A photo would be helpful. I planted up my hanging baskets etc with bs and lobelia. the baskets are in my greenhouse , a plastic covered one but the boxes are out along the wall in front of my kitchen window. They have all doubled in size. I would not have thought it necessary to keep them heated once they are pricked out. We live in Scotland. If you water them too much you may rot the roots.

They are also hungry little puppies: frequent applications of dilute plant food are needed, especially in the coarse, well aerated compost they prefer.

I would be reluctant to start feeding them until I was sure they are growing. I would get them out of the heated propagator too ASAP. The only danger they face is from frost until after the end of May but they do not need extra heat. Start hardening them off by putting them outside during the day and bring them in at night or cover them with something like fleece in case of frost. The fleece will provide a frost free environment for the plants. Are you watering from the top or from the bottom. It is hard to know if the water is reaching the roots when applied from above. If you water from below, by placing the tray of cells in a contaire of water you will see the water come up to the surface of the soil. Keep us informed of their progress will you.

It depends on the nutrient content of the compost Kenho moved them to, Scotsgran. Some soiless mixes are so nutrient poor, a small amount of fertilizer is necessary to start growth.

I am concerned about the heat he is using. Is that necessary. He lives in the NE of England and it is generally warmer there than where I live. In UK I would say any bought in compost from a reliable source will have enough nutrients to see the plants start in to growth. It might be worth decanting aplug to see if the plant is making roots. If it is it should be alright but if not it is possible there was a problem with the suppy of plants in transit. They might have been frosted. If that is the case he will need to get on to the supplier.

In my experience, excess heat kills them outright, it doesn't just leave them hanging. Note than many reliable sources expect you to feed regularly as the greenhouse manager's manuals say to--whether you are a commercial producer or an average homeowner! : /

I did not know that Tug. So far fingers crossed I have not come across that problem. Mine just get on with it. If it was not so windy I would put my hanging baskets up. I think I will need to put them on buckets out of the wind so that they can start to harden off and get some rain. I do tend to plant in compost mixed with soil and add 6 month granules and water retaining crystals. They are probably getting the nutrients from that. I am not sure how many times you need to pot on miniplugs before planting them in their final home. I have never bought them but when I pot on seedling which I have sown I would not feed until they go in to their final home.

Well, theoretically, you could pot miniplugs directly into baskets, though they would still need some hardening off. I am essentially doing just that with some pine seedlings that I am turning into bonsais at work. The trick is not overwatering them, with that huge mass of unused potting compost surrounding their tiny little root systems.

I get lots of self sown seedlings in the garden. Mostly Birch and laburnum. I spoke to the lady on the bonsai exhibition at last years gardening Scotland. She said leave them to get trunks as thick as a pencil so i left last years birch seedlings. They do have the right diameter trunk but they are 2' tall. Do I cut them down now and repot them in the autumn. Is there a rule of thumb for deciding on the pot size depending on the height of the tree. I was very successful with cotoneaster seedlings several years ago and sold them at coffee mornings.

I understand that birch can make outstanding bonsai, but I have been unable to keep one alive in my climate! My experience with other species indicates that you will want to base the size of the training pot on the ultimate size of the projected bonsai. I.e., say you want the tree to be about 30 cm tall, and 20 cm wide (birches are usually trained as upright bonsai) the final display pot will be about 23 cm across (about 3/4 the largest dimension of the tree) and about 5-8 cm deep--I recommend the deeper pot for river birches, because of their higher water needs. The training pot should be abour 1/4 to 1/3 again as big as the display pot, so the young tree can build up a thicker trunk. In the early stages of training, the young tree is allowed to grow, then chopped down to, say, 10 cm tall, then allowed to grow tall, then chopped back to 15 cm, etc., etc., to build up the thickness and taper of the trunk. Constant pinching and shearing, as it is treated once it is in its final form, keeps the trunk from gaining much thickness. Once the tree is close to the size and shape you want--anywhere from 3 to 10 years later--it is transplanted carefully, with careful root pruning, into its display pot.

Thank you Tug. That is very helpful and I will definitely have a go now. Sorry for half inching your question Kenho. How are your begonias. I have just put a photo on the blog I did about my plastic covered greenhouse.I had my potted up, hanging baskets in it. They have made a lot of healthy growth in the last few weeks. They are ready to go out now.