Print
Email
If you started vegetable plants indoors from seeds, here is advice on transplanting your seedlings.
- Be sure the plants harden off; that is, gradually get used to unsheltered life outdoors.
- During their last week indoors, withhold fertilizer and water less often.
- 7 to 10 days before transplanting, set the seedlings outdoors in dappled shade that is protected from winds for a few hours each day, gradually increasing their exposure to full sun and windy conditions.
- Keep the soil moist at all times during the hardening-off period. Dry air and spring breezes can result in rapid transpiration.
- If possible, transplant on overcast days or in the early morning.
- Set transplants into loose, well-aerated soil that will capture and retain moisture, drain well, and allow easy penetration by seedling roots.
- Soak the soil around new seedings immediately after transplanting.
- Spread mulch to reduce soil-moisture loss.
- To ensure that phosphorus—which promotes strong root development—is available in the root zone of new transplants, mix two tablespoons of a 15-30-15 starter fertilizer into a gallon of water (one tablespoon for vining crops such as melons and cucumbers), and give each seedling a cup of the solution after transplanting.
- Anything that raises soil temperature will help plants adjust to the shock of cold ground. Try raised planting beds and plastic mulch to boost soil temperature.
See our chart on minimum soil temperature for seeds to germinate.
More Articles:
