Aftercare for seedlings: pricking out and potting on

Aftercare for seedlings: pricking out and potting on

Separating out your seedlings into individual pots, known as pricking out, is a key step in nurturing your developing plants, and can be really satisfying. I'll take you through when and how to prick out for best results.

When to prick out

Timing of pricking out is key. Too early, and roots won't have developed enough. Too late, and roots will have grown too much and become very tangled.

Generally, the seedlings will have their first set of true leaves.

• Seed leaves: the first pair (usually) of leaves produced by a seedling when it germinates. These will be simple-shaped leaves that often don't resemble the mature leaves of that plant.
• True leaves: the second (and beyond) set of leaves produced by a seedling, following the seed leaves, which now resemble small versions of the mature leaves.

How to prick out

1. Hold the seedling by a single leaf as the stem and roots are very delicate.
2. Use your widger to lever out seedling and gently tease out roots.
3. Put into 7cm pots or modular tray filled with composts.
4. Pop into the hole and firm gently around with fingers.
5. Water in well with watering can with fine rose. Or, put an inch of water in a gravel tray and sit the pots in it for a few hours to draw up the water.

There will often be more seedlings than you need, so I give any spares away to friends, but it's important to remember not to overdo it when you're sowing as you can end up with a forest to prick out, even from a small seed tray.

The next stage is to pot them up into bigger pots once they've filled these or plant them out straight into the garden.

The therapeutic elements of slow gardening

Pricking out is about slow gardening – handling with care and slowing yourself down to do everything slowly and deliberately. Once you get into that mode it's quite a therapeutic thing to do.

With pricking out, I do a bit here and then during my lunch breaks in the spring. It's a very heart-warming and uplifting thing to do.

"It's really satisfying, especially on a rainy day, to be in the greenhouse, nurturing these plants and imagining what they're going to be like later in the year when the sun's out"

Plant Directory

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