Linda, a nice feature of leggy tomatoes is that you can repot them into a bigger pot and bury them up to the lowest set of leaves and, voila, they are no longer leggy. Keeping them in a cooler area will also slow down their growth and that would probably be a good thing if you've planted them too early.

Chris

I second what Chris said about transplanting them deep. If they're 4" tall with multiple sets of truw leaves, you could probably bury them deeper than the bottom set of leaves and they would be fine. But if you've been growing them under lights in your basement and the temps there have been cool, I'd examine how close they are to the lights. They may just be too far away to be getting any effective light. I like mine an inch or less below a fluorescent bulb to keep them from getting leggy.

Me too (or is that me "three") :-)

Linda, I can't remember whether you were at the plant swap last spring or not, but if you were that's exactly the way I handled those big tomato plants that I brought to the swap. I moved them to 6 or 8 ounce cups the first time (buried up to their ears) and then (most of them) to 12 or 16 ounce cups the second time. It works great. They will grow roots all the way along the buried part of the stem and will be nice healthy plants. Putting a fan in the room seems to help too. I had read that brushing your hands across them every day or so would help make them stronger (simulating wind, I think) so I just put a fan in the room. Another hint that I will try this year... there is a very nice nursery right outside of Owatonna, that does veggies and annuals only and they grow all their own seedlings. There was an article in the paper about them this spring and they said that tomatoes grow stronger plants if kept a little 'thirsty'. It's hard for me to keep from watering but I'm going to give it a try.

Hi linda
There right, when I worked in at gertens we would bury the stem, have fans running, when they got to big after transpalnting even let them dry out so much they would wilt for a couple of days.. when they get older they are very strong they can handle alot.

Thanks, everyone! I repotted them last night into 4 inch pots and buried them as deep as I could. Am going to put them outside in the sun today for several hours.
These are "Brandywine" and "Mortgage Lifter" varieties. Anyone have any experience with these? Hope they are tasty!

Linda

Brandywine is nice - *grin* I do heirlooms too but not very common ones. Oh and whoever had the Costoluto Italian seeds at the swap? I got some and the seedlings are doing beautifully - all those seeds were very properly preserved! I have 12 or 13 different varieties of tomatoes going right now and all but one are heirlooms of one type or another. No "Mortgage Lifter" or "Brandywine" - I grow "Caspian Pink" to fit both of those positions. "Mortgage Lifter" takes some good light to get them to fully ripen, and be careful of splitting. They really do get HUGE!

Have fun! Tomatoes are a challenge and so rewarding!

-Marie