If you can't have someone look after them, they'll be better off in the ground, watered well before you leave and well mulched.

Re: fungicide--All of the fungicides available to home gardeners for edibles are mostly preventative and therefore should be use before disease sets in. Some people wait until the point in the season when they know disease will start showing up. Others will spray from day 1 of plant-out. Your call. I personally start spraying with a biological like B. subtilis or B. amyloliquifaciens formula from day 1 of plant-out and add organic copper to the rotation later in the season when disease pressures climb. I only use Daconil if late blight is reported in my area. That's just my personal preference. But I do start spraying something preventively immediately.

As long as the plants are properly hardened off to the sun and you use the correct dilution for your fungicide, it will not "shock" the plants in any way.

Two weeks in may? Tough. It really depends on the weather. Normally may should be quite warm and not so rainy, you could get little rain and your plants would be gonners. Someone watering them well after one week should be ok at their small size.

I guess what I would be concerned about is the fragility of recent transplants. If I had my tomatoes in the ground for a few weeks, they might survive a while with heavy mulch and one deep watering. But plants just dropped in the ground have inferior root systems. When I plant things out, they want to be watered every few days for the first week or two.

So yes, they might be better off in the ground, but not a lot better off.

I don't really have anybody that would be able to look after them- likely. Hmm. Well, I guess maybe I should put a sprinkler on our watering system and stick them down where it works in their pots. I didn't want to have to do that, but you get out of it what you put into it I suppose.

Thank You everyone. And as regards to the fungicide- they do not have any problems as of yet, but our garden is very prone to fungus, so I was considering spraying from day 1 just for the sake of preventative. I'll test it on one plant just to be sure, and spray the rest as long as there is no chemical burn, etc.

If you're already going to invest in a timer and expanding your watering system, which I think is a good idea, I recommend getting irrigation drip tape instead of a sprinkler. Less wasting water and better for the plants, too. And you'll be able to use it all season long to make watering much easier for yourself.

As for Daconil, it's very safe for tomato plants and doesn't cause foliage problems AT THE CORRECT CONCENTRATION. And make sure your plants are properly hardened off before putting them out in the sun, period, whether you spray them or not. You also need to make sure you shake the bottle very very well before mixing it up. But a test run is never a bad thing when you have the time.

Re: watering--if the plants are mature enough (EDIT: by which I mean standard-sized tomato transplants vs. underdeveloped ones that can't be planted deeply--I don't mean "mature" as in established and flowering/fruiting) and planted deep and well-watered and well-mulched, they should in no way require daily watering IF temps are moderate and a decent amount of rain happens at least once a week and IF your soil is fairly water-retentive loam-clay.

Aside from the initial watering, I often don't water my tomato plants at all except for rain and fertilizing until later in June. There's no way I would need to water small new transplants daily. It would utterly waterlog their roots in my location and soil. What gives me pause is your location, which I assume is very different from my conditions. I still recommend drip irrigation.

Good to know, re Daconil. My soil is pretty water retentative, and the only vegetables I do water in my garden in that once a week or twice a week period (assuming no rain) is the leafy greens, largely composed of water, thus making them taste better. Right now our temperatures are only in the 60's, and the forecast shows them to be around the low 70's while we are gone with only a day or two maybe in the mid to upper 70's, so I'm not concerned about heat at all. They will be in full sun. I'll have a look at our watering system and see what we can do. I'll get back to you guys a little bit later here.

Exactly, Dan. Temp/weather and soil are everything when it comes to watering frequency.

I use the aspirin spray to jump start the immune system. I alternate with dacronil. I spray the plants as soon as they go out the first time.,usually around 3-4 weeks of age.

I have nothing to add about the watering, but thanks for the tips on daconil -- I'm very prone to fungus and want to start using it from plant out. I have some old (2 years?) concentrate, so I'll have to make sure I mix well.

Good news! Apparently my aunt is coming to stay at our house while we are gone to watch after the animals, so she can keep an eye on my tomatoes for me. It all works out in the end I suppose.

That's great! Having someone there in case the tomatoes need watering is really the best thing.