A Buyers Guide to Buying Plug Plants Online

Buying plants online has never been easier now that plug plants are so readily available and cost effective. But what should you be considering when buying plants on line and will the plants delivered need any special attention.

Plants by post is nothing new. There have been plants for sale offered in magazines for many years. Mail order plants were delivered at the start of the season as small but well developed plants with their roots wrapped in wet newspaper and hopefully well protected in cardboard boxes. Soaked in a bucket of water for a couple of hours and planted out into a well prepared bed they soon established and provided good sized plants and colour the first summer and autumn.

What has changed is the technology for safe packing and of course a personal computer in the majority of homes. Buying plants on line includes a great selection of perennial plants of a size that you can buy at a garden centre as well as the smaller and cheaper versions perhaps best described as plug plants. Even trees and shrubs can be ordered on the Internet for home delivery. There was a time not so long ago that roses were all bought bare rooted which meant planting at the end of winter or early spring. Nowadays you can still order bare rooted roses which are cheaper to buy but most people shopping at a garden centre or nursery will buy a rose already established in a container. Both options are also available to those buying plants online.

But what do you do if you do not want to buy established plants but, for example for cost reasons, you would like to grow your own annuals and perennials from seed but do not have the right facilities? If growing hardy annuals you could of course wait until the ground has warmed up and direct sow and thin out the resultant seedlings. That is fine if you have the ground free, you may after all have planted winter pansies for winter and early spring colour and not wish to clear the ground before they have finished their show. Treating hardy annuals like half-hardy annuals and perennials you can sow the seed in a tray and germinate them in a warm place and maybe prick out the seedlings to grow on in a cold frame or windowsill. Very doable but attaining and maintaining the right temperature for the germination of all seeds may not be that simple. There are many people who struggle to get fibrous begonias to germinate and there are others that have the same problem with impatiens.

This is where plug plants come to the rescue. Modern technology and new packing materials and methods enable growers to offer online plants that can be sent mail order safely and, because of mass production methods, at a very affordable price.

When you have decided on the plug plants to buy online and placed your order what do you need to do when get plants delivered? Plants by delivery overnight should not present any problems but there are things to do to ensure the good health of your plug plants.

Remove the trays of plug plants from the cardboard delivery box. if you have ordered more established plug plants they may be in plastic root trainers and not trays. The process is the same, make sure that the compost has not dried out but if it has rectify the problem as quickly as possible. Leaving the young plants in dry compost for too long will at least make them struggle to produce good healthy plants but there is every chance they will not survive at all. They are your babies and are totally reliant on you and the care you give them. Stand the tray in a shallow tray of water or gently spray them. One the compost is wet allow it to drain and keep the plug plants in a well lit and draft free position.

As soon as possible pot on the plugs, evenly spacing them in seed trays filled with good quality compost as you would when sowing from seed and pricking out, or into individual pots of suitable potting compost. Water in well, drain and do not water again until the compost is almost dry. Young plants such as plugs hate having their feet sitting in water, the roots will just give up and your plants die. A word of warning, do not pot on the plug plants if their compost is very dry. For the best chance of success water the plugs one to two hours before potting up.

Keep the potted on plants somewhere where they will not be sitting in a cold draft. A greenhouse is perfect, a cold frame ideal and a windowsill fine but if you have a large sill where it is possible to close the curtains do not leave the plants between the closed curtain and the glass. They will be in a position during the night, that should it go very cold, they will be severely chilled by cold trapped air.

After three to four weeks your plants should be large enough to plant outside but do not do so until all threat of frost has passed. And before planting out harden off the plants. Do this by leaving the greenhouse door open during the day, cold frame lid open during the day, or putting them outside in the day and bringing them back in at night. You will soon see a difference in the plants that will have a sturdier look rather than looking very soft stemmed.

So is it better to buy seeds and sow them yourself or to buy plug plants? Both methods are acceptable and both need the gardener to provide adequate care and attention to produce good quality plants for the garden. In fact, regardless of whether a gardener has the facilities to germinate seed and a greenhouse to grow the plants on, it can be beneficial for the gardener to grow certain plant varieties from seed and buy plug plants delivered ready to grow on for a superb summer bedding show.