This is my third crop of seed plants in my AeroGarden and I am very excited! I decided to use the Master Gardener Kit and plant my own tomato seeds for both indoors in the AeroGarden and transplants for my summer garden.Since tomato plants need more room than leaf salad greens or herbs, tomato plants are limited to three spaces, back left, forward center, and back right spots. But I am going to think outside the box and use all seven spaces to germinate seven plants. Then I will transplant out the other four plants into pots for transplanting to my garden after frost days are done and the soil has warmed up to at least sixty to seventy degrees.
The baskets that the plant plugs are in, are breakaway, ie: they snap apart. Then the organic foam insert and root systems can be planted in pots or directly into the ground for less shock to the plant. The breakaway planting baskets are only found in the Master Gardener Kits. The standard Aerogarden planting baskets are in one piece so would be a little trickier to get the plant out without damaging the roots, but if done soon while the plant is quite young, I would think they would transplant fine.
I am probably going to get the extension arm for the unit so I can grow my plants taller and fuller. The extension arm allows plants to grow up to 24 inches high while the standard arm only allows for 12-18 growth before the plants get too close the lights and burn.
Just for info, AeroGarden also came out with a 70 port seed starter tray than can be used in any AeroGarden for starting garden seeds for outdoor transplanting. Imagine, have 70 baby plants started with optimum conditions: lighting, watering, and feeding in your AeroGarden.
For those of you who used their AeroGarden year round like I do, remember to replace light bulbs every six months as they do lose their potency over time.
Happy Gardening,
Joyce
I have received an AeroGarden just recently, and I was interested in using it to transplant a struggling Serrano Pepper plant from the garden into the AeroGarden. This was my thought prior to opening this up and seeing how it's constructed.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever tried going the other way, similar to what I'm thinking? If so, how well did it work and what happens to the sponge?
Wow! Let me think...... I suppose the question back would be, how big is the root system of your pepper? Since it's in the ground, I would think the root system would be pretty spread out since ground grown plants need to search for nutrients and therefore usually have a pretty extensive root system. Also, since it has roots, how will you get the roots through the Aerogarden port hole? It's not very big.
ReplyDeleteSo, lets say you have dug it up and you think you can get the roots passed down through the port hole. Here's what I would do. Thoroughly rinse all soil from the roots, then carefully push the roots down through the unit's hole until they are in the reservoir. Now you do support the plant's stalk. I would use some pieces of foam rubber or a household sponge or anything that is soft enough to not damage the stalk yet support it allow the roots to dangle in the reservoir (this is in place of the plug). Then fill your reservoir, add nutrients, set your timer and see what happens! Let me know how it goes for you. Joyce Moore -- owner@virtualseeds.com
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