Hey everyone, I just finished up-potting around 90 pepper seedlings from seed starting mix into regular potting soil, and now I'm super worried I might have ruined them! I removed a lot of the seed starting mix, which I heard holds too much moisture, but now their roots are just hanging down without the mix wrapped around them. After doing that, I discovered that peppers (and eggplants, and tomatoes) don't like having their roots disturbed. Did I totally mess this up? Are my peppers and other seedlings going to go into shock and possibly die? I'm in Zone 6b, Sarnia, Ontario, and I really wanted these plants to thrive this year!
3 Answers
Just keep them out of direct bright sunlight for about a week or two. Mist the leaves with some water to help keep them hydrated—there’s a chance you messed with their roots a bit. Just avoid overwatering, but don’t let them dry out either, and they should pull through okay!
Your peppers should be alright! They might sulk for a week or two, but tomatoes are pretty resilient; they almost don't care what you do. As for eggplants, they're likely to be similar to peppers in terms of recovery. Just give them a little time and they might bounce back!
Thank goodness! I took off almost all the seed mix so their roots were just pure white dangling in the potting soil. Do you think that will hurt them more? They have a month until I plan to transplant them.
I once fell on a jalapeño plant and snapped it in half, but it ended up recovering just fine and produced plenty. So don't stress too much—you may be surprised at how tough these plants can really be!
Is being behind a window indoors considered indirect sunlight? I was going to keep them inside since they weren’t going to be transplanted for another month.