[lordthanatos]

hiya all again hope all is growing well


ive had a thought from seeing something from the allotment and wondering what you guys thought

this year i got a ton of 5cm wide square pots by about 10cm high, i got a huge bag of seedling compost and everything ive raised this year has been done in its own large pot so no seed bed or pricking out ( i basically filled each one and made a hole as per seed instruction and put few seeds in each )

however ive seen someone with a seed module tray thing and each cell was only an inch square but the plants in them were more developed than mine when i potted them out into the plot  ( they had been hardened off )  the chap actually gave me a load of his spares which was awesome but as i was planting them out I could see the roots were really dense and compacted in the cell

i used the larger pots as i thought this would allow a better root system to develop before planting out but it seemed that t

so my question is

am i wasting space and compost by using larger pots to raise seedlings

or

should I use trays ( i was going to but thought that the roots wouldnt develop as well )


sorry for all questions im doing one thing and it seems everyone on the plot is doing another and im sure folk do these things for a reason

[Trillium]

It's more a matter of how they were grown rather than pot size. Sounds like your donor kept the toms a bit cool so they wouldn't put out much top growth yet and would concentrate on root growth. It's also possible he used mycorhyzzal bacteria on the roots to stimulate more feeder roots, as well as water the plants with a special concotion.

Best idea is to ask the fellow if he'll share his growing tips with you. Individual pots are often better toward a later cycle of the tom's growth when they start to need the space rather than leaving them in a huge space when very young.

[cooperman]

its all about starting small and potting on IF youve got the time and resources.