TRANSPLANTING, POTTING AND REPOTTING

Directions have already been given for preparing the best soil for house
plants. This soil, sifted through a coarse screen--say a one-half inch
mesh--is just right for "pricking off" or transplanting the little
seedlings.

Use flats similar to those prepared for the seeds, but an inch deeper.
In the bottom put an inch of the rough material screened from sods and
manure. Give this a thorough watering; cover with an inch of the sifted
soil, and wet this down also. Then fill the box nearly level full of the
sifted soil, which should be neither dry nor moist enough to be sticky.
Take care also that this soil is not much--if any--colder than the
temperature in which the seedlings have been kept.

It is usually best to transplant the seedlings just as soon as they are
large enough to be handled, which is as soon as the second true leaf
appears. Nothing is gained by leaving them in the seed boxes longer, as
they soon begin to crowd and get lanky and are more likely to be
attacked by the damping off fungus than they are after being
transferred.

Find a table or bench of the right height upon which to work
comfortably. With a flat stick, or with a transplanting fork (which can
be had for fifteen cents) lift a bunch of the little plants out, dirt
and all, clear to the bottom of the box. Hold this clump in one hand and
with the other gently tear away the seedlings, one at a time, discarding
all crooked or weak ones. Never attempt to pull the seedlings from the
soil in the flat, as the little rootlets are very easily broken off.
They should come away almost intact, as shown facing page 48. Water the
seed flats the day previous to transplanting, so that the soil will be
in just the right condition, neither wet enough to make the roots
sticky, nor so dry as to crumble away.

Take the little seedling by the stem between the thumb and forefinger,
and with a small round pointed stick or dibber, or with the forefinger
of the other hand, make a hole deep enough to receive the roots and
about half the length--more if the seedlings are lanky--of the stem. As
the little plant is dropped into place, the tips of both thumbs and
forefingers, by one quick, firm movement, compress the earth firmly both
down on the roots and against the stem so that the plant sticks upright
and may not readily be pulled out. Of course there is a knack about it
which cannot be put into words--I could have pricked off a hundred
seedlings in the time I am spending in trying to describe the
operation--but a little practice will make one reasonably efficient at
it.

When the flat is completed, jar it slightly to level the surface and
give a watering, being careful, however, to bend down the plants as
little as possible. Set the plants on a level surface, and if the sun is
bright, shade with newspapers during the middle of the day for two or
three days.

From now on until ready for potting, keep at the required temperature,
as near as possible, and water thoroughly on bright mornings when
necessary, but only when the drying of the surface shows that the soil
needs it. Above all, give all the air possible, while maintaining the
necessary heat. The quality of the mature plants will depend more upon
this precaution than upon anything else in the way of care.

The little seedlings are sometimes put from the seed flat directly into
small pots. I strongly advise the method described above. The flats save
room and care, and the plants do much better for a few weeks than they
will in pots. Where room is scarce, it is well to transplant cuttings
into flats instead of potting them off. As soon, however, as either the
transplanted plants or cuttings begin to crowd in the flats, they must
be put into pots. How soon this will be depends largely, of course, upon
the amount of room they have been given. As many as a hundred are often
set in a flat 13x19 inches, but it is well to give them twice as much
space as that if room permits.