Honestly I can't imagine a situation where young seedlings could survive much less thrive without close attention for 2 weeks. They are mutually exclusive situations.

If you must be gone then wait to start them when you return. Otherwise it's a waste of time, energy, seeds, potting mix, etc. IMO.

Dave

i know, i know. i think it will be too late to start them when i return, though, so i might have to just buy seedlings. thanks.

Enlist a friend's help. I had to do that 7 years ago when my mother died. We were out of town for 10 days. My seedlings were already in the cold frame and I needed someone to monitor daily opening and closing of the cold frame and check moisture of the seedlings.

thanks, cindymac. that's probably the best way to go.

I had a neighbor water my tomatoes a couple of years ago when I was gone. I told her I would give her tomatoes when they become ripe and she agreed. Now she grows her own tomatoes seeing the benefits of home grown tomatoes.

Depending on how many plants you have, I would bring my tomatoes to the friends house and ask him/her to look after them. in your zone you could definitely plant them outside as well.

thanks very much to all! i am going to try Sey's suggestion of planting them out early. and if they happen to get hit by a late frost or otherwise don't make it, i'll just buy seedlings.

Sonya, In zone 7b/8a in vancouver, BC it is very very unlikely to get frost in May. Our LFD here is April 6th. But we get temps going down t0 37F up to mid April. But that doe not kill tomatoes, even without protection.

Like I said, get some of those cheap 3-ring cages ( cost about $3 here), put them around your plans, wrap with either clear plastic or bubble wrap. Your plants will grow even faster.

OK, so I planted my tomato seeds in Feb, transplanted the seedlings outside at end of April and wrapped the cages in plastic. Now it is almost three weeks later and I swear to god they have not grown one centimetre. They were very small to begin with - about three inches tall. But they are little stalwarts nonetheless. So, now I am wondering, do I wait and see if they will grow and produce fruit (as I watch my neighbours plant seedlings eight inches tall that already have flowers), or do I pull them out and buy some nice big seedlings from the store (I don't have room to do both)? Thanks.

Wow, that's hard to believe. I still have my young tomatoes in 16 oz. Solo cups (red) and even those are 10-12" tall. They were transplanted into those cups about 10 days ago when they were about 3-4" high. They have been on my back porch since the transplant and seem just fine. In fact I hope to get them into their final pots (10-15 gal.) this weekend. I wonder, could there be something going on in your soil? Are they getting lots of sun? Mine always seem to take 4-5 days (after transplanting) to start growing again - but never 3 weeks! Hope someone can help you out with that one.

Harry

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Sonya,

I don't know the condition of your seedlings at plant out. Here is my case :

--- sowed seeds Feb 21

--- Started hardening off March 28

--- Started plant out on April 5

Here is a view of my garden on May 16th.

Incidentally, this year we had a very nice and warm weather. And I never protected any of my plants after hardening off.

Sey

I am jealous of both of you - in the nicest possible way! I am wondering if I used lousy potting soil. All the seeds sprouted, but, as I say, they got a few inches tall and then stopped growing. Mind you, March was damp and grey - no sun - but April came and was like summer - and still they did not grow. An eternal optimist, I planted them outside April 30, wrapped them in plastic and went on vacation for two weeks. As I understand it, it did not rain in all that time (a neighbour watered for me), but it was not particularly sunny either, and temperatures hovered around 15C. Not great conditions for tomatoes. I mention the potting soil because I also sprouted cabbages and cauliflower, but the seedlings withered and died when they were still tiny. Hmm.

Its probably due to cold ground temps. Until soil temp gets to around 60F they are not going to do much.

What potting soil did you use?

Linda

hi Linda, i don't have the bag anymore. some run of the mill stuff from a florist.

Hi Sonya, I was just wondering if you used a medium with no nutrients, which might explain the slow growth. I tend to prefer soil less mix with nutrients because, even when I add my own fertilizer, my seedlings don't grow much.

Linda

Probably you are right, Linda.

I start my seedlings in my own mix (a version of 5-1-1) but I start fertilizing by about 1/3 strength liquid fertilizer when the true leaves appear.

At 6 weeks my seedlings were about 8" tall.

Sey