If you prefer your plants to the windowsill in spring, you should prick them out after a few weeks.
But what does that actually mean – and how does it work?
Pricking (from the French piquer
– dt.
prick
)
plays an important role in gardening .
Seedlings are taken out of the common seed tray and moved into individual small pots.
This can be quite time-consuming, but makes sense.
Pricking: why is it important?
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As soon as the first plants sprout, they should soon be pricked out and placed in small pots.
© Christine Höfelmeyer/Imago
Pricking out is important because plants in a common seed tray are always in competition with each other for the important nutrients.
If you want to grow strong plants, you should allocate them their own planter from a certain size.
As a result, they grow more slowly and become more compact.
Without pricking out, the seedlings often shoot up and snap or are attacked by fungi - and eventually die.
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Step-by-step instructions: How to prick flowers, vegetables or herbs correctly
In order to be able to prick out the young shoots, you need suitable planters with a hole (no higher than 8 cm), a small sieve and a pricking stick.
Then you can start:
Fill a planter with sowing soil or pricking soil and press it down lightly.
The pot should be two-thirds full.
Then fill up to the brim with sifted soil and press down lightly.
Make sure the surface is level so that the irrigation water seeps away evenly.
Now dig a hole in the ground with a pricking stick.
Then use the pricking stick to carefully lift the plantlet out of the soil in the seed tray.
Then place the seedling across the hole and push the root into the soil with the prodding stick.
The cotyledons should end up level with the potting soil.
Then gently press and smooth the pricking soil around the seedling.
Finally, water the little plant carefully but vigorously using a watering can with a hair spray.
Regrowing: growing new plants in a glass of water from leftover vegetables
Regrowing: growing new plants in a glass of water from leftover vegetables
Then place the planters in a bright place.
Temperatures of 15 to 18 degrees are ideal for flowers and vegetables to grow vigorously.
List of rubrics: © Christine Höfelmeyer/Imago
