Hi, I'd purchased the kit from SDCF and I'm happy to say 5 out of the 7 seeds have germinated in the pot provided. It's been about 4 or 5 weeks now, and I had a couple of questions on what to do next:

1. The pot looks crowded (to my eye), as there are 5 shoots growing out of it ... they are about 3-4 inches tall now. Should I be looking to move them to different pots? The appeal of the single pot was ... well, just needing 1 pot. I live in a London apartment, so space to distribute multiple pots is definitely an issue!

2. Should I be using the plant food provided during every watering? I've been watering every 3 days (twice a week, basically), but using the plant food only once a week.

3. I've kept the pot on the kitchen windowsill, as that was the best place for warmth & sunlight, and the shoots have naturally twisted towards the sunlight. I thought I'd try rotating the pot to see if that would even out the curvature, but if anything, I think the shoots are starting to become little corkscrews! Should I be worried about this?

Any and all advice would be very welcome & appreciated!

Hello mate,

Sounds like things are coming along nicely so far. I would definitely say that its time to get your seedlings into new pots at this point. Firstly they will need more space to develop. Secondly it sounds as if they are starting to get a bit leggy as they reach up to the light. When transplanting them you can leave most of the stem below the soil level. Roots will actually develop off the stem that is underground and you will end up with more stable plants.

As far as feeding goes I never feed my seedlings unless their growth seems to stall. If this happens child focus or half strength tomato feed usually kick starts them. I would prick them out first and see how things go.
Hope this helps,

Sean.

Hi Sean, thanks for the advice. I was hoping to clarify one point ... as I mentioned, because I live in an apartment, space for pots is definitely a consideration. In your opinion, is it possible to transplant, e.g. 2 shoots into one pot, or would each shoot need it's own pot (I'm a total noob at this!)

One plant per pot at this stage I'm afraid!

This is because you don't want them to be competing with each other for root space, soil nutrients etc ...

If space is really so limited I would suggest that it's time to make some tough choices. Decide how many plants you have room for and select the strongest looking seedlings. Then it's curtains for the rest of them I'm afraid!