Starting tomatoes indoors from seed

[Michael Wise]

I had planned on the 16th, but if it looks to close to call, a week won't hurt.

Geez, I almost hate to post this pic, but I said before I'd post the good with the bad.

They barely got any sun yesterday, and got zero today with the severe storms rolling through. They have been looking so good since getting full sun, but after the last 2 days look purty sad.

I'm sure they'll perk up with this nice weather the rest of the week.

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp32 ... 866ff7.jpg

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[MorpheusPA]

That's not sad. Not at all. They're huge! They just need a little sunlight to perk up a touch, like you said. They'll be fine.

[Michael Wise]

Lost 4 plants. I knew I would, but I wanted to experiment.

When I potted up that last time, I bought a cheap bag of potting soil. Thought it would be just as good as anything else. WRONG!!!

There was enough of a breeze, that it took 4 pots before I noticed a horrible stench in that potti........er......we'll call it mud.

It just did not smell good at all. I suspect not fully rotted compost used in the mix.

8 plants is still more than I need, so I decided to see what happens. They are in the compost pile. The roots had barely explored at all. And that stuff did not drain well at all. It was crusty dry on top, and a mucky, god-awful mess in the bottom.

Needless to say, lesson learned. If you are going to do it, spend the extra buck or 2 on good potting soil.

[MorpheusPA]

Yeah, get the good stuff. A name brand is often best, although some off-brands or no-names are also stellar stuff.

[Bavaria]

They look great nice stem diameter, I've grown ones that were leggy. Always grow more than you need anything can happen. I've had cut worms after transplant and had back up plants. Now I use paper around the base of the stem.

[MorpheusPA]

+1 Bavaria. But don't go insane about growing more...double probably isn't required. I have that problem with the petunia currently. I needed eight, started 36, and got 34 (this being my first year, I was unsure of what to expect). I'm tempted to give them away or risk planting outside early to get the space for the Teddy Bear sunflowers, where I need 15, and have 12.

[Bavaria]

Morp, off the topic have you had any luck growing impatents from seed? I have had problems with them. Also Rosemary.

[MorpheusPA]

I've never tried; I only use about 12 impatiens around the house, so it's easier to buy them than grow them--and I'm not particular on what gets used.

I actually prefer the basic, old-fashioned ones anyway, and I'm not married to color. Last year was a nice rose. The year before, magenta. This year, maybe orange.

[Michael Wise]

Gary, don't yell at me! I have a question about the color of my plants again.

Tomatoes are going in the ground this weekend.

I haven't fertilized in a while. I'll have to look back, to see since when.

I think I'm watering them right. I'll let the soil get dry. You can pick up the pot and tell it is time to water, and then I'll water them pretty good. Noticeable difference in the weight of the pot after I water. And the pots drain well.

My tomato friend up the street brought me some of his plants to try out. Anyway, here is a pic from tonight showing the color difference between our plants. His are WAY greener! I asked what he thought, but he wasn't really sure of why they were yellow. He thought mine looked healthy otherwise.

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp32 ... 7549ea.jpg

Well, I'm just ready to get these dudes in the ground and see a new color....RED!

I've got all my supplies for TW's secret planting mix. Shovel is ready to do some diggin'!

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[MorpheusPA]

That hardly looks unhealthy. How much sunlight are they getting a day?

It's possible there's a slight nitrogen or iron shortage there as well, but it's not showing in the leaf structure.

[Michael Wise]

Pretty durn close to sun up to sun down. I read where TW said that if they can have a break at about 4-5 in the evening that they appreciate it, but the garden was already prepped and ready to go.

The leaves feel and look nice to my inexperienced hands and eyes.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[MorpheusPA]

Not a sun deficiency, then. My bet's that they're tapping N or Fe (or both), and probably tapping out the resources in their limited soil as well (my bet's you're gonna find potbound roots again when you lift those).

Since we don't want to add N, if you have a bit of lawn iron you might put the tiniest bit in a spray bottle and treat them with it. Or foliar-feed just a bit of Miracle Gro as absorption will be limited that way and it contains some iron, too.

But wait for the tomato people. Suffice to say I'd be feeding hard if a flower plant looked like that (my sunflowers are starting to as they slowly outstrip their cups and get potbound, but we're close to hardening off at this point). For a vegetable, that's the wrong response and I don't want to overdo it.

[GaryCinChicago]

I wouldn't worry Mike. Like Morph noted - they're healthy!

(I'm not yelling, )

See I think of it like this. Lettuce, spinach, and the greens that people eat, you want the green leafs to flourish, because the leafs are your crop. With tomatoes, it's the fruit we want. And actually, it fruit to reproduce - because it is preparing for its death.

You are transplanting for the last time very soon. The sun light will produce chlorophyll along with any nitrogen in the soil - and it will green when it's ready.

Plus, just like grass, genetics dictate the leaf color. Like grass, they're not all the same.

[Michael Wise]

Thanks, Morph and Gary!

I AM a little disappointed that neither of you asked me what those little white things were on the top of the soil.

After my buddy dropped off his plants I thought, "Oh ****! Mine must need SUMPTHIN'! Look how green his are."

My wife had some shake and feed something or other in the garage that I started to put on them.

Then it was like somebody slapped me on the back of the head. WWBLD? Not start throwin' **** at them for no good reason.

Don't worry. I picked it out of the 2 that got it. I'm a slow learner. I got it now, though.

Fruit. Not leaves. Fruit. Not leaves. Fruit. Not leaves......

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Michael Wise]

Ugh. I was tidying up photobucket, and changed the name of the folder that all the pics were in. Didn't know it would destroy all the old links.

I'm going to try and edit tonight to replace the links.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[GaryCinChicago]

I AM a little disappointed that neither of you asked me what those little white things were on the top of the soil.

I just figured it was Perlite, LOL!

[Michael Wise]

Forgot to post this earlier.

My yellow plants don't look so bad to me now.

When my neighbor came by yesterday to give me some plants, he told me they were totally hardened. I don't know if I'm off on terminology, but I thought that meant I could leave them outside barring tornados and such. So I left them out with mine. Temps didn't dip any lower than normal.

When I got home this evening, the plants he gave me looked like sad droopy messes. I hope I didn't kill them. He's a great guy, and I don't want to have to tell him I killed his gifts.

I'm gonna try to baby them back, but some laid completely over, and the leaves look like soggy canned spinach now.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[MorpheusPA]

My yellow plants don't look so bad to me now.

When my neighbor came by yesterday to give me some plants, he told me they were totally hardened. I don't know if I'm off on terminology, but I thought that meant I could leave them outside barring tornados and such. So I left them out with mine. Temps didn't dip any lower than normal.

When I got home this evening, the plants he gave me looked like sad droopy messes. I hope I didn't kill them. He's a great guy, and I don't want to have to tell him I killed his gifts.

I'm gonna try to baby them back, but some laid completely over, and the leaves look like soggy canned spinach now.

Sounds like cold damage, which means the plants weren't fully hardened off...either that or they're bone dry.

[Michael Wise]

Fixed the links.

For anybody who ever does that, simply changing the album name back to the original name will fix the links.

[Michael Wise]

Sounds like cold damage, which means the plants weren't fully hardened off...either that or they're bone dry.

Not dry. I'll bet he was still carrying them in at night.

Is there anything I can do? Sun, water, and a slower acclimation to nighttime temps?