How to Prick Out Seedlings

Transplanting seedlings (also known as pricking out) is an important step when growing your own vegetables or flowers from seed. If you’re starting your own plants, you can explore our range of vegetable seeds to get growing from the very beginning.

One reason for pricking out is to avoid overcrowding. If you’ve got plenty to grow, you probably don’t have enough space to use whole seed trays for every type of seed. Instead, you can use a smaller tray or pot, sow quite close together and then transplant them when young, before the first true seedlings appear.

Transplanting will prevent overcrowding, giving the seedling space to grow. You also prevent root damage. If you have lots of seedlings closely sown in a pot, the roots can become entwined. Pricking out before this happens will prevent damage to the roots. The plants will also experience less shock when done early on. 

Watch this video of Andrew transplanting his seedlings:

Step By Step Instructions:

1. 1. Gently loosen the seedling from the compost (preferably with a dibber)
2. 2. Handle by the leaves, not the stems or roots. Stems and roots are fragile at this stage so you don’t want to snap or damage them.
3. 3. Transplant when the seedling starts to come up, after the first leaves appear. You don’t have to wait for the first true leaves, although many gardeners prefer to wait until this stage. In fact, transplanting before the first true leaves appear, like in Andrew’s video, will prevent overcrowding and prevent root damage. If sown closely to save space, the roots of each seedling can start to entwine with each other, which may cause damage when transplanting at a later date.
4. 4. Transplant into pots or trays. Fill with compost, tap the tray, gently firm and then water well. Avoid pressing the soil down too firmly as you don’t want to over-compact it. Doing so reduces aeration around the seedlings roots, and makes it harder for them to grow through.
5. 5. Place seedlings into the soil up to the first leaves. You can use multi-purpose soil when transplanting, although we would not recommend sowing with multi-purpose compost.

Aftercare:

After the seedlings have been transplanted, keep them moist but not waterlogged. Place in bright, indirect light and avoid cold drafts immediately after transplanting. This will help prevent your seedlings from going leggy. If you find that your seedlings have started to go leggy, move to a brighter position, and plant the stem deeper into the soil. This will help provide support to the stems.

Check the growth regularly as you’ll need to pot your vegetable plants on as they grow.