Raising annuals indoors From Bedding Plants Pricking out - dealing with seedlings The usual suggestion is to prick out the seedlings 'when they are large enough to handle'. Generally, this is good advice although certain small seedlings like lobelias will be quite well developed by this stage. For most plants the 'large enough to handle' stage is reached when the first pair of leaves, the seed leaves, are well developed. The later you leave it after this stage, the more root damage will affect their later growth. Water the seed pot well with fungicide a few hours beforehand and moisten your potting compost. The usual advice is to use the same type of compost for pricking out as for seed sowing but if the seedlings are small this is of little importance. Make sure that your pots or boxes are clean and likewise your dibber and presser. Fill the pots in the same way as the seed pots, although there is no need to firm with a presser. Use the dibber or an old dinner fork to remove some seedlings from the seed pot or alternatively tip the entire contents carefully on the bench. Make a hole with the dibber in the centre of the pot deep and wide enough to take the full length of root without breaking it. Carefully extract a single seedling, place it in position with its seed leaves just above soil level, and tap the pot sharply on the bench to settle the soil around the roots. Firming the seedling in place with the dibber or the fingers is often recommended but with peat-based compost this can lead to over-firming. A few brisk taps, followed by watering, settles the compost well around the roots without compacting it too much. Over-firmed compost leading to waterlogging and rot is the main cause of failures. Trays for pricking out are filled in a similar way although it pays to half-fill the tray and press the compost carefully into the corners and along the edges before topping up and striking off the surplus. On this larger scale the use of a purpose-made presser is advisable as it is more difficult to settle a trayful of compost by tapping; but only gentle firming is required. The number of seedlings you prick out into each tray depends on the size of the tray and the vigour of the plant. As a rule, 24 would be more appropriate in a standard seed tray. Tomato boxes are larger and deeper, so can take more. Start by pricking out a seedling into each of three corners, then mark the central point along a short and a long side with the dibber; if an odd number of seedlings is to go along the side, set one seedling in the middle and lay others equally spaced along the two halves to give you the required number. If an even number are to go in, place a seedling on either side of your mark and then divide up the two sides in the same way. Make holes with the dibber and plant the seedlings as before. This leaves you with two rows of seedlings along adjacent sides to serve as a guide for the positioning of the rest of the seedlings. Now prick out the rest of seedlings, filling each short row steadily across the tray. Tap the box and water the seedlings in well with a copper fungicide. The advantages of a greenhouse Raising plants on a windowsill Using a propagator or heated mat Choosing pots and trays Compost/Potting soil Seed sowing technique After sowing the seed Looking after seedlings Planting out   Raising annuals indoors Annual Manual ©copyright 1999 Graham Rice. All Rights Reserved. All Images Digitally Watermarked.