CHAPTER VI 
TRANSPLANTING, POTTING AND REPOTTING 
IRECTIONS have already been given for 
1) preparing the best soil for house plants. 
This soil, sifted through a coarse screen — 
say a one-half inch mesh — is just right for “ prick- 
ing off” or transplanting the little seedlings. 
Use flats similar to those prepared for the seeds, 
but an inch deeper. In the bottom put an inch of 
the rough material screened from sods and manure. 
Give this a thorough watering; cover with an inch 
of the sifted soil, and wet this down also. Then 
fill the box nearly level full of the sifted soil, which 
should be neither dry nor moist enough to be sticky. 
Take care also that this soil is not much — if any — 
colder than the temperature in which the seedlings 
have been kept. 
It is usually best to transplant the seedlings just 
as soon as they are large enough to be handled, 
which is as soon as the second true leaf appears. 
Nothing is gained by leaving them in the seed 
boxes longer, as they soon begin to crowd and get 
lanky and are more likely to be attacked by the 
damping off fungus than they are after being trans- 
ferred. 
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