Forum home› Plants

Mail Order Plugs

flowerbomb21flowerbomb21 Posts: 45
in Plants
Hi there,

I unfortunately do not have a garden but luckily I have a balcony and am hoping to make it look as lovely as I can growing the sort of plants I used to have in my garden. I am an amateur gardner so my query shouldn't be too difficult for experienced gardners out there. I've recently bought lots of plug plants and am wanting to get out there and plant away hopefully when someone is kind enough to tell me where to start!! Do I plant the plugs on into 9cm pots before planting in large containers or do I plant up right now where I want them to live? Also, my pelargonium young plants look quite leggy and some have buds. Do I prune them and take off buds to give roots better chance and in the process take cuttings or are they too young?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
«1

Posts

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • EmerionEmerion Posts: 458
    Are they guaranteed garden-ready? If not, don't forget to harden them off before leaving them outside permanently - although a balcony might well be warmer than many gardens of course. Some things suit going straight into the final pot better than others. The more vigorous the variety, the better it will do. Some more delicate things might rot though. 
    Carmarthenshire 
    If at first you don’t succeed, have some cake. 
  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    edited June 2018
    If in doubt, or worried, put them into small pots with compost until the roots show through the bottom of the pot. When robust, them put into the basket.
  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    What kind of plants are they? Perennials or annuals? If they are annuals, either hardy or half hardy, I would put them into your large tubs now as they do grow very quickly in the season. If they are perennials, I would cosset them along in smaller pots first and only put them into your big tubs when they have grown into about a litre size of pot. 
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • flowerbomb21flowerbomb21 Posts: 45
    Thank you very much all. I have a mixture of both annuals and perennials. The lavender plugs are tiny plugs as are the petunia. The pelargonium are more like young leggy plants. And I have 20 plug perennials. Should I trim the straggly ones down or leave them as they are? 

    Thanks again for responding
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • flowerbomb21flowerbomb21 Posts: 45
    Ok will do 
  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    Pot on the perennial plug plants into 9cm pots and grow on in pots. You can plant your annuals including the pelargoniums into your big pots. The pelargoniums should be fine but you could try trimming some of them and leaving the rest. Or post a pic so we can see and advise better. 
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • flowerbomb21flowerbomb21 Posts: 45
    Hi Hogweed, thank you for taking the time to read my posts. I'm sorry if the pics are too large!! Both pictures are young pelogoniums, the first look healthy and I think are fine. The second they look slightly bedraggled, although they are trailing so I presume would be quite normal. ? Ps. I potted them on a couple of days ago from mail order packaging so will probably replant in a couple of days to final large pot.

  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    I would take off the dead looking leaves and the flower stems/buds, allowing the plants to put their energy into creating a good root system and settle down. They need full sun on the sill, so I would be a bit concerned that the metal cans would over-heat - so, good that you are potting on soon. Perhaps treat them as if they are new cuttings. Keep them compact and the soil damp.

    I hope the plugs were cheap.
Sign In or Register to comment.