Community pots and transplanting

[newtothis]

Some might remember I had 30something CIDP seeds germinate in a community pot. I let the first leaf grow to 9" or so then moved them to their own 3g pots about a month ago.

I watched the fully open nicely green leafs shrivel up, apparently in transplant shock, and SOME are just now looking normal again. So my observation, it seems, you loose a couple months of growth bare rooting and repotting. Well when you are "newtothis" and you go out every day to look for growth its like waiting for water to boil.

So is it better to start them out in their own pots to avoid this?

[Kostas]

The best way to germinate seeds in my opinion is to sow them in controlled conditions in a tuperware container or in a ziplock bag.After you make sure the conditions are ideal for the germination of the species you are sowing,you just check them every week and any seed started to germinate is either planted immediately in a new pot,or,you place the tupper/bag in a place with sufficient light for the species and wait till the first leaf starts to emerge and them plant it(whatever you prefer,the second has more labor as the seedling have rooted and need carefull digging...the first is easier but needs more care as you then have to water individual pots sooner +the anxiety involved in waiting for the first leaf without seeing it till it emerges...)

Community pots are not to my taste as they have LOTS of work to carefully bareroot the seedlings after and also on a community pot,unless covered with clear plastic,is a bit more difficult to control the moisture and there are more chances to lose some seeds to rot or severe dehydration(if sun gets to it...).I have done community pot sowing on my first palm seed germinations with good results but barerooting took me an hour or more to do to not damage any root.With carefull barerooting inside a bucket of water or under the tap(the second is way faster,but you loose the soil and any possible seeds in the medium,did it to separate two larger(2 to 3 years?) Livistona rotundifolia bought as a double...took much less time than seedlings!)you dont experience any growth stopping of more than a couple of days...Mine started fast growth on second or third day from transplanting and didnt showed any shriveling...Never had a problem with transplants involving barerooting

[MattyB]

I've done several techniques of germination and I've foung that a community pot is the easiest for me. They are kept in my greenhouse so they can be monitored and watered along with all the other plants so they don't dry out. I've had best results waiting for at least the first leaf to fully emerge and open. A couple leaves is ok too, unless it's an extremely aggressive root grower and the community pot is small. I do barerooting submerged in a large tub or wheelbarrow and rarely have any problems with transplant shock. When I started I began removing the babies as soon as I started to see them germinate or see the first leaf. But once I got a lot more palms I didn't have the time to get to the community pots right away. I accidently found out that letting the plants get a leaf or two made them stronger and actually easier to transplant.

[FRITO]

I agree with Matty.

One thing to add, its best to transplant in warm weather. Also if you ave a bunch of seedlings in a community pot its easier to bring them in if you have a cold front comming through.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

and a final note is a real secret... water in the seedlings with 80F water.

[tropicalb]

i'm with matty and the rest on this one....i prefer community pots.

[David_Sweden]

Ancient but very interesting and useful thread! I plan to keep plastic over community pot and in the beginning water them by misting the surface when I see signs of low moisture level (on soil surface and plastic). But once they start to grow roots, don't I have to water properly then (not just mist)? And if I do I imagine a risk for too wet soil?

[MattyB]

This plastic cover and misting technique works well to start off germination using a community pot.  You're right, once the plants germinate and start to grow roots, they'll be sucking up the moisture out of the soil so you'll need to start watering.  If your soil is a nice open, well draining mix, then having too wet of soil is usually not much of an issue.  You'll just have to make a judgement call on when the soil looks like it's drying out and when you need to water again.  This varies depending on your soil composition, weather, thirstiness of plants, etc. so there's no single schedule that I can give you.  Good luck.

 

[David_Sweden]

Thanks Matt