I've planted several tomato varieties this year and began around the first couple of weeks of March. I have seedlings now about 6" - 7" tall. I have my lights on from 7 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. - so 15 hours daily.

I have already transplanted the seedlings into deeper cups (styrofoam coffee cups because these don't mold up) and so I buried the length of the plant up till the first few leaves. This way ensures the plant develops more roots. This is another way of course of 'shortening' them. In a couple of weeks I expect to begin hardening them.

The reasons that a plant can get too leggy is that the lighting unit is set too high above the plants. I don't know the exact height recommended for the lighting units, but I think you can investigate that further. Another thing to think about is how many flourescent light tubes you have. I heard, and I may be wrong, that the ideal no. is 3-4 light tubes. The more strong light, the more even light is distributed and so the less lightly the permimeter plants need to stretch to reach the light source. Plants will stretch just to reach out to the light source. So perhaps by lowering your lighting unit you may help reduce the speed of growth. Reducing lights is probably not a good option and I would still keep with the same amount of light period.

However once outside, I don't know how you could adequately keep plants short and stocky, especially those vining types. I think determinate tomatoes are more stockier and indeterminate tomatoes are the vining types-- however I may be wrong. While I know how to start tomatoes, I've not been too exposed to the various kinds available and am still experimenting on this.

Ianna

Some tomatoes grow tall, other grow short. Check out the variety that you planted.

That being said, what Ianna has said also is a great idea. Put them in pots, and plant them deeper so they develop better roots. I started mine last week, and they are up already over an inch. I will soon be putting them into larger pots, and then repotting again before I put them out on June 1, planting deeper each time.

Good luck. Some of my best friends are from the island. She tells me that one can get really good deals on housing there. Is that correct?

I did come across an instruction booklet which stated lights should be kept at 4" height above the seedlings. Hope this helps.

I usually pot my tomatoes up 2 or 3 times before I get them out. Each time I put them at the bottom of the new pot, so that only the top leaves are showing. Milk cartons are good for this, nice and deep. This develops the root system and resolves the problem of lanky stems.

Hey Rgvnewf:
I know what you mean. I am trying to combat the same problem as yourself. First off, go to the tomato forum. LOTS of knowledgeable people with great advice.

Last year I had my tomatoes under growlights (2 tubes) in my cool basment. The lights were about 1/2" from the tops. I got leggy maters.

This year I have them in a sunny window in a box with 3 sides lined with foil to reflect as much light as possible. I still have the light on them, and they are basically touching the tomatoes.The lights are on for about 18hrs a day. As long as they are well watered, they won't burn. Right now they are about 4-5" high. Reducing the light is a bad idea. The problem is not too much light but the opposite. The intensity of your lights are not enough so the seedlings are stretching out to try to get more light. Next year I plan on rigging up 4 lights angled inwards slightly with a reflective box to increase my light intensity. I don't have the funds to buy a proper grow light setup.

Although not as stocky as I'd like, they are thicker than last year. I will be removing the cotyledon leaves and planting deep as mentioned by others here, but then I need more room to accommodate the bigger pots. WHich is why I tried getting them as stocky as possible.
Another thing I tried was "supercropping". Crushing the outside of the stem (phloem) results in the tomatoes thickening the walls of the stem. It did seem to work although I didn't have the heart to do it to all my seedlings. They look so pathetic afterwards (droopy). Check out the tomato forum and do a search on "supercropping" for more info.
This is a bit off topic, but I hope you won't mind another suggestion. I have had great luck with WOW (walls of water). If you did use them you could plant out sooner and the WOWs would protect the seedlings from that wind you have while they're young.

Hope my experience in this area helps you out!