Potting Up Tomatoes

The tray of leggy, indoor started tomatoes.  They have

good color but are definitely stretching for the light

I had started some tomatoes a while back and they failed miserably!  I attribute this to a few poor decisions with a dusting of newbie-ness:

1. I started them too early
2. I kept them too wet
3. I didn't "pot-up" or transplant

I love tomatoes and am looking forward to growing them more than anything so you can imagine how disappointing it was to have my first attempt at growing from seen fail so badly.  I did some research and armed myself with more knowledge for my second attempt.

I placed a small amount of home-blend seed starter
then backfilled carefully to firm up the soil

One important step that I missed was the "potting up" or transplanting to larger containers as they grew.  Actually, it's not that I DIDN'T do this, but I did it incorrectly.  Tomatoes will grow new roots from the step when you bury it.  When you transplant a tomato plant you can bury it right up to it's cotyledon (seed leaves) and it will kick out new roots from the stem.  This results in a stronger plant with more vigorous root system.  It also addresses the "leggy problem" that can happen when growing indoors with insufficient light. Furthermore you can prune the lower branches and transplant the plant very deep to encourage additional root growth.  Another method is to plant them horizontally and the buried part of the step will root.

A good 2" of stem buried and if these things do what
everyone says they do then it should root from the stem

So I took about an hour work work Tonight and transplanted most of my seedlings from their cell tray into 2.75" organic pots.  The process was rewarding as the seedlings were leggy and weak when in the cells, but after transplanting they just... looked healthier and stronger.

Once they were transplanted I watered them in thoroughly and put out for a bit of late afternoon sun. Now they are back in the safety of the growing room (my extra bathroom) and I will begin hardening them off over the next couple weeks.

Back in the grow room with 14 of light a day

By the way, I have included a link on my blog's "links widget" to a concise and simple article explaining in more detail the steps I basically did here.