Thank you for taking the time to reply. I don't have any other tomato plants with which to compare the seedlings. It is a bit silly of me to expect someone could tell by looking at the photos but thought I'd ask. I just didn't want to spend a lot of time that might be wasted if the seeds have been miss marked. I'm not certain what the term lower light stretching means. Could you explain the term so that I can learn.

The grow fixtures I use have four tubes, two of the blue and two of the red spectrum and are designed to use with seedlings. I also know to grow the seedlings right up against the lights. These seedlings just don't have the look of a dwarf to my eye. I grew them last year but didn't take any photos. The seed I'm using this year is from a different source. I think I'm expecting stockier growth than I'm seeing and as you mention, a different leaf.

My thanks again for taking a look.

Mary

I'm having a similar issue with my pearly pink orange. From what I understand, it's supposed to grow to about 18 inches and it's supposed to have a tumbling growth pattern. It's growing rather tall and lanky. I would blame poor lighting, but I planted pit viper (a dwarf that is said to grow about 2.5 feet) at the same time and it looks like a squat little dwarf plant. I have 2 pit viper and 3 pearly pink orange, and all are following this growth habit. I just planted the rest of my plants, all indeterminates, so it will be interesting to see how those compare.

your 'problem' is most likely due to growing indoors with insufficient lighting.. they will grow thin/tall fast if the light isn't strong or close enough. they are reaching for more light..
if you're using fluorescents the lights should be within a few inches (6 inches or under) from the plants or they will grow tall and not bushy. be sure to have a slight breeze from a fan just above the plant tops to keep heat from building up.

That's an interesting reason for running a fan over plants Stevie. Most fluorescent lights don't produce very much heat but there is still some. That and lower light reaching plants may be part of the problem. But Mary's Red Robin plants should only reach 8-12" and if they are already 5" tall they will far exceed the norm.

generally heat is minimal with fluorescent, but they can still generate a good amount of heat if the air is stagnate and not circulating..this was just a tip for getting the lights closer to the plant without causing too much heat to build up. with the lack of light you could get a potato sprout to reach 2+ feet in search of light, same applies to a dwarf plant. indoor plants need intense light.. on a bright sunny day, look up to the sky for a split second.. that is what plants look for and want...when they don't get it, they will grow tall and thin as they seek to be closer to the light source.. based on the height of all the plants in this thread, the main stem should be 2-3 times as thick and have twice the amount of foliage if the lighting was close to being adequate.

of course no light can ever be as powerful as the mighty sun is.. so the only way to try and give the plants what they want is to bring the lights as close as possible.. and by close i mean 2-4 inches if using fluorescent.

stevie, in earlier comments on this thread, I explained that the plants are being grown under a a four tube grow light fixture. The T5 lights in this fixture are designed for growing plants, providing the proper color spectrum for strong plant growth, and I do grow the seedlings right up under the bulbs. I do not believe the problem, in my current situation, are the lights nor the placement of the seedlings under the lights. The stems on these seedlings are sturdy, it's just the height of the seedlings that caused me to think I might not be growing the specific dwarf tomato 'Red Robin'.

I grew this tomato for the first time last year but didn't take photos so I've nothing to compare to this years growth. I began to question if the seed purchased as Red Robin this year is producing a Red Robin tomato plant so asked for a another set of eyes to take a look.

Thank you for your interest. I learn so much from contributors here in the forums. Your advice regarding the conditions for growing good strong plants under lights is spot on but I don't think it applies to this situation.

Mary

Here's a comparison between Red Robin (top right), Tiny Tim (top left), and Totem (bottom left).

-Red Robin is about 8" tall.
-Tiny Tim getting a little over 1ft.
-Totem seems to reach the limit of microdwarf, probably getting closer to 1.5ft eventually. It's producing the most flowers and probably will be most productive, and has a thick stem.

I don't know the taste yet, but based on the growth habit, I think Red Robin seems to be the best for space saving.

(Carrot leaves ones are Silvery Fir Tree, which is not a microdwarf and out of place.)