Another Pic.

And a third.

I just realized that my first post ended mid-sentence. I got distracted by the trying to include pictures.

I was going to say that I feel bad clogging up the forum for my personal obsessiveness but since y'all have been so kind to others, I couldn't help myself.

Thanks,

-Jon

Yes, somewhat leggy but salvageable. When you transplant them to the new containers - ASAP - bury all that bare stem in the soil. Then more light and cooler ambient air temps so they won't turn leggy again.

Dave

I think they look good, move the light closer to the plants to discourage "leggy" plants.

Hi,

I think your plants look fine for 10 days old. Do a google image search for 'tomato seedlings' and see what's typical and what's leggy.

Adding more light never hurts. If this is not an option, you can hang aluminum foil around your grow area to reflect more light onto the plants.

Cool temperature, adequate fertilization and fanning the plants also help against legginess.

Daren

Not too bad I think. Looks like you have cotys only. I like to wait on some true leaves before potting up. Others go sooner. I keep the shop lights barely off the tops, just not touching, and get great, thick stems. Looking good.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I was planning to pot them up anyhow so it's no trouble to do it a bit sooner and a bit deeper than I had planned.

In reading more about it, I think i fertilized too early (I had some dilute fertilizer solution leftover from some other plants and these guys got it right after they came up) and that it has been too warm in there (starting peppers nearby).

I'll get the seedlings (deeply) into the six packs tonight and try to improve the light, airflow, and temperature.

Thanks again for your quick responses.

jon

Guess I'm blind Jon. Sure looks like more than just cotyledons on most of those plants to me. :)

I always transplant at the cotyledon stage so I'll be curious to hear how entangled you find the roots when you go to separate them.

In case you don't already know this - when you transplant bury the stem right up to just a hair below the cotyledons.

Dave

PS: yeah if you already fertilized them it was too soon. Wait until the first set of true leaves has developed.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Thanks Dave.

Other places (books, websites) recommended waiting until after the seedlings had true leaves (or even a second set) before re-potting.

But this is all a big experiment for me and I am willing to take advice. I'll get them re-potted tonight and hope for the best.

I often think about how great it is that my little plants want to live and seem to do ok despite my mistakes.... But making fewer mistakes the first time around would also be nice...

I thin also they are somewhat leggy. The cause often is not enough light or the light source is too far up.

About transferring, I do when they have i to 2 sets of true leaves. This way they will have a better root system. But you can transplant with cotyledon leaves too.

The common recommendation you see for waiting to transplant until they have true leaves if basically for ease of handling without damaging the stem. Those inexperienced at transplanting young seedlings are often intimidated by the process.

But once you get comfortable with doing it at the cotyledon stage it has some distinct advantages for the plant as it triggers the development of fibrous root development.

Plus if you germinate lots of plants in one container - I usually do 20-25 plants in a similar sized container to yours - the roots can quickly get entangled.

Also keep in mind that overly warm ambient air temps contributes to leggy plants too. Shoot for 65 degrees max if possible.

Dave

I repotted. The roots didn't seem tangled. A few of them (ie. german pink) had more developed roots and i ended up breaking a few.

I tried to plant them quite deep and was harder on some of them than i would have hoped to be. They look a little sad right now but the first ones that i did are starting to perk back up so I think they'll be fine. I'll post some pictures in the morning.

Thanks for all of your help.

jon

Jon, your seedlings are looking great IMO - like others have said - keep the light an inch or two above the plant. I don't think they look a whole lot different than mine looked 6 weeks ago and you can see how they turned out and what they look like today. The photo shows the same tomatoes as they grew and were transplanted to larger pots. The photo does not show the seedlings in the 3/4" blocks but the photo was taken the day I moved the 3/4" blocks (seedlings) to 2" blocks.

I planted the seeds in 3/4" micro blocks which makes it easy to move to 2" blocks and then planted them in 4"wide X 5" tall square pots before going to the GH. Using the block method - I did not disturb the roots in any of the transplanting (except for a few stragglers seen on the 2" block). Leggy tomato seedlings are easy to correct when you transplant them up to their necks every time you transplant anyway IMO.

They aren't perfect but after 6 weeks we planted them in the GH up to their necks.

{{gwi:290170}}

This post was edited by Hudson...WY on Thu, Mar 27, 14 at 5:48

They seem to be doing fine. You'll see that some of them are deeper or doing better than others.

I am gonna buy a cheap fan and may end up moving them farther from the peppers so they can be cooler. room temps are 60-70 but it gets warmer than that under the lights even though the tomatoes are on the bottom rack.