Use this technique to grow the healthiest tomato and pepper plants!
The need to pot up plants depends on the specific crop, your climate and the vagrancies of the particular season. Many crops can be germinated in shallow flats (plug trays, soil blocks, open flats) and then moved directly into the garden. The most commonly potted up plants are heat loving and very cold sensitive crops such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. A standard procedure would be to germinate all crops in shallow flats, choose the healthiest individuals from each variety for potting up and graduate these to 4” pots or larger for continued indoor grow out. Almost any crop should be ready for outdoor planting directly from a 4” pot unless you start your crops incredibly early in the season, at which point potting up into gallons might be necessary or desired.