Kitchen Garden Forum

"sow two seeds to a pot and remove the weaker seedling"

How many times to we see this comment in magazines and does anybody actually do it.

Considering the cost of some seed, especially F1, coupled with the measly amount of seed you get I have come to the conclusion that some writers must be employed by the seed houses.

For example

Diamante F1 gherkins £2.49 5 seeds
Lark Sweetcorn £2.59 35 seeds
Harlequin tomato £2.99 10 seeds

I always start small seeds in 3 inch pots and prick out but with the bigger seeds I start them off in small individual pots, 1 seed per pot and then pot on. I generally get good germination with only occasional empty pots.

How do you sow yours?

Crown Prince Squash £1.99 for six seeds.

Never ever do that myself.

Surely you are liable to disturb and break the roots of the remaining plant and leave behind broken roots from the removed plant . To my mind this disturbance and creation of openings for disease are pointless.

Just plant more than you need, allow for losses and whittle's, then compost what does not end up being used, or in the case of brassica seedlings have a mouth or two of salad in your sandwiches!

I sow 2 seeds per pot of stuff I get loads of an would never use them all (eg cabbage) and then pinch out the weaker if I get two. By pinching out at the soil line you don't disturb anything.

I don't plant two of squash or anything expensive though.

Chantal, you still leave a dying and decomposing root system and "stump" though.

No, 'cos I do it when they are only a day or so through and as it's at soil level it's really only a bit of root that's left. I've never had a problem.

ive got several pots of tomatoes with two in , i intend planting both together, but stoping one of each pair after the first truss to se if i get some earlier tomatoes that way.

If the seeds are big enough to handle and/or expensive - I plant them singly.

If they're tiny and cheap, I scatter them.

If they're tiny and expensive, mix them with fine sand and sprinkle them into modules.

Hi Piglet,
This is a throwback to the time when seeds were not so reliable. It's almost Victorian.
Over the years seeds have been produced with much improved germination rates.
I for one never sow seeds in twos to cull the weaker plant. What I do is sow in modules and you can see vert easily if a young plant is not performing properly and anything you see that is untoward you automatically cull the plant.
In these days with F1 seeds and higher germination rates all round I feel that it is an outmoded practice.
As Tigger says if you have masses of seeds then sow plenty and select the best.

It's too much of a generality as it stands. So much depends on variety, type of seed, F1, pelleted, age, size of pot/module/tray/ foil packet/price of seed. etc.
Cucurbits I sow singly except non-F1 and really stale seeds. If you use ad decent size pot you can space the seeds and re-arrange according to what comes through.
Top grade F1 tomatoes are very reliable but expensive, as they will be pricked out they are individually placed in a quarter size seed tray for germination.
Pak Choi seeds are remarkably good greminators, a few spares at the corners otherwise singles.
At the other end, many lettuce are so cheap that one has to avoid being too generous. I space out 2 or 3 seeds to the pot, early in the season I would split the rootball, later on remove the weakest.
Radish in a fishbox have a standard spacing of about 1.5 inches either way, used to be a job for forceps but now uses a seed-sower. No thinning required.
Runner beans can vary from singles for the precious sorts to 1 in each of 3 corners of a square pot for old seed, split up if there aren't enough otherwise at planting. Broad beans are singles.
Beetroot and maincrop onions will be anything up to 6 in a pot to end up with up to 3 or 4 for planting, this optimises yield and avoids excessively big end product. Geoff Hamilton did his onions that way, and my beet germination always seems to be poor.
Like so many things in life, you have to tune the method to the circumstances.
I should explain that my modules for most plants are 24 to a standard tray size which is very generous compared with the usual commercial practice. The pots are 7cm square re-usable.
Allan

Interesting replies, but why do these expert writers still covet outdated practices that are no longer valid or "best practice". Perhaps it fills an extra line or two?

u will probably find that some authors have little practical experience either of writing books or the subject and rewrite other books to produce their own. so tips and technics get passed down from one book to the next. it certainly happens in other subjects in some cases u even find chunks of text that have been copied word for word..
u also find it when a celebrity has had a book ghost written by someone else.

I suggest some people need to be dragged screaming and kicking into the 21st Century.
Individual modules are the best beyond a shadow of doubt as there is too much sodding about seperating things out. Whilst you are wasting time seperating out you could be doing something more productive.
Time is money to some but they have not cottoned on to it yet.

Johnboy wrote:Individual modules are the best beyond a shadow of doubt

Hi Johnboy, can you describe these? So far, the only things I've seen at our local garden centre are:
- Wide trays with a single area for compost
- Root trainers
- Seedlings they sell that are in blocks of polystyrene with 6 cells per block.

The last seem closest to what you imply, but I've never seen the empty blocks for sale - just with seedlings in.

Where do you get yours?

u can get plastic trays that are like a bunch of small pots stuck together, individual cells smaller than 2cm square are in my opinion a wast of time, cos the small wolume of compost dries out too fast. since the kids were small ive used idividual size yogurt pots (the yeo valley ones) they used to be opaque white plastic but now are transtuscent. some have been used for 7 or 8 years but are now starting to go brittle and splitting. ive found them ideal size for starting individual plants from toms to pumpkins. for brassicas ive been using margarine tubs, just poke a few holes in the bottom with an old nail to get some drainage. i also use the plastic trays that supermarket mushrooms come in to start beans and peas. though ive got a stack of "proper" seed trays i never use them i find they are either too big an area for snall things like brasicas or not deep enough for thing like beans.

You can get packs of them at Poundland or any of the other bargain shops. Each tray has 30 modules and you get 6 trays in a pack.