Pricking out Lettuces

In horticulture lingo, the phrase “pricking out” is not just something Beevis and Butthead would chortle over, it  means “to pot up tiny sprouted seedlings into a slightly larger container”  It’s different from the horticulture term “to transplant,” in that the latter generally means to plant something from a container into the ground. 

I sowed four different lettuces on September 24 (two varieties per flat).  Each flat holds eight 6-packs.

I  generally sow more seeds than are necessary, because seeds are cheap, and re-sowing seeds that don't sprout can set you back a couple of sometimes crucial weeks.  If all goes well, and germination is good, that means that I’ve got too many of any one thing, and I need to separate the m and give them more space.

As I was teaching my prick out method to my fine assistant, Christopher, he asked me the obvious question, “Why can’t we just transplant these babies directly into the ground?  Why do we need this interim step, which will take a lot longer?”  Christopher’s always asking questions when he’s not belting out a song that he thinks summarizes what I’ve just taught him.  The tune he chose after this tutorial was Lionel Richie’s “Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady,” (you’ll see why at the end).

I told him to shut up and get his hands dirty (not really).  Rather, I patiently explained that the babies were way too little to put out in the cruel, wet, rainy world right now, and that even the littlest earwig could take it down with one munch.  However, since the tiny lettuces were too crowded in their little cells, they would need more room to grow before they were transplanted out into the garden proper to fend for themselves. 

Here’s our technique:

We pop the cell out of the tray 6-pack.  These little lettuces were sown almost 3 weeks ago.  This variety is called “Oakleaf.”  Wonderfully tasty.  There seem to be about 10 babies jammed together here.  We start to separate them by pulling apart the root ball.  Don’t try to separate by holding the too-tender tops.