Kitchen Garden Forum

A question which I've been meaning to ask for a long time.

When the advice on the seed packet says " Start in a propagator but move to cooler conditions when germination has taken place".

Do you move as soon a some seeds have germinated or do you leave them until all have germinated and chance the earlier ones getting leggy?

It is a difficult problem.
I sow quite a few things like peppers and tomatoes in thimble pots so they can be treated individually, if you put more than one seed in a pot you just have to remove it before the first up spoils. Big seeds like courgettes or cucumbers I sow individually so not a problem.
I have found with sweet peas if I grow individual varieties and sow at an even depth (I use a pencil with a ring round it) germination is pretty even.
Odd things that I sow in trays, like some flowers, I prick out as they come and put the tray back in the hope of getting a few more.

Good question because I think many of us have suffered a similar dilemma.
I no longer use a propagator as I found I too frequently ended up with leggy seedlings. I did put my chilli & pepper seeds in pots sealed in polythene bags in the airing cupboard and checked them every day.
As soon as the first seedling started pushing through I took the entire pot out and put it on a window ledge, still in its sealed plastic bag until the rest started coming through.

The peppers had an even germination. Some of the chilli seeds, started germinating a good couple of weeks after the early ones started sprouting.

Geoff and Primrose thanks for your replies.

I prety well do as Geoff does and it's the smaller seeds which give me a problem. This year I have taken them out of the propagator when a few have shown through and stood them on a the greenhouse bench on a sheet of white polystyrene and it seems to be working.

I take the lid off my propagator in the day and put it back at night, once plants need potting on, they take precedence, dangerous to wait for seed that may not germinate, planting in cells can help as it's east to remove single plants.