I sow my seeds into heated germination flats and transplant, when ready, into cell packs. This was how I was taught to do it in college, how I did it when working for a commercial business, how I taught hundreds of students to do it, and how I did it myself when I was growing thousands of bedding and vegetable plants. I still do it this way, now that I'm only growing a few hundred plants. It's efficient, convenient, and beneficial for the plants. I can sow 100-200 seeds into one plastic flat. I heat mine with heating cables buried into the germination mix. My successful transplant rate from the crowded germination flat is exceedingly high, probably 98%. Young seedlings don't falter for one millisecond due to this second step...rather, they burst into rapid development. I use a much coarser potting mix for the cell packs, to be sure. The cells I use are either 36 or 48 to the sheet, plenty big enough for a hefty, sturdy plant ready for the 'real world'. They can stay in a cell that size for several weeks, waiting for conditions to be right. I feel no need for a larger finished plant. The smaller ones catch up to the larger in no time, anyway. Why do I propagate this way? The germination medium is, by necessity, fairly fine textured (ProMix) and I absolutely do NOT want to grow any plants in that stuff for more than a few days after germination. The few flats that I heat take up very little space and once transplanted, I'll only use 9 or 10 liners filled with the cells. That makes it easy enough for me to take them outside during the day and bring them back in at night, if the temperatures are too low. Seedlings are much tougher than people realize. When grown properly, their stems are sturdy and springy. Though I sow them VERY close together in the flat, they prise apart very readily and without detectible damage. The filled cell packs will be pre-drilled with little holes so that the seedlings plop right in. I do one flat at a time, watering them in thoroughly with my misting nozzle when done. One thing to remember is that root systems will regenerate and regrow rapidly. This is true for all kinds of plants. As a matter of fact, root pruning is how we encourage a flush of new root growth in woody plants and houseplants. The fibrous roots of young bedding plants are not likely to cause the seedlings any problems at all during a proper transplant process. Here is a link that might be useful: flats and cell packs

This year im going to do canna, vine, canna, vine ect.... I thought with al's mix [ which I will be doing for the first time] being on the light side, and 6ft canna's going down my 200' driveway, I would get blow down. Maybe I wont. I don't think you will get any benefit from Al's mix with Cannas. If anything I think you will get reduced results if you aren't super attentive to fertilizing and watering with cannas. This isn't to take anything away from the idea of an open, well oxygenated mix, it is simply that cannas not only don't require it, but they do not (in my experience) do best in it. It helps to understand that cannas are marginal plants which puts them in a special category. Marginal plants are plants that natively occur either on water borders in soggy soil or in the shallow portion of water bodies and are constantly flooded. Once the tubers sprout they become water sponges and are heavy feeders. The way I grow cannas is to plug up the drainage holes, douse liberally with slow release fertilizer and then flood the container. Only after there is above mix level growth though. Save the open, highly oxygenated, fast draining mix for plants which will appreciate it (of which there are many), cannas are not one of them. Again, I am not trying to undo any learning you have experienced in regards to the role good root oxygenation plays. There are certain plants which are simply well adapted to different conditions and canna are one of them. Once above mix growth appears you can't over water. In fact they are a popular plant in ponds. You also would have a hard time over fertilizing. It is easier to over fert than water (which is impossible), but either one requires serious effort.

(Altadena Mara) Peach trees don't last that long so are gone in around ten to fifteen years, from my experience at least. A foursome of plum trees also died over a ten to fifteen year period. One foursome of apricots had two trees die. One of them that was left was especially good so I let them grow full size. A three some of apricots is hard to keep cut back but doable. In a three citrus, one sapote cluster, the sapote has grown four times the size of the south placed citrus but is trained away from them so they still are growing and producing. I wish I had not planted the sapote there, another citrus on the same rootstock would have been better, but the sapote fruit are too delicious to remove it. I have several threesome of fig trees which aren't doing that well, compared to individual trees planted elsewhere, are about half the size, but are still producing a nice crop of figs. Banana trees make their own foursome, given half a chance and a little time. I would suggest that if you have a favorite fruit, plant it by itself. If you moderately like several different fruit, fruiting over time, plant a three or four cluster.

I find that the biggest problem with transplanting into too large of a container is that the medium remains too wet for too long since the root structure isn't there to drink it up. That said, I don't think it will make much difference between 3" and 4" pots. I'd go for the 4" ones (or whatever you have already lying around). If you are concerned that the medium won't dry quickly enough, keep a fan on them and it will help dry things out as well as get them used to the 'wind'.