Hi Milwaukeeboy,
What a great project to do with your son. I wish you a lot of luck. GW has been the most amazing source of information for me - this is my first year and I am dumbfounded that I evidently have made no mistakes so far! At least that is what my seedlings are telling me. :)

Looking at your blog, I wonder how far away your shop light is from your seedlings. It looks like about 2 ft? If so, it might work out better if you could elevate your seedling trays - according to the experts here, the light should be 2-3" from the top of the seedlings, or else they will get very leggy and weak from reaching for the light. (I tried starting things from seeds years ago with my shop light not-that-close, and I got very leggy seedlings which ultimately didn't survive.)

People here also say that having the seedlings in small, individual containers is good once they have their first set of true leaves (after the cotyledon set) - perhaps you are already planning on potting up when the time comes. One thing that I found counterintuitive is that a narrow container is evidently better than a wider one, because the roots do better with a little oxygen and their roots will grow to the side faster. And like another newb who posted recently, I wouldn't have thought to bury the long stem when potting up - he thought it might rot the stem, and I thought the same back before GW educated me. And I certainly would have been overwatering my seedlings were it not for GW - killing them with all my "love". So I totally agree with you about how GW is a great resource.

Best of luck - keep blogging, and post some pics here every once in a while for those who don't make it over to your blog.

P.S. On your blog (or on this thread), post what varieties of tomatoes you are growing!

Varieties that have planting:

Lemon Boy - I had two of these plants last year and am absolutely in love with the flavor.

Sweet 100 - I really love these in salads and I always have good luck with them. We couldn't believe how small the seeds were :-)

Better Boy - not my favorite but I had a packet of seeds around (from 2003) that still tested 80% viable so why not.

Roma hybrid (I think they are Viva Italia although the corner of the bag is snipped off) my wife is a big roma fan so I had to start some of these too. This is another packet from 2003 (I guess I could be accused of over-thriftyness).

Nothing too exciting, although as I said I am really a fan of the Lemon Boy.

milwaukeeboy said:

"I guess I could be accused of over-thriftyness"

2003? Those are new seeds. I have successfully started tomato seeds that were over 10 years old.

For various reasons, I didn't have a garden the last two years and the two before that were munched heavily by mule deer. (Did not see any in our area all winter this year, and we are in an area where they will come too if things are bad in the hills. They like the farmer's alfalfa hay stacks.)

So I am planning a garden this year, and other than some seeds I ordered last week and a couple of late trades, everything I am starting will be from 2005 or older. So that is kinda normal for tomatophiles to be thrifty. *grin*

Great pictures on your blog and your son is a cutie. (I am a grandmother, so I am allowed to call 10 year olds cuties.)

If you can get those shop lights to about 2" - 3" from the tops of you tomatoes, they will do better, be less "leggy."

I see you have a fan there by the table, can you turn it on and aim at them? The air movement helps them grow stockier, sturdy stems and helps keep down the damping off and other things that result from poor air circulation.

Bets

Here is a link that might be useful: Thigmotropism

Bets and Cleo88,

Thanks for the suggestions. The plants were probably 4-6 inches from the light but we adjusted them today so they are 1-2 inches away.

I think we will probably pot up too, I was hoping to avoid this extra step but I am starting to get convinced, especially after reading the thread on that topic.

We'll keep you posted to our progress.