"Since we still have about 2 months to go, I just wonder what time is
good to transfer the seedlings to individual pots, or the larger trays
of cells."

Sounds like you started them way early if you still have 2 months to go. They are still too small to go into most pots but they can be separated and put into 2" cell packs any time now.

Dave

I used the 72 or so smell cell trays. They are bad, too shallow, dry easily. I may use my 38 cell trays, or the paper cups etc....

"I used the 72 or so smell cell trays. They are bad, too shallow, dry
easily. I may use my 38 cell trays, or the paper cups etc...."

Yep, see that, everyone has their preferences. I baby mine when they are just sprouts, so for me, the 72's are just perfect. The 72's are the ideal size to only allow enough time to end the germination/sprout phase before they need fertilization and space to really send down that tap root.

After the 72's, I am transplanting into 18's, and really, they only have 1/2" - maybe 1" more depth, so I don't see what I would gain. Besides, I like to transplant 3 times...

1 - from the sprout stage (72's), to the seedling stage (the 18's)...

2 - from the 18's to the deeper, individual 4" x 8" (approx. - I'd have to measure the pots I have ready for them)...

3 - to the garden.

So, just like all of us, you and I are just doing what we see as best at any time for our conditions. When we find something that works better... then it's time to make adjustments.

Sure we have our own ways. But it is still great to hear and learn about what else people do things differently.

The reason I do not like the small cells, is because they are shallow, and a pain to transfer. It is much easier to separate the seedlings from a loose flat tray.

When I transfer my seedlings the first time, I probably will try to find another large flat tray, just much deeper. The old darkroom trays should work well. Of course they will not be this crowded.

The other reason I use flat to start seeds is that, some seeds just won't sprout. So it it much easier to dig a trench and drop the seeds inside. I may dump an entire bag of seeds, and some are old.

I use cell trays with larger seeds, or the seeds I know are very fresh.

I use rgreen's method. If I have old seed, I will plant 2 seeds per cell. If 2 germinate, I get rid of 1.

John A

If you see my tray, you can see some entire rows empty. I have a lot of old seeds, and this year I empties like 20 of those packets of old seeds. Also, I started early, so I can restart the seeds if there is any problem with the seeds.

Here are some photos today:

I would definitely separate them at this stage. I would plant them as deep as I can so the stem will be under the soil. I usually plant them in individual pots. I have seen the other people planted their tomatoes in one big container and then separated them with dividers, whatever works...

For future reference keep in mind that there are deep-cell 72's available. Same for 48's and 36's and 18's. In fact there are so many different cell pack configurations available with various heights and sizes it can be difficult to keep them straight sometimes. Only thing they have in common is they all fit into 1020 trays. :-)

Dave

Judging from your last picture, they are ready to be potted.

Are you going to grow every single one of those ? If not then I will cull the extras and transplant the remainder without disturbing too much. Though separating at this stage should not be very difficult as the roots should not be tangled.

Sey

I didn't even realize there was a standard cell pack configuration. I wind up cutting them up anyway.

I have planted two to a cell myself and thin to 1. It seems like flats are going to stay wet a long time, and just be a pain to separate the seedlings. They almost all germinate, dumping the seeds in seems like a waste of seeds and space for the seedlings IMHO.

I pot up from cells to 3" pots. For tomatoes you can half fill them and just add more dirt right on top as they grow.

The ones on the left are very leggy IMHO. You should bury them deep if you keep them.

I do move them outside during the day, in the sun. The sun has not burnt them yet. I do plan to keep all of them. Last year I planted more than 50 tomato plants.

I'm going to separate them this week. I may make some paper cups as container. And use deep flat trays if needed.

I like all of your methods; Used all variations depending on conditions and circumstances. At one planting this year i have planted a few flats with seed rows oriented the longer direction of a 1020 tray, a few with seed rows oriented in shorter crossrows and one 48 cell tray with a few seeds of a different variety within each cell. Keeping good records and mapping each tray is important if you want to distinguish varieties and keep track of germination rates. I only caution those who use this method to allow older seed a few extra days and often it works better to group newer and older seed so you don't need to transplant individual rows (or cells) out of sequence.

Planting to larger containers is often dictated by space under lights. I ran out of space under my 26 shoplights and , as of yesterday , all of my first batch of tomatoes are moved into a greenhouse. Half of those will go into the ground of a high tunnel in a few weeks, a few will be potted up and eventually sold in gallon pots or larger and the rest will be recycled. I would not suggest that everyone follow my methods but when any single potted plant needs water more than twice a week it is time for me to repot. Even a greenhouse can run out of space quickly if you have a lot of plants in larger pots.

I use 72 cells to start my tomato seeds. Either in 6 pack or 9 pack configurations depending on what I'm planning. This year it's mostly 6 packs I'm using. I plant a couple seeds per cell.
When the seedlings are growing healthy- and usually having a nice amount of seedling stem- I use a teaspoon to scoop out the cells, split the seedlings, then replant them in solo cups. I use them set up as 18's in the flats. I like using solo cups because they are way cheaper than 18's around here, deeper than standard 18's, and I don't cry over losing so many due to selling and giving away plants.

I like planting small because I can control it better, and because I have limited sprouting space.

I used the small hexagonal cell tray stuff. Actually I used half of it (36 cells). That is because I had limited resource for bottom heating while germinating. Once they had their true leaves , I culled/ separated and potted into 4" pots.

At that point I started fertilizing (1/3 to 1/2 strength): My seedlings (Now plants) have a nice green colored foliage. They get about 16 /24 hour light.
Sey