Hey Gardenwebbers,

I have found myself with quite the tomato conundrum. Last summer I planted my tomatoes in big pots on the deck, having no yard in which to plant them. In the late fall, as I was preparing my deck garden for winter, I discovered several seedling tomatoes at the base of my Mortgage Lifter plant that had been decimated by stinkbugs months before. Not having the heart to leave them out in the cold (and gleefully imagining all the tomatoes I'd have the following spring!), I replanted them in their own small pots and brought them inside for the winter. The logic was that if I kept them in small pots, and it being winter, they wouldn't really grow until I replanted them in the spring.

Fast forward to today. I now have two seedling plants that are the same size as they were when I planted them, two that are about 10 inches tall, two at 12 inches, four at 18 inches, and one three foot behemoth that is about to set flowers. My sunroom has been invaded, but in a good way! Most plants are in leftover plastic pots from last year about the size of a pasta sauce jar, with the big one being the only one in a 2 gallon pot. My conundrum is twofold. First is that they obviously need to be repotted. At the end of April we're moving to a place that has a wonderful area for a vegetable garden that ideally I'd plant them in, but can they hold on that long? I'd like to avoid buying pots since once I have a garden I won't need that many anymore, but is that the only way they'll survive?

The second conundrum is the trunks. None of the plants have very thick trunks and all needed to be staked to keep them from falling over and growing funny. I imagine this is due to a)small pots that aren't allowing for a large root system, b)wrong growing season, and c)they're indoors and haven't had the need to stand up to a strong wind. Is this something that will fix itself once it warms up and they take their first foray outside or once they're in the ground and caged? Can it be fixed by repotting them? Or am I doomed to wimpy tomato plants? I have to laugh that I could be avoiding these problems had I asked you guys to begin with, but now I know for next time!

Thanks for all your help!

Kelly