When Should I Pot Up Seedlings?
Pot-up dates belong in a capacity plan as editable assumptions. A calendar cannot observe your roots, growing medium, variety, or conditions, so it cannot guarantee a biologically correct pot-up day.
Try your own numbers
Start on 2027-03-14 for 48 consecutive stage days
Check the whole seasonUse your own growing guidance
Choose an initial pot-up estimate from the seed supplier or reliable crop-specific guidance, then adjust based on your own plants. This page does not give universal biological timing. In the planner, the start of each new container stage is the planned pot-up date.
Give flexibility explicitly
If a stage can reasonably last 18 to 24 days in your conditions, enter that range rather than letting the solver invent it. The repair tool may only use allowed durations. Do not create a wide range solely to make the numbers fit if the plants could not tolerate it.
Reserve the larger footprint first
Pot-up is often when the shelf becomes crowded. Count how many larger containers fit on a carrying tray. Changing from 72 cells to 12 pots per tray multiplies the footprint for the same quantity of plants. Hardening-off space may then need that same larger footprint.
Worked example
48 plants in one 72-cell tray can become four standard tray spaces when 12 larger pots fit per tray. The larger footprint starts on the pot-up date, not the sow date.
These calculations describe space and time, not guaranteed plant performance. Use your actual equipment and crop-specific growing guidance.