which seedlings do I need to repot?

[raabfarm]

I have the fortune of having a basement that stays cool and has a good western exposure for afternoon sun. After the second leaf appears on both tomato and pepper seedlings, I re pot and move them to the racks I built in front of two west windows in the basement, add a 48 inch fluorescent fixture with 5000k to 6500k bulbs. This all keeps the plants from bolting. I learned of this after doing research when my elderly mother said "you better put them seedling in the basement". I am in zone 4 so my started plants need a lot of indoor time before they go in the garden which is usually the first week in June. After many years of raising spindly overgrown plants in the south window, I have been doing this for several years and have had tremendous results. Started peppers this week, 190+ of 6 varieties with the plans to sell a few

last season in da basement

 

[Dave2000]

Repot if your original pot is too small to support good root growth up to the point when it's time to transfer to their final pot or ground location. In other words use the biggest pots you have room for where you're keeping them. The later you start the sprouts the fewer repots you might need.

I usually go from ~1 cup to sprout, to 3/4th gallon plastic coffee containers or equivalent sized pots, then to ground or final pot. If using the coffee containers I recommend slitting them all the way down opposite sides ahead of time and tying string around the top of the container, otherwise it's a bear to get the plant out later. Once these are in 2/3rds gallon containers they are moved out of the grow light area and a second round of sprouts goes directly from 1 cup pots to ground or final pot.