Last year I started my indoor seeds a little late and I was jealous that my neighbors had tomatoes almost a full month before us. I have… overcorrected this year.
I started my seeds indoors about five weeks ago and they are going like gangbusters. I already have up-potted into solo cups, and, as you can see, they are ginormous and already putting out fruit!
I know I need to transplant these like, yesterday, but we’re still not out of the frost danger zone here in Michigan. The 10 day forecast looks ok (lowest low is 39F) but you NEVER know in the mitten. I don’t have enough big pots to hold them all (I’ve already transplanted four tomatoes into the big pots I had). Do I risk it and put the remaining seedlings in the raised bed, or do I let them ride it out another week or so in the solo cups?
by Peter-Rabbi
12 Comments
pot up and pinch off flowers, a couple hours at 40 degrees outside and they’re gone
They look great! I would just transplant them into something larger until they’re ready to go out. I do stuff like that a lot, and never had a problem.
Tomatoes can’t really handle temperatures below 50F. In addition to that, the soil needs to be around 60F.
5 weeks and it’s that big? Mine are nowhere close to that big in 5 weeks time. I usually start my tomatoes 5-7 weeks before the planting date. That said, I do it in regular meh conditions, without any heating or special light, just sitting near a south facing window.
I did develop an algorithm to help me remember planting dates and indoor starting dates which works fairly well. The calendars for american gardeners are bad for my climate, because there’s really nowhere in the US that is similar: Rarely below 45F, rarely above 85F. Technically I’m a 10A with the average temperatures of a 6B or something like that.
I’d try to find a bigger pot and wait. 39 is quite low for the tomato’s liking, and what’s one more week?
I’d keep it in the pot rather than up potting again and risk damaging the roots or shocking it. It seems to be doing fine in the solo cup; there’s enough nutrients to fruit.
I’d also refrain from pinch the first flowers. Your goal is to have tomatoes now, so that seem counter productive.
If you’re in the market for buckets 1-gal or 5-gal buckets from the hardware store plus a few holes drilled in the bottom has worked great for me
Meanwhile i planted my tomatoes a 2 months ago and they are all 3foot tall or more. *Laughs in zone 10b*
She’s also got a few suckers and low hanging branches that you can pull.
https://preview.redd.it/cgksjeyweywg1.jpeg?width=1206&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2187c222ff79307b9f51043152707118b4a0e08b
This was me last year.
I ended up taking the bottom leaves off and burying them quite deep. They were absolutely fine!
Holy cow. they get this big in a solo cup?!! Mine are in solos right now and getting huge. I’m running out of space in my greenhouse. Can’t uppot yet.
https://preview.redd.it/t19r1oebhywg1.jpeg?width=1530&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c59cbadc3453c80bfcb027e47884965ffe2545da
Same
If you can’t transplant right away, limit light and put them in a slightly cooler spot. Don’t feed them
You can hold them for a bit longer that way.