Actually unless you go weeks at a time with no sun such as in Alaska you are probably fine to leave the plants outside. If you do put them under the grow lights only do so for the same amount of time that they would get sun naturally. I cant imagine moving any amount of plants in and out depending on the weather, although I would if a hurricane was coming my way. I planted in 5 gal homer buckets so they move easy anyway, I am chasing sun down my driveway!

These are little plants in 16 ounce cups, being started for the growing season. I stick a bunch of them in a a plastic bin and they're pretty easy to move. Although they would probably survive outside, I don't want them to be stunted or slow their growth, as that increases the time before I get to eat tomatoes-- hence the babying. The lights are on a timer, so they may get a few more hours of light than they would outside, but will still get plenty of dark time.

Hi Jessica,

Your florescent lights will not "burn" your tomatoes. If they have been in any sunlight, they have already started to develope the thickened cuticle and growing their chloroplasts arranged to take advantage of the amount of sunlight they get outdoors. I've linked a great article that is in layman's terms below.

In spite of the fact that it is cloudy outside, your plants are getting more solar radiation that they would get from your florescent lights, so frankly where the light is concerned, I don't see a benefit to taking them in and putting them under florescent lights.

On the other hand, taking them in to avoid winds and heavy rains makes perfect sense.

Bets

Here is a link that might be useful: Hardening Off and Physiological Changes

Thanks very much for the information. I will plan to leave them out on cloudy but warm days.