thank you. I am trying to start hardening then today. It is suppose to be warn and cloudy today.

Ariel, because the seedlings are leggy, make sure you plant the seedlings very deep.

Ariel, cloudy, overcast days are the best for hardening off.

Also, after planting it's a good idea to shade the plants for 3-4 days.

Daniel_nyc - I have already planted some of them as possible in a 17oz water bottle.

@Seysonn - Today and tomorrow are both cloudy. It worked out as good timing.

Ariel, you said your tomatoes have not grown their first set of true leaves? How old are your seedlings and are you able to post a photo? Also what light exposure are they getting inside, number of hours and type of light. If they don't have their first set of leaves I would not put them outside.

Sharon

Sharon,

I planted the seeds 2 weeks ago (4/21.) Do not know how much sun they get per day since I am not home. I would say that they get at least 5 hours of direct sun a day, sitting on a window sill in the kitchen.

They have already been outside for a day. It was cloudy yesterday and its cloudy again today with light drizzle. They seem to be doing well. One of the tomatoes that I replanted and buried till the leaves have started to grow true leaves.

Took these photos this morning after they have been outside for a day. The second picture of them in a cup, show how they grew before I repotted.

Ariel, your ten day forcast looks great for NYC. Pictures really helped. I would put them outside right now. I don't think you even need to harden off as they haven't gotten their first set of true leaves. I started one variety really late by seed. I was already hardening off my other plants and the weather was nice. so when this variety germinated I set it right outside with the rest of the plants, which were getting a lot of sun by that time. When your first true leaves develop they will be automatically accustomed to true sunlight. It is when plants are grown under lights that they have to be acclimated to the stronger true sunlight gradually. And there isn't any night time lows in your 10 day forecast to worry about. After my seedling got it's second set of leaves and a bit stronger of a root system I set it out in the garden.

Jennie

On a side note. Am I starting my seeds late in the season?

My house is on the cooler side, due to poor insulation of the windows.

Ariel, you are probably a little late in getting started. Generally you start the seeds 6-8 weeks before your plant out date. A lot of people wait until a week or two past the last spring frost date for your area to plant out. Check when your last spring frost date is, add a week or so and count back 6-8 weeks. That is the recommended time to start seeds. But, by being a little later you are well beyond all those cold and rainy weeks we had in April and that is good. And the weather has warmed up so your seedlings will take off.

April 1 was my last frost date.

That would mean I started my seeds when I should have been moving them outside. I'll know this for next year to try starting earlier.

http://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/ny.html

Here's a good link Ariel that shows LFDs for cities in New York. You may be a little late getting them started, but they will grow much faster out in the sunshine than seedlings grown inside. You will still get a good crop, just a little later. And it looks like you have good weather into October. So you will have lots of tomatoes, just not so early. And your plants have missed all the cold and rain of early spring when early blight and other diseases can really take hold.

Jennie

Agreed with Jennie, just in time to get some production for this season, but sowe seed a little earlier next year. I'm about 15 to 20 min away from you in NJ, and to throw a random date at you, maybe try planting seed somewhere between the 1st and 3rd week of March next year. Peppers can be started just a tad earlier as they have a slower start and prefer warmer temps.

Actual plant-out will vary though, anywhere between May 1st and June 1st, depending on long range temperature forecasts and rainfall ... you don't want them flooded with heavy spring rain.

Keep us updated, and good luck too.

Steve.

I'm going to suggest that you go buy a couple of tomato transplants while they are still available in your area - just in case. The risks to these very young seedlings are quite high and I would hate to see you have to go with "left-over-over-the-hill" transplants or do without any for the entire season.

Dave

Agree with Dave.
You called them "PLANTS". in your opening post !! But they are just sprouts and too delicate and needs a lot of care.. A slug or other pests can eat them for appetizer :-)
Nurseries nowadays are selling many good varieties , both heirlooms and hybrids. To tell you the truth, if I new that the varieties that I want will be available in the nurseries, I would not go through all the trouble , starting from seeds. Recently I bough 3 plants. They were just as good as my own 7 week old seedlings. AND the price : just two bucks each.

Sey

Dig and sey,

I should have said seedlings.

I looked at some posts from last year. Something ate my plants near the end of may and I had to start over. There were still some good number of tomatoes that grew. My parents would say the same thing, to go and buy plants drum home depot. Even if they had the varieties I want to try this year I don't like doing that. I feel like its cheating and want to start from seed, even if I get less produce. This is the only way to learn and be proud of the work

it is not cheating. you buy elsewhere, and choose the very best … consider your are 'rescuing' it from the trash heap because it might not have sold, and had to be …. sniff …. destroyed.

dave [the other dave]

I mean cheating myself. Its easy to buy plants from a nursery or the best place and plant them. I want to be able to make the mistakes of growing from seed on my own and learn to live with the failure. This way if it ever comes to a point that I don't have the option of a local nursery or HD, I know I could do it all on my own and grow my crop.

Well, the advantage of buying some plants is that you can learn more about how to cultivate tomatoes if you haven't done it much before. If your seedlings go belly-up, you're done for the season, and you haven't learned much new about growing plants past an inch high. If you get plants at the store, then while you're eating your personally cultivated delicious tomatoes, you can still feel free to bemoan your seedling failures and think hard about what to do next time. By buying plants at a store you sure aren't making some commitment to that store that you're always going to buy tomato plants from them.

It might be "easy to buy plants from a nursery or the best place and plant them", but it might not be that easy to actually cultivate them and get tomatoes out of them.

@Dani - I grew from seed last year. Worse thing I will have less tomatoes grown and just start the seed out doors in pots in a week. I had to do that last year after some mystery bug or animal ate the top half of my tomatoes that I transplanted in the vegetable bed.

I was surprised to hear you say you had grown from seed last year. From the photos, the problems they reveal and the info provided I was assuming this was your first attempt to do this.

For next year are you open to suggestions and info on the how-to of growing tomatoes from seed before starting? It will drastically improve your odds for success. There is a fairly good how-to FAQ here and tons of info available on the Growing from Seed forum here too. All sorts of info on why to avoid using clear containers, how the size of the container needs to be kept relative to the size of the seedling to prevent root rot, and the effects of using poor quilty mix/soil in a container has detrimental effects. Plus many excellent step-by-step photo guides are available from online growing sites.

You are right that doing it yourself is a good way to learn but trial and error only is the least effective learning method when so much info is available from experienced growers. No need to re-invent the wheel. :)

Dave

Dig,

I got too eager with trying new tomatoes that I made a lot of mistakes that I read I should not be doing. I will look into the tips to learn more for next year.

I know that clear containers are not good because they allow light in. I made a mistake not looking at the pots outside and using them. They are black plastic pots, maybe 2-3 gallons. I used them tonight to replant new tomato seeds. Last year I was forced to replant everything at the end of may after some mystery creature ate my tomatoes. The harvest was still decent and I really want to try the varieties I bought.

I made the mistake of the clear cups. I watered them daily without thinking. I kept them on the water urn all day and didn't remove them, I used garden soil and im sure the list goes on.

Ending on a good note. My peppers that I started in a pot and small white container are doing relatively well. :)

A little update on the tomatoes. They are slowly starting to grow their true leaves. I think they weren’t able to properly root and thats why they are growing slowly. Thinking I should just transplant in the ground and see what happens. Does aquarium water help plants root better or its only good as fertilizer?

It is pretty late to be starting tomatoes but if you protect them late in the season you may be ok. I'm in zone 5a and we had frost last night. We've had snow on Mother's day one year and then frost on the first of September. The old farmer I buy hay from, who has lived here his whole life said there has been frost in the middle of June before. So frost dates are not set in stone. Make sure you check the frost forecast still. Also if you put clear plastic over those tomatoes at night and uncover it during the day you'll find they will grow better.

What does the clear plastic do to help promote growth?

I messed up this year on the start date and how I started their growth. Last year I was forced to start late after something ate up my tomatoes when I transplanted them in the backyard. I was still able to get a decent yield although a bunch had to ripen off the vine. Still worth it to be able to try the new varieties.

Heat retention, helps the growth of the plant. Remove it during the day though or it can get too hot and plants can burn especially if there is condensation on the plastic.

Hey, I didn't even get around to doing tomato seeds this year, had to go by some plants yesterday. Last year I had 80 plants in the garden and they all ended up with late blight, hardly got any tomatoes, was so disappointing. I lived in a 5b zone about 5 years ago and it was not uncommon for me to have tomatoes until Canadian Thanksgiving (early October). You probably should still get a decent amount and of course it does depend on the variety for ripening times.

Ariel, those look about right for seeds started 3 weeks ago. I would leave them in their pots until they get a little bit bigger and stronger. Transplanting them to the garden now might be a too much of a shock and slow their growth. Congratulations on their first true leaves! With the warmer weather, they will start to take off.