Q. I started seedlings in a greenhouse and transplanted
them into my raised beds. but they are not growing at all. It’s been 2 weeks,
and a couple have died but the rest have not even continued growing.
A. Moving seedlings of hot weather plants like tomato, pepper and eggplant from a warm, still environment like a
greenhouse into one with very different temperatures and wind like a garden can
be quite a shock on young plants.
This kind of shock will lead to short term slowing of growth and changes in plant color as well. It can also lead to disease development if you are not careful.
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| Transplants like these tomatoes can develop problems when temperatures begin to cool. These tomatoes developed disease problems due to a combination of dirty growing conditions and hardening off for transport to the field. |
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| In this case it is thought that Fusarium may be the problem by the symptoms displayed. Sanitation and weed control would have been an important step in preventing disease problems. |
Plants respond to changes in the environment
very differently from animals which have legs and can move to a more hospitable
environment. We try to move these transplants progressively/gradually into
these less hospitable environments.
This is called “hardening off” a plant.
This can be opening the greenhouse so that the outside environment starts
mixing with the hotter greenhouse environment, moving them into a garage first
with the door open for light, moving them outside into a shaded and protected
environment for a couple weeks before planting them, etc.
show no signs of growth while its root system begins to grow into its new
environment. The larger the transplant, the greater the transplant shock or
time needed for it to adjust to its new environment.
- Make sure you planted transplants the same depth in the
garden they were growing in the pot. The only exception would be tomatoes which
you can plant deeper than that and the stem below ground will root into the
garden soil IF the garden soil is adequately amended. I just replanted a pepper
plant for a friend who had planted it too deep. The pepper was just sitting
there, the leaves were scorching, until I replanted it to the right depth. Then
the new leaves showed no signs of scorch and the plant “took off”. - Do not plant peat pots directly into the garden. These
peat pots or other pots for transplants that are supposed to degrade in the
garden soil often times can create problems and restrict water movement in the
area of the pot. Remove as much of it as you can without damaging the roots of
the plant. - If you do have peat pots or coir pots and planted them
with the transplant, tear off any part of the pot sticking above ground so the
water in the pot does not “wick up” to the outside air and dry out the root
zone. - Make sure the soil drains adequately and give it lots of
water. Give it some protection from direct winds by putting up a small
windbreak for the garden.