Starting from seed

[Jamesearp]

I am new to starting from seed and am using the small 10 section peat trays. In starting the seeds I accidentally got 2 seeds in a couple of trays. (I think my 4 year old helped me with that). This happened both on the beefsteak tomatoes and the cherry tomatoes. I am guessing I need to pluck 1 seedling so they don't crowd each other out? Or is there an alternative? Thanks in advance.

[Redbaron]

The simplest way is to just cut the weaker one. However if you want another full sized plant you can carefully separate them when you re-pot.

[Doug9345]

First I want to say welcome to Tomatoville. I'm with Scott. You can either clip one off or separate them when you pot them up.

[ScottinAtlanta]

Pot them both up! Watch Craig's dense planting video on this Forum, and you will see he plants 20-40 seeds in every cell. They separate easily when you pot them up.

[livinonfaith]

Welcome neighbor! There are a lot of us North Carolinians posting this week.

I personally wouldn't cut it off just yet. You need to have a few extras around because tomatoes are really very mischievous, for plants anyway.

They have a habit of falling off things, or being stepped on, or being eaten by all kinds of things,(dogs, deer or bugs, to name a few) or even eating or drinking something they shouldn't.

Then you're going to need a back up or two.

[billy_prewitt]

Using NCtomatoman's method. planted last Friday 15th (10pm) using donated electric blankets as heating pads, 4bulb fixtures with 6500k bulbs, Built a 3 tier stand. I have several varieties of tomatoes going. I'll will plant the other veggie seedlings soon. Using promix 360 medium

[kath]

Welcome, James! Last year I tried something I read about here at T'ville- purposely growing 2 tomato plants in the same cell and never separating them but planting them in the garden together. It worked very well and they seemed to do as well as the varieties that were planted singly. Had LOTS of tomatoes!

kath

[PA_Julia]

Hi James!! I'm with the others here that say everything is A-OK concerning multiple seeds in one cell.

I do this purposely then separate them when potting up!

It's great to have you here James!

[Jamesearp]

Thanks for the advice and welcome's everyone! Much appreciated. .

[kilroyscarnival]

You can watch a video of the dense planting technique, at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoYgX3y5ptQ

I am a first-timer growing from seed too, and I planted two per cup thinking a lot wouldn't germinate because I assumed growing from seed was difficult. I got to learn to separate them and transplant them out. Almost all of them made it, then I had too many seedlings at once!

[peppero]

you can snip off as per redbaron's suggestion but it easy to separate them and repot. the dense planting method works well. nothing ventured, nothing gained. give it a try.

jon

[afrance30]

I have some cells with four seedlings in them right now. I'll separate when potting up.

[pdxwindjammer]

Originally Posted by kilroyscarnival

You can watch a video of the dense planting technique, at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoYgX3y5ptQ

I am a first-timer growing from seed too, and I planted two per cup thinking a lot wouldn't germinate because I assumed growing from seed was difficult. I got to learn to separate them and transplant them out. Almost all of them made it, then I had too many seedlings at once!

No such thing as too many tomato seedlings!

Kath, I had not heard of planting two seedlings together in the same hole. Do you think you had more tomatoes than two plants separated or the same amount in half the space?

[pdxwindjammer]

BTW, I use nctomatoman's dense planting method every year. I have some cells with 20 seedlings but most are 10 to a cell.

[kilroyscarnival]

Originally Posted by pdxwindjammer

No such thing as too many tomato seedlings!

There was, kinda, when I was just starting out and hadn't yet devised or gotten enough beds and containers to put them in, and with frosty nights coming on! I really miscalculated.