Great idea for transferring tiny plants of any kind I think. @Fixpix this might be a good way to begin your
big task of re potting the semps.

Holy cow! I thought I was the only one transplanting at that size! I'm going to try that trick with my Lisianthus! Thanks, Chelle!

Ah, we can always find someone who has great ideas for tiny plants. Thanks for posting it.

Hehe, Marylin... I wish I had a small cube of soil for each seedling.
But it is a good tool.

This was another opportunistic discovery; I had one set of fingers draped with gooey germination paper and recalcitrant seeds, and just grabbed a nearby pick to try to get them off.
It worked well for that and it was easy to handle, so then it seemed like a good idea to try it with other tiny projects as well.

Arlene, yes, I prefer to get these little ones separated early, too! It's so much less tedious than trying to separate roots, and it seems that transplant shock is also reduced.

Thanks to all for the thumbs and acorns!

Wonderfully clever idea, Chelle!

Very clever idea indeed!

Awesome! I was having a hard time using a chopstick made out of a tapered stick ... too big to go in without disturbing the soil a lot. This will work great ... surgical precision! Thanks for the great idea.

chalyse said:Awesome! I was having a hard time using a chopstick made out of a tapered stick ... too big to go in without disturbing the soil a lot. This will work great ... surgical precision! Thanks for the great idea.

Let us know how it works for you, Tina.

and it wont rust like dental picks do.

Chelle, this is a wonderful idea. I will try it on my sempervivum seedlings. They are really a solid mass of tiny green at this point.

valleylynn said:Chelle, this is a wonderful idea. I will try it on my sempervivum seedlings. They are really a solid mass of tiny green at this point.

I wish I'd thought to try it last year with those tiny sedum sprouts, too. The smallest knife I had was still too big and awkward.

I can't wait to give this a try.

Hi @chelle!

I haven't tried "pricking out" anything that small. I'm glad you said that the seedling lies across the flat part of the toothpick. That tells me that you have steady hands!

For the last several years, I've pandered to my squeamishness about seeing "naked roots" and planted just 1-2 seeds each in small cells. Then I kill one instead of trying to untangle roots.

But back when I did start seeds in tiny "flats" and had to untangle roots, I used a cocktail fork or shrimp fork to pick up seedlings. But my hands shake, and the seedlings kept falling off.

So I cut and bent a cheap, flimsy dinner fork with four long prongs into a three-pronged, triangular fork. The single bottom prong supports the root and seedling. The two upper prongs keep the seedling from falling off no matter how clumsy you are.

I cut one of the four prongs out of the center of the fork, by bending it all the way down and then using a hacksaw.

Then I bent the two outer prongs up a little, and the remaining middle prong down a little. Then I jammed some hard wood between the outer and the inner prongs, and bent all the prongs back to parallel. (There's a small "jog" remaining, due to the wood.) Then I removed the wood.

Now the fork that used to have four prongs in a straight line, has three prongs in a triangle.

I used it to pluck out seedlings by positioning the three prongs AROUND the seedling. Because the prongs form a triangle they're equidistant from the stem, and can usually straddle the root system without stabbing it.

When I dig UP with the fork, the single lower prong lifts the seedling out with or without soil.
The two upper prongs cradle the seedling and keep it from falling off.

Sorry, no photo!

Interesting tool, Rick.

Me, I'd be clumsy using something that large, but then again, I usually work with seedlings when they're super small.

Here's the wee plant that was on the floss pick in the photo...now starting to bloom.

>> I usually work with seedlings when they're super small.

That inspires me to try that some day, but I think I'll be like a Great Dane trying the thread a needle.

At least it would avoid that feeling that I'm tearing my children in half when I try to untangle long seedling roots!

That's why I try to do them when they're so small; the roots don't get a chance to tangle. Have you tried the straight vermiculite yet? Even if they do get long and tangled they don't hang together in such a light medium. I love it. I still have seedlings holding in their w/s containers, and some of them sprouted in March! That's a heck of a lot of leeway in getting them out and transplanted. It's simply amazing to me that they 'keep" that long!

Now, I'm not entirely sure yet how those long holdovers are going to perform...but it's still exciting to think that the big spring transplanting rush might not have to be so crazy.

I haven't tried starting in straight vermiculite yet. I assume you use the coarsest you can find?

I've changed my seed-starting mix several times since the last time I tried either wintersowing or starting multiple seeds in one "flat". Now I use a lot of relatively coarse screened bark. Plus 10% to 30% baled commercial mix like ProMix. The bark fibers and chunks tangle together all by themselves, which is desirable when I pop out a cell that hasn't yet formed a dense root ball. But it would make untangling a "hunk of seedlings" almost impossible.

If I go back and try the "seedling flats" and "pricking out" style again, I'll use a seedling mix that's the opposite of what I'm using now. What did you use before pure vermiculite?

I kept increasing my seedling mix's drainage and aeration to overcome my overwatering compulsion. Maybe using a capillary mat under the trays is all I need now - it sucks out the excess water if I top-water too much, and it lets me bottom-water with more confidence.

http://garden.org/ideas/view/R...

Rick, if you try the straight vermiculite, the coarsest you can find, you won't have to worry about overwatering because you don't water them!!!!!

>> you won't have to worry about overwatering because you don't water them!!!!!

That's really going "cold turkey" compared to spritzing every day and overwatering frequently.

I assume "no watering" is using Jonna Sudenius' system with no drainage holes and a tight cover with no vent holes? That makes two more "total opposite" practices from what I've ever done. Well, it makes sense that a different system has many differences.