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It is important to consider that some crops do not transplant well. Generally speaking, root crops such as turnips, beets, radishes, and carrots need to be direct seeded. Gardeners usually do not benefit from starting fast growing crops, like peas, cucumbers and summer squash indoors as these vegetables directly seeded in the garden quickly catch up to transplants. Leaf lettuce and other leafy greens such as spinach, Swiss chard, and kale are easy to grow outdoors from seed. Direct seeding has other management considerations. You must have a properly prepared seed bed, especially for small seeded vegetables. Plants will also need thinning to produce healthier plants and improve yields by allowing room for proper growth, reducing competition for water and nutrients as well as for good air circulation between plants. When direct seeding, make sure you use good quality seed.
Be sure to select healthy transplants when visiting local greenhouses, nurseries and garden centers. Healthy transplants get off to a faster start in the garden with fewer pest problems and reduced time until you reap a bountiful garden harvest. It is important to purchase plants from a reputable source such as an established greenhouse grower or garden center. A company that has been doing business for many years has built up a good reputation by providing a quality product.
Select disease resistant plants. Many improved vegetable varieties are bred specifically to resist particular diseases. This is important information if you want to grow healthy plants. You can choose varieties that are resistant to common diseases. These disease resistance codes are listed on seed packets or transplant labels in capital letters and each capital letter stands for a particular disease or pest. For example, the 'Better Boy' variety of tomato has the letters "VFN" on the label. This means 'Better Boy' tomatoes are resistant to Verticillium and Fusarium wilts as well as nematodes.
Do a little homework before you go plant shopping. For example, if you love tomatoes and need information to discover which tomato varieties are going to work for your garden, Cornell University's Vegetable MD Online offers comprehensive tomato disease resistance tables as well as information for other vegetables.
I always tell gardeners to select sturdy, stout plants with deep green or appropriately colored leaves. Tall, leggy plants do not adjust as well to garden conditions. Closely inspect plants for signs of insects, diseases or poor care. Avoid plants with leaves that are dropping, wilted, curled, spotted or have holes or brown leaf edges.
Check the stems for lesions or discoloration which indicate the presence of a disease. Pull a few transplants from their containers and inspect the root system. Avoid those that have a tangle of roots encircling the root ball. Also, make sure the roots are white and fibrous - avoid plants with brown or black roots.
Extension also recommends to remove flowers or any developing fruit on plants. Flowering transplants will use up their energy on flowering and forming seeds instead of developing roots. This may surprise you, but your new transplants will reaps the benefits. Young transplants are going through quite a shock going from the greenhouse to outdoor conditions (wind, pounding rains, extreme heat) and plants without flowers will adjust to their move more readily than those in full bloom.
Finally, even the healthiest transplants with the best handling will experience some root damage at transplanting. Until they get their roots established, the tops won't grow. To promote rooting, give plants a dose of high-phosphorus fertilizer at transplanting. Phosphorus is the most important nutrient for root growth. Contact me at the Wood County WVU Extension Office 304-424-1960 with questions. Good Luck and Happy Gardening!