Opinion: what to pot seedling up into?

[babice]

Do you have a method you swear by? Do you use say 4 or 6 inch plastic pots to pot up tomato seedlings in potting soil until they're ready to be planted outside? Do you use peat pots? Is there some other method you use? For example, I read a suggestion by someone to use the 16 oz plastic drink cups with drain holes in the bottom. Some have said use plastic 2-liter bottles or cardboard 1/2 gallon juice cartons.

[Tracydr]

I use the red, plastic drink cups. I think they're 16 ounces. I drill a hole in the bottom.
Comes in bags of fifty so cheap and big enough to work until planting out.

[b54red]

I use the cheap Styrofoam coffee cups from Dollar General. I think they are 10 or 12 ozs and reusable for years. They are too small if you allow your plants to get over a foot tall before setting out in the garden. If I find the weather holding me up in my planting for too long, I will repot into the 16 oz. plastic drink cups. The advantage of the coffee cups is they don't take as much potting soil and they are much cheaper if you are potting up a lot of plants.

[tam91]

I use 12 oz styrofoam cups. As b54red says, they don't use too much soil. Plus, you can just write the variety name on the cup, no label needed. And when I give away the extras, I don't mind not getting the "pots" back.

[babice]

Hmmm...I like that idea of writing on them and especially not caring if someone gives the pot back to you. So you reuse them year after year? Do you "sanitize" them in some way in between? With either the styrofoam or the red plastic cups, I take it you don't find much trouble in transplanting them? Also - do you use potting soil at that point or are you still using seedling soil?

[zabby17]

I used styrofoam coffee cups my first couple of years growing---they worked great, and I was pleased at how well they held up; I could re-use them for several years (made me feel better about the cost to the environment of the styrofoam).

One disadvantage was that they did tend to tip over easily, being wider on the bottom than the top. They didn't fall over out of nowhere, but if I was moving some seedlings or watering or otherwise maneuvering a cup, I often knocked over some neighbouring ones. So I got some cheap plastic 'shoeboxes" from the dollar store that would nicely fit eight styrofoam cups and used those as "trays" and they kept everything nicely upright.

When I'd decided after a few years that tomato starting was going to be a long-term part of my life, I "invested" in some little square pots. I got three-inch ones instead of four-inch because I could fit more under each of my fluorescent shop lights. They dont fall over so easily EXCEPT if the plants get more than a foot tall or so.

But there is the factor Tam91 mentions of getting pots back when you give seedlings away. I've taken to potting up some I know will be "extras" into styrofoam cups again.

Z

[amideutch]

I use Biodegradeable 4" Cow Pots or Dot Pots which are carried by Johnny's. They hold moisture better than the plastic pots/cups and when you are ready to plant your seedlings you plant the pot! No Root shock or plant stress and in the case of the Cow Pots the seedling gets nourishment as the pot decomposes into the soil/aggregate. Ami

[tgplp]

I try to pot up as much as I can before the transplant date, so the tomatoes can grow a ton of roots along their buried stems. I sow the seeds in peat pot cells, and when they have a couple true leaves I pot them deeply in small, individual coconut coir pots. I immediatly start using a compost mix to grow them in. It's just a random organic mix I buy from the nursery.

I don't think it really matters what type of pots you use, as long as they are big enough and you water often enough.

Taryn

[Tormato]

I use two (8 ounce) yogurt cups per plant, one cup inside the other.

The inside one has two (3/16") holes drilled opposite each other in the bottom at the edge. A 1 1/2 " length of an industrial grade cotton mop head is inserted halfway into each hole, serving as wicks.

The outside cup serves as the reservoir.

Tormato

[Douglas14]

Babice,
This year I'm going with both 9 oz. and 18 oz. plastic cups. I'll see if I notice any difference in seedling growth and growth after planting out in the garden. In the past I've mostly gone with 8 or 9 oz. plastic cups. I haven't been reusing them, although I think I could and maybe should. I start my seeds in the small plastic cups(4 oz?). I use seed starting soiless medium in these. I transplant once into the 9 or 18 oz cups, and use potting soil in these. I water them fully the day I plant them out in the garden. I squeeze the around the middle of the cups to loosen the root ball from the cup, and the slide out quite easily.

[tam91]

The local nursery gives me their carrying trays that they would otherwise throw out/recycle. Not the ones designed for the square pots, but the ones that are a little taller that hold little flowers in round pots. Those hold the 12 oz styrofoam cups perfectly, so they don't tip at all.
I haven't reused them - if I was going to, I'd probably dunk them in water with some bleach, like I do the square pots.

[FILMNET]

I guess i am lucky, my neighbor has saved these round or sq plastic pots I have maybe 50. And the drug stores have thrown these coke trays away, i have saved 10. perfect as shown in these shots. With my tall tomato plant i use the trays which hold 8 plants.
I have had great luck with my pepperdew plants

[babice]

All such great ideas! Ami - I searched on the internet for those cow pots and Home Depot has them listed so I might have to check that out. Love the plastic and styrofoam cups ideas too and the wicking. They're all great ideas! I have my first round of toms in peat pots at the moment. Have a 2nd round I will need to pot up this weekend. I also need to pot up all the other stuff I've been growing (basil, parsley, marigolds, morning glories, etc., etc.).

[greenthumbomaha]

In addition to all the above cup ideas, I save the 16 oz coffee cup I get at McDonalds and by the end of the season I have at least two trays worth. I punch holes in the bottom with a regular metal fork ( a good quality one), two sets of 4 holes. I also get the flats the big box stores throw away to keep everything upright. For peppers I purchase the smaller, flatter square plastic pots from a hydro store for $1.29 a flat, about 8 cents per plant. I buy the trays to hold the cups for $1.00 at Menards.

[babice]

All those years of gardening but buying my plants instead of growing them from seed is going to pay off because I found something like 30 or so 16-oz plastic plant containers in my garage! So! I'll get those sanitized and use them when I repot! Yay!