Best Way to Grow Bigger Tomato & Pepper Seedlings 🌱 (Upgraded Double Cup Method Hack)

Most people want to grow massive pepper and tomato seedlings. Have you seen this Double Cup idea? I'll show you how to take this to the next level. First, why do people use Double Cups for seedlings? Sure you could grow your plants in these little cell packs. For onions, these are a great way to grow lots of plants in a small space. And in the end, the onions still get huge! But an 18 ounce drink cup supports a much larger tomato or pepper plant. That speeds up growth, increasing yield. Party cups are cheap and reusable. Just cut some drainage holes and you're good. But you don't want a mess... so drip trays are needed. And that's where the Double Cup comes in. Each seedling cup sits in its own nifty drainage cup. To improve the system, people add rocks or marbles to the bottom to create a gap. This extra space allows for run off water to collect and even for plant roots to grow. A square solo cup inside of a round one can also create a gap. Or using a smaller bottom cup. A clear bottom cup lets you see when to water or stop watering. So what do you think? It seems like an ok idea. Will Double Cups prevent plant roots from circling? Nope. See my video on air pruning pots if you wanna go that route. Will Double Cups literally double the size of your plants? No, they won't. In general, just using larger containers can help to support larger plants. But as plants get bigger, you may be stuck watering every single day, and if you have a lot of these, it can become a real pain. So let's upgrade this Double Cup system into something even better! The water collects in this gap. How do we get it back into the cup as the soil dries? I don't wanna keep dumping it onto the top. That's where this cord comes in. A wicking cord can bridge the gap, allowing the soil to soak up the water from the bottom. This starts working on day one. You don't need to wait for plant roots to grow down to the bottom cup. It's easy. Just cut a single quarter inch hole. Cut a piece of cord. Tie a knot. Drop it into the cup. Then add your potting mix as usual. The cord will soak up water from the bottom cup. We're not done though. This can get better. You want big plants, but these Double Cups can get top heavy. So let's get a sturdier base. And while we're at it, we can increase the holding capacity of this bottom reservoir. Here's your upgraded bottom cup. This one was only a buck at a dollar store. Of course you can't beat free. You might be able to just upcycle a container that's already in your kitchen! How well does this work? With a basic peat based potting mix, the wicking cord was able to completely hydrate the mix. I never had to top water. Does it get TOO wet though? Well compared to a top watered cup, this wicking cup never absorbed any more water than the conventional one. Just keep the water level below the bottom of the inner cup. The potting mix in these party cups retains more than 5 ounces of water. But this added water reservoir can triple that water holding capacity. That could allow you to skip a day even as your tomatoes or peppers get massive. Are the gears turning yet? The same basic technique can be adapted to all sorts of situations. For the last 10 years I've been using these upcycled containers. A full 32 ounces of soil sitting above a 24 ounce water reservoir. Spare shoe laces work just as well at wicking. I was able to grow really large pepper seedlings without much effort at all. You can use all kinds of crazy container combinations. This wicking container was made from old CD or DVD spindles or cake boxes. On a much larger scale, see my video about these 5 gallon double buckets. You can use standard seedling pots placed on top of a water container. Just connect them with a wick and you have a sub-irrigated, self-watering planter. That inspired me to build this nifty system where all of these seedling pots share a common reservoir. If you'd like to know more, leave a comment below and maybe I'll be able to do a separate video about it. Anyway, as you can see, there's a lot you can do to take these Double Cups to the next level. By switching to a wicking cup you can have a system that doesn't need watered as often. And it has a sturdier base. This means support for even larger tomato or pepper plants, giving you an amazing head start for the Summer. I hope these ideas have inspired you. Are there other containers that have worked for you? Share your tips in the comments below. Thanks for watching. And thanks to my supporters who've checked out my book. Please subscribe if you haven't. And I'd like to wish you Happy Gardening!

Channel: AlboPepper - Drought Proof Urban Gardening

Views: 95,312

Keywords: vegetable gardening, greenhouse, hydroponics, budget, indoor, cheap, tips, how to grow tomatoes, growing large tomato plants, planting tomatoes, starting tomatoes indoors, growing tomatoes in containers, stronger tomato plants, how to grow tomatoes from seed, best way to start tomato seeds, tomato seedlings, how to grow peppers, pepper seedlings, starting peppers indoors, growing large pepper plants, seed starting, how to start seeds, bottom watering, watering seedlings

Id: WS_OK_9swY4

Length: 5min 8sec (308 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 29 2024