52 



TRANSPLANTING 



plants. If to be transplanted, these plants must be handled in 

 such a way that the roots will not be removed from the soil in 

 which they grew in the seed bed. They may be grown on inverted 

 sods, in earthenware pots, paper pots, oyster buckets, strawberry 

 boxes, or veneer dirt bands (Fig. 25). The dirt bands are exten- 

 sively used by commercial growers for handling these plants. 

 Other plants often handled in pots, especially if to be transplanted 

 when quite large, are eggplants and tomatoes. Large tomato 

 plants are frequently handled without pots, but with a block of soil 

 six inches square enclosing the roots. Almost any kind of plant is 



m^'!^:^^'-^^^^ 



"'i^-.\i;«1'-*^- 



Fig. 24. — Transplantinjr Icttiiff scfdiincs from one flat into another. rh<> ^ml i tirmed 

 about the roots of each plantiet with a pointed stick or pot label, used ai> a dibbei. 



somewhat surer to resume growth quickly after transplanting if it 

 is moved with soil adhering to the roots (Fig. 26) . There is then no 

 uncertainty regarding the presence of moist soil in intimate contact 

 with the roots. While this method increases the labor of trans- 

 planting, it also increases the probability of success in case soil 

 or weather conditions are unfavorable. 



Tillage following Transplanting. — The drjdng out of the soil 

 close about the plant after transplanting may be largely prevented 

 by planting deeply and covering the compact soil about the roots 

 with a layer of loose soil which shall serve as a mulch to check 

 evaporation from the moist soil below. Thorough tillage close 



