Picking is the process of transplanting seedlings from a common container into separate pots. In the case of some crops, it is mandatory.
These include tomatoes, which do not tolerate cramped conditions. This crop should be picked 2 weeks after the emergence of shoots. By this time, several true leaves will have formed. The plants will be able to tolerate transplantation well.
The dive will be successful if you follow a certain sequence of actions.
Watering seedlings
It is customary to stop it a couple of days before picking. This is necessary so as not to weigh down the soil, so that the seedlings can be easily removed from it.
Some gardeners do it differently. They don't water the tomatoes for several days, but moisten the soil an hour before transplanting.
Dividing the sprouts
It is carried out depending on the selected watering mode. If it was not carried out before picking, then you need to use a teaspoon. With its help, the seedlings are lifted, taken from the common container together with a lump of earth.
If the soil was watered just before picking, the contents of the container should be taken out and laid out on the table. The plants will need to be separated with a stick.
Planting seedlings
You need to pour the soil mixture into separate containers and make holes in it. Their depth should correspond to the length of the seedling stem.
After placing the plants in the holes, you will need to add soil and compact it. It should reach almost to the cotyledon leaves.
Then the tomatoes need to be watered. For this, you need to use water at room temperature.
Interesting trick
Some gardeners shorten the central root of tomatoes by a third when transplanting.
This method can be used if you plant tomatoes in containers with a depth of 8 cm. Then there will be no delay in the development of the crop.
