Pricking Out Seedlings

When your seedlings have two or more sets of leaves and are large enough to handle it's time to give them more room to grow.

• Step 1
  Water the seedlings an hour or so before pricking out to make the roots easier to separate.
  Always handle seedlings by a leaf, never by the fragile stem that is so easily damaged.
• Step 2
  Gently tease the seedlings from the compost with a dibber or even a kitchen fork.
  Replant them into small individual modules or four or five to a flowerpot filled with Seed & Cutting Compost or John Innes No 1.
• Step 3
  Make a small hole in the compost surface with a dibber and drop the roots into the hole, gently firming the compost with your fingers. Water them gently with a fine nozzle, using water that has been allowed to warm up to room temperature. Place the seedlings in a light, frost-free place to grow on.

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