4 tricks to get a strong web of roots from seedlings, like "boasting" bloggers
Do you want to grow your seedlings with a sprawling and healthy root system, just like in the photos from garden bloggers? Then a fiery salute, comrade curious seed-grower! These scoundrels know how to tease the public, turning with annoyance from the monitor at their stunted seedlings. Today on the agenda is an action plan that will allow you to boast of an enviable root.
What could be easier: repeat the advice that comes with the photos. But I often notice that my colleagues are cunning. They give out some kind of new recipe, which is supposedly a secret, but in fact has nothing to do with root growth.
It's simple: the "sensational-innovative" approach is gaining tens of thousands of views. Although the point is, without bending your heart, not at all in the "secret method of irrigation with ascorbic acid", but in banal agricultural technology.
All that seedlings need is, by and large, good lighting and competent watering. When the roots do not rot, but also do not dry out. But I will still tell you three or four tricks!
Gradual picking
Comrade, remember: there is nothing worse than planting seeds in a spacious bowl! It just seems like "more room for roots, more roots." In fact, read this: "More room for roots - more likely to rot and grow slowly."
Do not be lazy and gradually dive the seedlings. First - from a low container to an individual small container. Later, when a lump of roots clogs it, take a bigger pot. In this way, plants grow much faster.
Soil additives
Don't make the seedling existence simple. To become strong, she needs to face difficulties in childhood. Having survived them, the seedlings will become real samurai!
Add something larger than the structure of the earth to the soil. For instance:
- If you notice a tendency to water too much, like to plant a swamp and suffer from midges - a rash of up to 30% perlite;
- If you miss watering and the soil often dries out, vermiculite will be your best assistant. The calculation is simple: it first absorbs a lot of water, and then gradually releases. But do not rash too much (more than 20-30%), otherwise you will pass to the citizens from the previous point.
The point is this. In soil with large inclusions, the roots branch better. Resting on a piece of perlite, they have to bypass the obstacle that has come from nowhere in all ways.
Top dressing
When the seedling is able to unfold 2-4 true leaves, feed it fertilizer with a high content of phosphorus and potassium. It is these elements that stimulate root growth. And mankind has not yet invented anything more effective (among the available, and not professional means, of course) than the potassium monophosphate tested for decades. 1 g per 1 liter, drip under the very root.
If you really got stuck in the idea of growing strong seedlings - compact on top and branchy on the bottom - use growth regulator "Athlete". It compresses the height of the seedling, inhibits the development of the green part and directs the plant's attention precisely to the growth of roots, while the leaves are clustered.
Note to a friend: I almost forgot. Bottom watering (in the pan) also makes the roots grow faster. Because they have to reach for moisture. I would paint a separate paragraph beautifully, blurring the thought, but already lazy.
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Sincerely yours, Fyodor Tyapkin-Sklyankin, tenderly bored with the windowsills occupied with tomatoes.