I am only a second year grower myself, but I will tell you my opinions.

Yes, from the time of germination the seedlings need plenty of light. Florescent bulbs are fine, but the seedlings should be only a few inches from the lights. This should prevent the legginess (tall spindly plants). If the plants are leggy, you can always try to pot up. All that means is put the seedling in a larger, deeper container and add more potting mix. Tomato plants have the amazing ability to grow roots along any stem. All of the little hairs you see will turn into roots and give you a stronger root base. The fan is a good idea, but not on tall spindly plants. It might have contributed to them breaking. The fan stimulates the stem to grower thicker and stronger. Finally, I donÂt believe you mentioned hardening off the plants. That is slowly adjusting the seedlings to the outside world versus the inside world. Inside the temperature are fairly constant as well as the amount of light. The plants become accustomed to the pristine environment and is not prepared for the real world. They can get sunburn and windburn easily. Did your plant leaves turn a milky white color before the plants died? Hardening off involves placing the seedlings outside for a few hours at first (in the shade). Then longer amounts of time outside and then into the sun gradually. Takes around 7-10 days I believe of letting them adjust. After they are adjusted they are ready to go into their garden spot. I am sure that there are people that can and have the time to go into deeper detail, but hopefully this is a start.

I had about 3/4 of my seeds end up as viable transplants. This is what I did:

I planted 8 weeks before I might possibly set them out (reasonable "risky" date for me was April 25, the majority of them just went out this weekend (more to do with my school schedule, less with weather)), which was a little earlier than the books say you should start them.

I used jiffy peat pellets. I didn't bother with the plastic topper thing. I put the peat pellets in the tray, and then SOAKED them with warm water in the bathtub. I put 1 or 2 seeds per pellet (some I knew were old) and put them on shelves in our TV room (which is the constantly warm room in February). Although Feb 25 was a good start date for the peppers, I could have started the tomatoes on March 1, it got a little difficult to handle all of the plants (about 75 tomatoes) when they got bigger.

When the seeds came up I put the trays in south-facing windows, ensuring that all of the pellets got sun most of the day. The room has a lot of natural light (2 stories of windows) and I didn't feel the need to pull out the grow lights.

When the peat-pellet plants had 2 sets of real leaves, I transplanted them into 8 oz dixie cups with Miracle Grow Moisture Control potting mix. I removed the netting and then set the pellet on the bottom of the cup, filling the dirt until I got to the bottom set of leaves. I put the dixie cups in the tray, wrote the name of the tomato on the cup. I would probably use yogurt cups next year because the dixie cups got kinda icky after a while (poke holes in bottom of whatever you use).

I did put the plants outside whenever possible (the room is on a balcony), and I left them out in high winds and only brought them in if it looked like it would go below 40.

When the plants looked crazy in the dixie cups, I transplanted to clear 16 oz cups made from corn plastic-set them on the bottom, removed the bottom set of leaves, and filled the cup with dirt to the next set of leaves. It was at this state that the plants got difficult to move around, but by then the weather was nice & I only had to bring them in and out 5 or 6 times in a month.

The plants spent the last 3 weeks sitting on our porch, and shot up in size.

I "neglected" the plants - I only gave them fertilizer once, I only watered them when they were a little droopy, and I left them outside in rain and wind.

They've filled up the 16oz cup with roots, have thick stems, and many of them flowered a week after I set them in the ground (I planted some on April 25 and most of the rest yesterday).

I did do some in seed starter mix as well, and ended up separating duplicates - it was very easy to do, and I think next time I will skip the peat pellets and pull apart the hunk of seedlings when they're 2 or 3 " tall.

Good luck next year. :)

There is a great FAQ here with photos on How to grow tomatoes from seed. It will point out several different things you should try next year. Also check out all the great FAQs on the Growing from Seed forum on using lights, transplanting seedlings to larger containers, how to avoid over-watering, etc.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: How to grow from seed FAQ

There is an excellent article on starting tomatoes from seed already in the FAQ section that was the result of many experienced growers contributing to that FAQ.

Please go to the top of this first page, click on the blue FAQ link and scroll down to the article on How to Start tomatoes from seed.

If there are other questions not answered there about starting from seed, then why not just ask them here in this thread?

Hope that helps.

Carolyn

I tried the intensive planting method last year. Well, compared to the way some do it, it wasn't really intensive.

I sprinkled about a half dozen seeds into small styrofoam cups (which I am still recycling!) 2/3 full of damp potting mixm wrote the name on the cup, and set the cup in a plastic shoebox. When I had 8 cups in a box, I covered it with plastic shower caps from the dollar store (8/$1.00) and set it aside.

As each variety sprouts, I take it out and set it on a windowsill. I jury-rig growing inexpensive light contraptions when I garden in the winter, but start to put them away around the time of the Equinox.

The plants can hold in the cups for a long time. It is not mandatory to transplant at the two-leaf stage but I do begin the hardening off process early carrying them in and out faithfully.

Eventually I pot them up to individual small cups of their own and they start to spend the night outdoors. During this transition period, I carry them around in large translucent plastic bins and leave the lid on when the weather is cold at night.

The number one seedling secret I learned here at GW is that the seedlings don't like it warm. They seem to be much healther if started in a cool room. Also, as they get older, you can advance and retard their growth rate by adjusting the temperature of the room.

i did a supercropping experiment on some of the plants and they developed very thick stems, with no apparent harm to the plant. I haven't eaten the fruit yet, though.

jan

Here is a link that might be useful: supercropping

Thanks for the tips. I accually did try to pot up. Thats when most of the plants broke. They were just were too thin to do any thing with. I also harden the ones that were left. It had been about 2 weeks that they were out side for the full day. I'm not sure why the last few died they were doing fine out side when I came home one day they were staning straigt up but, the leaves were drooped over. I gave them some water that night thinking thats what it was and the next day I got home the leaf's were yellow. Even today they look dead but the stems are still standing strait up.

You still might be able to salvage those plants, but they'll need to be repotted immediately into some good potting soil, and moved out of direct sunlight. If you've put so much effort into growing them, it's worth a shot.

I grew tomatoes from seed for the first time this year.
I used this method:
http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/Tomatoes.html

It is really easy, and even tho I made a mistake - I somehow missed the step where you cover the paper cup with cellophane! - still I got plants.

If you don't wish to spend the money and time for lights etc, I recommend it.

ellen

Thank you Ellen. Winter Sowing, which is recognized by the USDA as a method, is the only way I will start tomatoes. There's no hardening off and there's no potting up. The seedlings have extensive root systems. Wonderful.

There are as many ways to grow tomatoes as there are tomato growers. (grin) I notice the original post was over a week ago, so most of the advice in this thread is probably a day late and a dollar short.... What is the status of those plants now?

"...they'll need to be repotted immediately into some good potting soil..."

I disagree. Potting up is stressful. Do remove them from direct sunlight if you can, keep the soil moist, DON'T FEED THEM, and wait. I am sure they will start new leaves, unless it was some disease (but it does not sound like it.)

Once the plants have some new growth, you can pot up if you feel they need it. Quite frankly, I feel that one only needs to pot up one time. To me more seems a waste of time and resources since the tomatoes do well with a single potting up. The key is not to start too early. I shoot for 6 weeks before plant out, and since I plant in "waves" some of the tomatoes are only 4 weeks old when they go out and a few weeks later, I can't tell without checking my records, which were planted first. Except for the cherry tomatoes, they are the last I plant.

Bets

Bets, normally I would agree with you about the stress, but as I understood gwhunter, the remaining tomato plants are still in Jiffy Peat pellets, placed in direct sunlight 8 weeks after he planted them, and have been outside in peat pellets for the last few weeks hardening off. Could a seedling with yellow leaves recover and grow new leaves in a peat pellet where it has been growing already for 2 months?
In my experience with Jiffy Peat Pellets, even with ideal light and water, they are never good for 8 weeks, and if the leaves start yellowing at that point, it's because the peat pellet is "spent" and the plant needs soil.
If I misunderstood, and the tomatoes were already potted up, then I agree, they should not be potted up again.

Hey euarto_gullible,

As I read back over the posts, I realize you are probably right, gwhunter did not mention potting up, though a couple of other posts did mention that they had potted up. Not easy to keep straight sometimes with all this gray hair. So....

gwhunter, if you have never potted those babies up and they have been in jiffy pellets for 8-9 weeks, remove the mesh, gently put the pellet in something larger (at this point even a 6 - 8 oz cup with drainage holes would be fine) and very gently spoon some quality potting medium around them. Water in.

I actually do remember my first year starting tomato seeds indoors. I think I did everything wrong that could be done. Started way too early (by about 10 weeks, meaning 4 months before plant out date.) Way to many seeds in each cell. No lights. No fan. No potting up. Having to tear apart the roots on the worlds leggiest seedlings with very few leaves to plant them out. Not planting them deeply enough (or trenching them in.) And that was at least a month after they should have gone in! But I did get tomatoes that year. Those abused horrible looking leafless plants made tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. So there is hope.

Please let us know how your mater babies are doing.

Bets