{"id":553,"date":"2026-10-09T00:28:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T22:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.60.121\/en\/sowing-and-transplanting\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T10:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T08:59:14","slug":"sowing-and-transplanting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/en\/sowing-and-transplanting\/","title":{"rendered":"Sowing and transplanting: when and how in a pot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The time of sowing and transplanting depends on soil and air temperature: most fruiting and root crops are started <strong>after frost risk<\/strong>, above 15 \u00b0C. Leaf crops and herbs tolerate the cold and can start earlier.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image oib-infographic\" data-oib-fig=\"g11-trapianto\" style=\"margin:0 0 2.25rem\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/g11-trapianto.jpg\" alt=\"Semina e trapianto: quando e come in vaso \u2014 Sowing and transplanting: when and how in a pot\" width=\"1672\" height=\"941\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/figure>\n<h2>Sowing and transplanting: the rules from the dataset<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Avoid root stress.<\/strong> The first rule of sowing and transplanting: transplant with the root ball intact and don&#8217;t damage the roots.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Plant at the same depth.<\/strong> Put the plant at the same depth it grew at in the previous container: planting it too deep can rot the stem base.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Harden off 5\u20137 days.<\/strong> After transplanting, the plant needs a few days to settle: protect it from full sun and water regularly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Direct sowing or transplanting<\/h2>\n<p>Some plants (radish, lettuce, herbs) are sown <strong>directly in the pot<\/strong>, avoiding transplanting: radish, carrot and beet in particular tolerate moving poorly, and direct sowing is the route the dataset flags for them. Others (tomato, peppers) start in a seedling tray and are transplanted when they have 2\u20133 true leaves: the true leaves count, not the first two that come up from the seed.<\/p>\n<h2>The day of the transplant<\/h2>\n<p>For the transplant, pick a <strong>cloudy, windless afternoon<\/strong> and water well right after: the seedling should find the root ball already moist in the new pot. Check that the hole has enough room for the roots, without bending them: it is the most common mistake in small pots.<\/p>\n<h2>Hardening off: 7\u201314 days outside<\/h2>\n<p>Before moving seedlings permanently outside, they need <strong>gradual hardening off<\/strong>: start with a few hours out of full sun and, over 7\u201314 days, increase light and exposure. Bring them in at night, and on windy days or below 7 \u00b0C keep them inside: this is the move that reduces transplant shock.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"\/en\/tools\/\">Sowing and transplant calendar<\/a> tool tells you, based on plant and zone, the right period for sowing and transplanting in a pot.<\/p>\n<h2>Sources<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/powo.science.kew.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew \u2014 Plants of the World Online<\/a> \u2014 taxonomy<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rhs.org.uk\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Royal Horticultural Society<\/a> \u2014 plant care<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umd.edu\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">University of Maryland Extension<\/a> \u2014 container growing<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umn.edu\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">University of Minnesota Extension<\/a> \u2014 containers and climate<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.psu.edu\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Penn State Extension<\/a> \u2014 urban container growing<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.extension.umd.edu\/resource\/hardening-vegetable-seedlings-home-garden\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UMD \u2014 Hardening Off Vegetable Seedlings<\/a> \u2014 hardening off<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umn.edu\/garden-and-home\/yard-and-garden\/gardening-in-minnesota\/planting-the-vegetable-garden\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UMN \u2014 Planting the Vegetable Garden<\/a> \u2014 direct sowing and transplanting<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The time of sowing and transplanting depends on soil and air temperature: most fruiting and root crops are started after frost risk, above 15 \u00b0C. Leaf crops and herbs tolerate the cold and can start earlier. Sowing and transplanting: the rules from the dataset Avoid root stress. The first rule of sowing and transplanting: transplant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_GB","_original_post":"552","oib_translation_group_id":"","oib_affiliate_link_limit":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guide","tag-guide","en-GB"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ortoinbalcone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}