STARTING PLANTS 



141 



flats with bottoms made of wire netting, as seen in Fig. 47. 



Use of pots. Both earthen and paper pots are used in 

 vegetable-forcing establishments. Although they add to 

 the operating expenses by requiring a larger investment 

 of capital, and transplanting cannot be done so rapidly 

 from pots as from flats and beds, their advantages are so 

 obvious that the subject deserves special consideration. 



The greatest advantage in using pots is that there is 

 absolutely no check in growth when the plants are shifted 

 from pot to pot, or from the pots to the beds where the 

 crop is to mature. With each shift there is no root dis- 

 turbance of any kind, and the additional soil provided at 

 each transplanting makes possible the continuous growth 

 of the plant. Uninterrupted growth is particularly im- 

 portant for plants like the cucumber, tomato, pepper and 



, 



Fig. 48. Cucumber plants growing in pots and in an adjacent bed. 



eggplant. Again, some plants, like the cucumber, do not 

 transplant so readily as others. In such instances, pots 

 are practically indispensable. 



Sometimes it is impossible to make the final shift to 

 the beds at the time decided upon when the seed was 

 sown. There may be lack of sunshine or other inter- 



