Do Not - I repeat - Do Not - use HPS for seedlings. They will add height and try to tell the plants to produce blooms - not want you want if you are going to grow plants that produce heavily this spring.

Personally, and you can take this for FWIW, I would stick the plants in the GH as early as you can (well, after mid March if you are in Zone 3). It won't hurt if the temps drop to 50 degrees - tom seedlings grow great in cool temps - they turn out short and stocky. For the cost of running 2000 watts of light 16 hours a day, you can easily heat a 196 sq. ft. GH overnight and on cloudy days and still save money.

If you are doing FMs, I would look at having some very early toms - I'm going to go with Early Wonder. And thanks to some people on this forum, I'm also looking at maximizing my space. Between each tomato plant, have a head of lettuce (plant it a couple of weeks before transplanting the toms) and grow them all under a row cover, giving me about a two week head start. By early June, the lettuce will be done but in a 250' row, I'll be able to grow 125 tomato plants and 125 heads of lettuce. Then in late summer, when the toms are starting to peter out, sow another 125 heads of lettuce. Same thing with peas and beans - peas in early spring and fall, green beans in the summer.

Once I looked at the idea, I found I can turn 15,000 sq. ft. of space into about 22,000, as far as growing stuff goes.

One other thing I'm looking at, to set me apart at FMs, is a theme - in my case, a purple thumb. Purple sweet potatoes, carrots, eggplants, bell peppers, lettuce, beans.

Best of luck to you! Maybe we can compare notes come October.

Mike

Hi, look into either 875W pulse start metal halide, with the Venture pulse start lamp, or 775 pulse start halide, using the 950 series lamp. I get my stuff from business lights dot com, and Jeff Jenkins is very helpful there. Each lamp will cover a 6 x 6 foot area, and you will also need a vertical type parabolic reflector, get the 4 foot one from horticulture source in california. for a large setup, HID lighting is better. The pulse start is the new technology - you get more better light, the lamps last much longer. for tomato and pepper plants, you can run the lamp for 18 hours and have it off for 6. literatures show these plant do better with that kind of regimen. also, you can buy a special PAR meter, which measures photon flux (instead of lumens, which mean very little). the PAR meter costs about 250$, but if you have a relative that is looking to give you a gift, ask them for a Hydrofarm photon flux meter, and the cheapest price right now is on ebay.