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Antwerp, Belgium

Hi,

When do you guys put your seedlings outside? When they have one or two or three...real leaves? And when the weather is really good, can you put them outside earlier? Or still better wait till the are a little bigger?

Thanks in advance for all your reactions!

2/15/2014 3:57:04 AM

Lodi, California

It depends on your pot size. I use 5" peat pots and I plant them about 8-12 days after they were first prepared to germinate ( I use the towel method but some just place their seeds in the soil) generally, you want to plant the seedling just as the second true leaf forms.

2/15/2014 12:18:10 PM

Midway, UT

Weather is always a determining factor for me. We get some cold days in early spring at times. In the hoop house they won't freeze but on a cloudy cold day they won't grow much so better to keep them indoors a day or two longer when the weather is better. I usually put mine out on the 2 1/2 leaf stage if I can. Ideally the two leaf stage would be best in my opinion but that usually doesn't happen for me.

2/15/2014 1:25:14 PM

East Jordan, MI

You are kind of asking two questions...One is how soon to plant -- we put them out as soon as we can, usually about 2 weeks prior to the last predicted frost. Typically, a plant will grow 50-60 days before you get females to pollinate, and some like a bigger plant before pollination so they wait another week or more and then the fruit can grow up to 130 days (90-100 is typical), so count backwards from your weigh-off 170-180 or so days and that is a good target day (if the weather permits)

The second is how big is the plant at transplant.....
My wife and my best results so far have been to put ours out as soon as we see the second true leaf -- about the 4thor 5th day after the seed breaks ground (so we can tell which direction it will go). They seem to have the least amount of transplant stress when planted as soon as possible. In my observations if you can protect them from the cold and warm your soil prior to planting, they will outperform bigger plants that are transplanted later.

One of the problems with keeping them till they are bigger is the roots are so aggressive that they get root bound quickly, which can be compensated for by using a bigger container, but the bigger the container, the harder it is to transplant without disturbing the roots, which in my experience can cause the plant to stall. However, I have seen people transplant a plant that is already to vining stage that has been in a 5 gallon bucket and it seemed to do fine for them. I think most people that are successful using larger containers cut them and tape them back together so they can set the container down in the hole and remove the container from the plant in pieces.

Good Luck. It's almost go time!

2/16/2014 10:04:02 AM

Antwerp, Belgium

Thanks for all the good advice, can't hardly wait to put these tiny seeds in the ground...

2/17/2014 3:40:11 AM