home, you should be smart about the choice of boxes or cups. I will tell you about the advantages and disadvantages of different types of seedling containers.
What can seedlings be grown in
You can grow seedlings of vegetables or flowers at home in one of 2 ways:
- in a common container with the subsequent picking of plants into separate pots;
- in individual containers.
In the first case, you will first need to use a large enough box made of wood or plastic for your planting. When the seedlings grow up, you move them to individual containers. You will also need them for growing seedlings in the second way.
As individual containers, you can use seedling cassettes and trays, peat pots or tablets, glasses or small flower pots, as well as homemade containers (plastic bottles or cardboard milk bags, from which the top was cut off, egg trays and even egg shells).
Box
This container is a temporary "home" for growing seedlings. And it is not suitable for every garden culture. For example, it is undesirable to grow peppers and eggplants like that.
You can find plastic and wooden boxes of any size on sale. If you, like me, do carpentry at your leisure, it will not be difficult for you to make a suitable container from the boards with your own hands. The main thing is that it fits on your windowsill.
Caring for seedlings living in a common tank is simple. The box can be easily rearranged to another place or deployed so that more light falls on the plants.
The optimal indicator for the height of the sides for the seedling box is 10 cm. There should be drain holes in the bottom.
The disadvantage of such a container is that it will not be possible to keep plants in it for a long time. If they are not placed in separate pots in a timely manner, the roots will intertwine. This will be a big problem when planting seedlings in beds. If you try to divide the seedlings, you are likely to injure their roots. Because of this, they will hurt and grow poorly.
Seedling cassette or tray
This is a very convenient thing, which is a common container, divided by partitions into many cells. The cassette differs from the tray only in size. In the latter, they are larger.
This container has many advantages:
- it is lightweight, compact, mobile;
- affordable;
- durable (service life up to 10 years);
- each cell is equipped with a drainage hole (due to which moisture stagnation is excluded).
I would also note the fact that seedlings in cassettes and trays do not tend to outgrow due to the small size of the cells.
When growing seedlings in cassettes, you may encounter the following difficulties:
- fast drying of the soil in the cells;
- susceptibility of containers to breaking and crushing;
- the complex process of extracting seedlings from the cells (often with this manipulation, the earthen lump is disturbed).
This container is not suitable for peppers, eggplants and other garden crops that have a taproot system.
Peat pots or tablets
Such containers for seedlings are made from compressed peat. This is both a "house" for a seedling and a source of nutrition.
It is enough to place a tablet in a bowl of water to make it increase 6-7 times and become suitable for use. The pot is sold ready-to-use.
Individual seedling containers made of peat have many advantages:
- if you prefer tablets, you will not need soil mixture for growing seedlings;
- this container is water and air permeable;
- plants do not need to be removed from a tablet or pot for transplanting to a garden bed (seedlings are planted in the ground along with a container of peat).
Among the disadvantages of peat containers, I would single out:
- its high cost;
- the inability to reuse it;
- increased need for watering, since such containers are prone to drying out.
In tablets, I usually grow flower seedlings, cabbage, onions. For cucumbers, squash, peppers, peat pots are better suited.
Glasses and flower pots
This container is suitable for growing any garden crop. It comes in a variety of sizes and shapes.
I prefer square containers that take up less space on the windowsill.
When purchasing seedling glasses and pots, check that there are drainage holes in the bottom. You can replace store containers with disposable beverage cups.
The advantages of this type of container for growing seedlings, I would attribute:
- its versatility;
- low cost;
- reliable protection of roots from damage;
- long service life, multiple use.
The only drawback of plastic cups and pots is the need to remove the seedling from them when transplanting it to the garden bed. In this case, the roots of the plant are often injured.
Use my tips to choose the most suitable container for your seedlings. This will save you money and get an excellent "house" for seedlings.
Read also: What can not be done when pickling cabbage? We analyze the main mistakes
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