A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Transplanting question - size and timing?

I have Gaillardia Dazzler planted and it self seeded. Some of the new plants aren't in the best of locations, so I want to move them around a bit. The new plants are all different sizes at this point, because they started popping up at different times. I have some literally just shooting up and they are itty bitty, to others that have been growing for a few weeks and are a good size. Should I wait until the new plants reach a certain size before moving them? Does size matter when it comes to transplanting? Or is it just season/time of year that matters for when to move them?

I'm a still very novice and have never moved any of my plants around as the gardens are fairly young. Any advice is greatly appreciate.

You want to make sure the plants have at least one pair of true leaves before you transplant them. True leaves are the second set of leaves it grows above the first ones you see when it first sprouts. You can go ahead and move some of the bigger ones now and the others later or wait and move them all at the same time. The bigger they get, however, the higher the chance of shock when you move them, so don't let them get too big.

Thank you, that helps a lot.

You could splash them just a tiny bit with
some liquid fertilizer one day ahead, and one, two, or three days after for the transplant shock.. (maybe 1/2 strength...) and make sure the leaves get a splashing of it, so they can get a wee~bit of food until their new roots start...
Then no more... *I don't think they need much of that type of fertilizers*

Thank you too!