Starr 070906-8906 Solanum lycopersicum var

Plugs in

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

are small-sized

seedlings A seedling is a young sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (embry ...

grown in seed trays filled with potting soil. This type of plug is used for commercially raising vegetables and bedding plants. Similarly plugs may also refer to small sections of

lawn A lawn () is an area of soil-covered land planted with Poaceae, grasses and other durable plants such as clover lawn, clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawn mower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic an ...

grass sod. After being planted, lawn grass may somewhat spread over an adjacent area. Plug plants are young plants raised in small, individual cells, ready to be transplanted into containers or a garden. "An alternative to field-grown transplants is the use of container-grown, or plug plants. Plug plants rooted in soil-less media offer the advantage of being grown under controlled environmental conditions that practically ensure that the..." Professionally raised vegetable/flowering plants in controlled conditions during their important formative period (the first 4–6 weeks) can help to ensure plant health and for plants to reach their maximum potential during the harvest/blooming period. Establishing a garden using plug plants is often easier than doing so starting from seed. According to the American National Standards a plug is a cylinder of medium in which a plant is grown. The term is generally used to describe seedlings and rooted cuttings which have been removed from the container but with the medium held intact by the roots.

Overview

Planting from plugs reduces the time a

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

resides in the ground, and is functional for those with limited space. Plugs can improve yields: a healthy, stocky plant will grow rapidly and symmetrically when planted out, with a potentially greater capacity to withstand pests, disease and drought. Raising some types of seedlings successfully can be difficult, so plug plants can be beneficial for less experienced gardeners. Plug plants are beneficial for gardeners who want to try a new variety or a range of varieties without purchasing numerous packets of seeds and starting the plants from seed. Plug plants are very useful if the sowing window is missed, and plugs can be purchased quickly to replace a crop which has failed. As a garden develops, interplanting (

intercropping Intercropping is a multiple cropping practice that involves the cultivation of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field, a form of polyculture. The most common goal of intercropping is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land ...

) existing crops with plugs plants, ideally companion plants, can improve the productivity of the space and so maximise harvestsa sown crop may not be able to compete with established plants. Plug plants are much easier to weed than sown seedlings, and weeding will need to be done less frequently. Having semi-grown plants simplifies designing a vegetable plot or container. As plants that have already started growth, the time to attain plant growth is lessened. Within days of planting signs of growth are typically visible: leaves will perk up and roots anchor into the soil. Air pruned plugs are grown in a manner to promote very rapid growth almost immediately after being transplanted to new soil. Plugs are sometimes used in hillside plasticulture applications, due to the ease in which they are transplanted.

Plant cultivation and growth

Plug plants grow more consistently, as has been noted by the commercial scale vegetable growing industry, and more rapidly; large-scale brassica field crops are planted almost exclusively from soil block plugs in some parts of Europe, a trend which is growing in the UK. This success at the commercial scale is testament to the success of plugs in the ground. It is of note that many varieties actively benefit from being transplanted as severing the

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot ...

encourages bushier root growth. Traditionally nearly all heading brassica are sown in a separate seed bed, thinned, and the best ones planted in a prepared bed after about 6–8 weeks. Many pests want to eat baby

brassica ''Brassica'' () is a genus of plants in the cabbage and mustard family (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus are informally known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, mustard plants, or simply brassicas. Crops from this genus are sometim ...

; this in combination with its long growing season makes planting brassica from plugs a much easier option.

Root vegetables

Root vegetable Root vegetables are underground plant parts eaten by humans or animals as food. In agricultural and culinary terminology, the term applies to true roots, such as taproots and root tubers, as well as non-roots such as bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and ...

s are typically, but not always, sown from seed, rather than transplanted from plugs, where they are to mature and then be thinned. The thinning action is highly beneficial in itself as it provides soil aeration at depth without disturbing adjacent roots systems. The initial concentration of seedlings also dilutes damage from pests and provided some food for the gardener or the compost in the form of thinnings. Beetroot, carrots and the root brassica family- swede, turnip- will simply not reach their full potential with any check to early root growth. In addition, these seeds are typically inexpensive, and the seedlings are delicate; hence there is little value to the gardener in buying or growing them as plugs.

Images

File:Starr 070906-8904 Solanum lycopersicum var. lycopersicum.jpg, Plug

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

plants (''Solanum lycopersicum var. lycopersicum (habit)'') File:Starr 070906-8903 Brassica oleracea var. botrytis.jpg, Plug

cauliflower Cauliflower is one of several vegetables cultivated from the species '' Brassica oleracea'' in the genus '' Brassica'', which is in the Brassicaceae (or mustard) family. Cauliflower usually grows with one main stem that carries a large, rou ...

plants (''Brassica oleracea var. botrytis (cauliflower habit)'') File:Starr 070906-8894 Lactuca sativa.jpg, Small plugs of

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae mostly grown as a leaf vegetable. The leaves are most often used raw in Green salad, green salads, although lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as sandwiche ...

(''Lactuca sativa (Manoa habit)'')

Overview

Plant cultivation and growth

Root vegetables

Images

See also

References

Further reading