Sheltering your Garden Center Purchased Plants Inside

Garden Center Purchased Plants near Sunny Window

Have you been shopping recently and purchased cool season vegetable starts from your favorite garden center? Perhaps you also picked up a few blooming annuals and perennials. The tomato and pepper start selection was just too good to pass up, so you added them to your online cart and then picked up all your new plants curb-side. First, good on 'ya for supporting local businesses. Their selection will only get better in the next few weeks. Many garden centers and garden related shops and hardware stores are open during the shelter in place mandate, read here for locations and procedures for purchase.

You've brought your plants home and placed them in front of your sunniest window until it's the correct time to plant. You sing to them and let them know how happy they'll be once planted outside on your deck in a container or in the just built raised bed. All good except your singing voice (they don't know the difference between your pitch and Adele's) and they're starting to look a bit peaked. Oh dear ... "what are those flying objects around the plants?"

First, don't panic, your newbie plants should be just fine. Be sure you're giving them the correct cultural care. Place them so they receive as much light as possible, but don't let them bake in direct sun from a window. They might need to be moved back a little bit or try some kind of sheer curtain to reduce the harmful glare. Be sure to turn the plants often so they receive equal light exposure. If you have an indoor lighting system for seed starting, place them under the lights, they don't need to be really close to the lights like new seedlings. Use a timer and keep the lights on 12-14 hours a day.

Hardening Off Plants before Planting in the Ground

Two and four inch plants dry out quickly, water when the top surface is dry. Avoid over watering and letting containers sit in water, drain away any excess. If fungus gnats are showing up, my go to solution is to sprinkle some mosquito bits on top of the soil and water the plants. This biological product (sold in garden centers) will not harm edible plants, be sure to read the entire label for use.

Other ways to manage fungus gnats and other pest insects -

• Gnats like wet soil, avoid.
  
• Try thin slices of raw potato on the soil surface, the gnats will eat the potato and when you see lots, toss the slice, don't compost slices.
• Yellow sticky traps work to trap them.
  
• Neem oil containing azadiractin.

Don't forget to use a very weak liquid fertilizer solution every few waterings until planted outdoors.

Plants brought home from the garden center can drop leaves, turn yellow and generally not look as good as they did when purchased. This is common. Once they're hardened off and in the ground, they'll be happy as larks.