Various Questions

[Vik250]

Hi All,

Apologies for posting some extremely naive questions but I have been getting confused by reading contradicting articles online and watching videos. And I take everything to the dot when I read or watch something. Call it my OCD if one may. So here are some questions:

1) If 2 or 3 seeds started sprouting and now have "True Leaves" and are within the same 30mm Peat Pellet, do I need to separate them? [A photo with 2 seedlings growing next to each other is attached for your reference].

2) Reagardless of the answer to above question, is it okay to transplant multiple seedlings from different trays/peat pellets in 1 pot, provided they are same species?

3) My LED grow lights have these 3 different type of combinations (pictures attached below). Which is best used for seeds/seedlings? [These are 4 heads with 20W each I believe ordered from Amazon]. One picture has Red+Blue lights, 2nd has White/Warm light, and 3rd has all 3 together. I have been using 3 lights together for 16 hrs or so on daily basis.

Thank You as Always!!

 

[Shibui]

Your OCD is going to be working overtime if you keep growing bonsai. There are so many different approaches and most of them still get results. With living things like plants there's rarely just one way that works so you'll need to get used to different methods from different people. Sometimes it depends on the species, sometimes climate makes a difference, often it is just a preference to do things one way or another. As mentioned, the different approaches still seem to work.

It can help to think about how plants grow naturally. If 2 seeds germinate close together both can still grow and we often end up with a twin trunk tree.
Your seedlings in the same pot can grow in the same pot. Usually they will both grow a bit slower than if only one seedling had all the space but they'll still grow for at least a year or more.
Seedlings can be separated at any time if you want them to grow faster or only want single trunk trees.
There's no 'right' time to separate seedlings which is why you'll get lots of different opinions.
When the seedlings first germinate the stem and roots are quite brittle so it is easy to break them. Fortunately they also heal well so will usually recover from breakage when really young.
Most growers wait until the stems harden a bit to minimize breakages. That's why wait until first leaves approach but transplanting later is also OK and transplant can be done any time in the first couple of years. Seedlings don't even seem to follow the normal repotting season rules. I guess that's because they are programmed to grow when they are little and can cope with more than older plants.

In answer to the second question have you ever seen a bonsai forest? We often put more than one plant into a single pot. Plants can grow quite well together in a pot provided they have space and enough water, light and nutrients for all the plants. Usually growth of each plant is a bit less because they are all competing for the same light, water and nutrients but that's sometimes good for bonsai.
Plants in separate pots are a little easier to manage and usually grow faster but separate pots requires more space so each grower needs to decide which way to go. Both are OK.

I don't use grow lights because there's free light outdoors from the sun so I can't give any opinion on grow lights.

 

[Vik250]

Your OCD is going to be working overtime if you keep growing bonsai. There are so many different approaches and most of them still get results. With living things like plants there's rarely just one way that works so you'll need to get used to different methods from different people. Sometimes it depends on the species, sometimes climate makes a difference, often it is just a preference to do things one way or another. As mentioned, the different approaches still seem to work.

It can help to think about how plants grow naturally. If 2 seeds germinate close together both can still grow and we often end up with a twin trunk tree.
Your seedlings in the same pot can grow in the same pot. Usually they will both grow a bit slower than if only one seedling had all the space but they'll still grow for at least a year or more.
Seedlings can be separated at any time if you want them to grow faster or only want single trunk trees.
There's no 'right' time to separate seedlings which is why you'll get lots of different opinions.
When the seedlings first germinate the stem and roots are quite brittle so it is easy to break them. Fortunately they also heal well so will usually recover from breakage when really young.
Most growers wait until the stems harden a bit to minimize breakages. That's why wait until first leaves approach but transplanting later is also OK and transplant can be done any time in the first couple of years. Seedlings don't even seem to follow the normal repotting season rules. I guess that's because they are programmed to grow when they are little and can cope with more than older plants.

In answer to the second question have you ever seen a bonsai forest? We often put more than one plant into a single pot. Plants can grow quite well together in a pot provided they have space and enough water, light and nutrients for all the plants. Usually growth of each plant is a bit less because they are all competing for the same light, water and nutrients but that's sometimes good for bonsai.
Plants in separate pots are a little easier to manage and usually grow faster but separate pots requires more space so each grower needs to decide which way to go. Both are OK.

I don't use grow lights because there's free light outdoors from the sun so I can't give any opinion on grow lights.

Thank You @Shibui. Yes I have seen the forest and that's why I thought of asking. Above helps a ton. Thank You once again very much