Push the bulb planter all the way into the soil, twisting it left and right while pushing down. In case you’re wondering, the reason the soil looks like this is in the photo is because a layer of compost was recently added! Step 1 – Make the hole for the seedling to be planted intoįind a good spot in the garden to transplant the seedling to, an empty space that will be its new home. In the following sequence of photos, I will demonstrate how to use a bulb planter to transplant a lettuce seedling. It was this capability of the the tool that led me to experiment with using bulb planters to transplant seedlings, and I found that they work brilliantly, and what’s even more amazing is that they do such a clean job that it’s very difficult to tell a seedling was transplanted as there’s no visible soil disturbance!. They’re quite useful for productive gardens too, I use bulb planters when planting potatoes, and they make the job effortless, but where they really shine is in their ability to make perfectly uniform holes in the soil, and fill them with perfectly fitting plugs of soil also. These tools are very fast and efficient for the arduous task of planting dozens of bulb in the ground at a very specific depth. It’s a metal cylinder with a handle, which is pushed into the soil and pulled back up to remove a plug of soil to make a perfect hole in the ground, with a lever which releases the soil inside it.īulb planter are used by growers of ornamental flowering bulbs, such as daffodils, tulips and liliums for example. The tool that allows surgical precision in seedling transplanting is the humble bulb planter. How do we relocate them, lifting out as much of the soil around their roots without damaging the root systems of nearby plants? How to Transplant Seedlings Using a Bulb Planter ![]() Inevitably, volunteer seedlings tend to pop up between other plants. This works well if there are no other plants close by that might get damaged. We can minimise root disturbance when digging up seedlings from the garden by using a larger implement to lift out as much of the surrounding soil around the roots as possible. There are ways to deal with spiralling roots that can strangle the rootballs in mature plants, see the instructions in the article – Should You Tease Out Plant Roots When Transplanting? Ideally, we should aim to cause as little root disturbance as possible when transplanting any plants, whether they’re tiny seedlings or large fruit trees. If they’re seedlings in a punnet or pot, very gently pull them apart to separate them for planting. When transplanting seedlings, don’t cut their roots, ‘tickle’ them to loosen then up, tear them apart, wash them or remove the growing medium from from, as root damage is the biggest cause of transplant shock. It’s usually better to wait a bit longer until seedlings grow a few more true leaves, they’re much more resilient by then, and establish themselves more easily after transplanting. When gardeners sow seeds, they usually wait until the seedlings produce their first true leaves before transplanting them. ![]() Seedlings need to be reasonably well-developed before they can be transplanted, otherwise they might not survive the transplant shock or any roaming pests that might wander past and eat them to the ground. If we’re lucky to find volunteer vegetable seedlings growing in our garden, our first thoughts are usually to move them to a better location. Odds are that whatever starts growing there may not be our first choice of plants, they may be what some people call ‘weeds’.īut what if the seeds blowing in the wind were premium lettuce varieties? Avoiding Seedling Transplant Shock If we leave areas of bare soil in the garden unplanted, nature will attempt to fill those spaces with whatever is blowing in the wind to protect the soil and prevent erosion. Plants that grow on their own, that weren’t intentionally planted, are known as volunteers, and volunteer vegetable seedlings are basically free plants. It’s always a great idea to let vegetables such as lettuce to go to seed, because a single plant can produce hundreds of seeds, resulting in lettuce seedlings popping up all around the garden.
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