Theoriously?

[Jimbotomateo]

You have four beautiful seedlings in one solo cup. Theoretically speaking.. I mean , who would do that?. Two are dead center, two on the side of cup. How would you separate them into two per cup?. The plants are theoretically exactly three inche high.. Jimbo

[Labradors2]

Just tip them out and separate 'em VERY GENTLY. It's ok. They are very forgiving

If you are squeamish about it, you could put them in a bowl of water and tease them apart that way.

If you don't want four beautiful seedlings, you could always cut three down, but I'm guessing that, theoretically, one would want all four......

Linda

[heirloomtomaguy]

I would cut the Solo Cup off and just start ripping the plants apart. Tomato plants and their roots are very resilient. I have never lost a plant yet doing it that way.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by heirloomtomaguy

I would cut the Solo Cup off and just start ripping the plants apart. Tomato plants and their roots are very resilient. I have never lost a plant yet doing it that way.

Me either and if they are too tangled I just cut them apart (root ball)with scissors.
Some plants will die if you mess with the roots tomatoes aren't one of them.

People would die if they saw my speed planting method.

Worth

[AlittleSalt]

The ones on the sides are easy to move. The two in the center - just make sure they have some roots left after separating.

[rxkeith]

yup, just pop them out of the solo cup. they will separate more easily if the soil is a bit on the dry side. you can tease the roots out better with less tearing vs wet soil that will be more clumped together. repot, and you are good to go.



keith

[dmforcier]

If you're going two per cup, just leave the two in the center together.

I like to start down low and work up toward the surface. You should be able to tease one root set at a time out with very little damage. If the roots are so long they've gone wandering, just save what you can and leave the rest.

[dmforcier]

And you need to work on that lisp. (Or are you eating peanut butter?)

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by dmforcier

And you need to work on that lisp. (Or are you eating peanut butter?)

I do eat a lot of peanut butter.. Thanks all, had no idea tomatoes were that tough.. Now I can separate any others that I might, theoretically have.. . Jimbo

[dmforcier]

Peppers are even tougher. People post with disasters. "My wife mowed off my Caribbean Red!!" I advise, "Leave it. It will be back." And guess what?


Now I go watch The Masters. Rush was saying yesterday that his initial impression on playing Augusta National was how bleeding vertical the course is! It doesn't come across on the 2D medium of TV, but 18 e.g. is so steep you can barely walk down it. Second impression that it's so meticulously maintained that it looks like it's painted on the hills. I rarely watch golf, but I make an exception for this event. Go Jordan!

[Deborah]

I just slice down with a paring knife. Or a steak knife. I'm not picky.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Jimbotomateo

You have four beautiful seedlings in one solo cup. Theoretically speaking.. I mean , who would do that?. Two are dead center, two on the side of cup. How would you separate them into two per cup?. The plants are theoretically exactly three inche high.. Jimbo

Take the whole thing out of the cup.
put them in water and shake until all the soil comes off.
Continue shaking while at the same time gently pulling them apart. on
plant them separately. Don't worry too much about tearing a few roots.

BTW: Today I separated 2 Bhut Jolokia. They looked as if it was one plant , the stems were in contact. Now they were not just tiny seedlings, maybe 8-10 weeks old plants that I bought. (Bonnie product ). After about 6 hours from operation they are in gook shape.

[Hoosier]

I have had several tomato seedling with no roots left and I don't think I ever lost one. I just made a hole in the potting mix and stuck it in. Not recommending that but even if it happens you can still probably save it.

[oakley]

Why not one per cup? Unless you eventually will be culling to have two plants total...
I find them only delicate when tiny 2inches. I think you have some time before they would crowd each other but best to have them transplanted into their own cups for
optimal growth.

I had two trays headed to the compost as i potted up a couple weeks ago what i needed.
(i always over-plant for insurance)
It was such nice weather last weekend i decided to go ahead and save a few from those
very crowded trays...to give away if they do well in cups. The rest were laying out all
week 'neked', roots exposed through cold temps and rain, even full sun one day, then
Friday afternoon it started to snow, then sleet, for just 20 min, lots of wind...laying in
a tray of water...

And here they are this weekend....again nice weather but those tough plants are still
alive. (far right pic) When i potted up i just teased them apart, even a bit of a yank.
Bottom pic are the ones i chose a couple weeks ago and look good but the pot bound ones should catch up/recover.

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by oakley

Why not one per cup? Unless you eventually will be culling to have two plants total...
I find them only delicate when tiny 2inches. I think you have some time before they would crowd each other but best to have them transplanted into their own cups for
optimal growth.

I had two trays headed to the compost as i potted up a couple weeks ago what i needed.
(i always over-plant for insurance)
It was such nice weather last weekend i decided to go ahead and save a few from those
very crowded trays...to give away if they do well in cups. The rest were laying out all
week 'neked', roots exposed through cold temps and rain, even full sun one day, then
Friday afternoon it started to snow, then sleet, for just 20 min, lots of wind...laying in
a tray of water...

And here they are this weekend....again nice weather but those tough plants are still
alive. (far right pic) When i potted up i just teased them apart, even a bit of a yank.
Bottom pic are the ones i chose a couple weeks ago and look good but the pot bound ones should catch up/recover.

Sorry guys , I just saw these posts. . Thanks for all the tips, haven't decided to go two and two single stem or separate and trim two out! Sounds like they're hard to kill.! . . Jimbo