I have read that you should wait at least until they have their first set of true leaves. Mine are just developing theirs and I plan to transplant (pot up) once their true leaves are a little bit more established. I am guessing that will be in a week or so.

How many plants do you want? I would thin down to that number now, and prick them out in a few more days. Use a spoon to lift them out. Like squash seedlings, they have surprisingly big root systems.

planatus, space is not an issue. I live on 5 acres with not much space being used.

Here is what mine look like at 3 weeks old.

Nice leafs!

Beautiful. Mine are doing well on my window sill now. I will transplant the young seedlings in a week or two. One can never have too many artichokes. I let some go beyond the bud stage to save for seed collection. The flowers are gorgeous and now I will grow some plants specifically for vases.

chevril2-when do you set out your artichoke plants? This is my first year growing them and I am getting conflicted info on when to set them out. The extension office says four weeks before last frost, but other sites say after all danger of frost has passed!
Here is a pic of my seedlings now, they are growing so fast!!

That looks great! I really need to get mine into bigger pots now.

stuffradio-they seem to have really exploded in growth since I transplanted them into their individual pots in better soil.

The conflicting info on when to transplant outside may involve the cold treatment some people suggest.
Johnny's seed catalogue says "Time transplanting so plants receive 10 days of 45-50F temperatures to induce earlier budding."

I grow my seedlings in an unheated greenhouse so I don't find the need to worry about this. If you have them in a warmer environment, you may want to try it.
I usually put them out when the days have warmed and most danger of frost has passed. A little frost never seemed to be a problem. I have found that if they go out before the soil has warmed, they just sit there and can act as slug bait.

Yes, the annual figuring out the vernalization of the artichokes is nearly upon me here. Next year, when the cold frame is up, I hope to have it simpler, but right now I need to go figure how cold they can stand so I can start carting them in and out. Might be time to pot up the largest too.

Sunnibell your seedlings look great. So in my zone ,6a days will be warm in April but have been known to get significant snow in April too.

Here's a good page from Virginia Coop. Ext. which I don't know why I never found before. It has a lot of information, including what I was looking for, low temperatures. Thanks for the compliment!

Here is a link that might be useful: Artichoke Cultivation Virginia

Sunni thanks for the link, I have actually read that one before, so I am guessing I will plant out around the second week of April and keep my fingers crossed :)
You mention potting up again, I have my seedlings in 3 inch pots and was planning on not potting up again, do you think that will work or will I need to pot up to even bigger pots before April?

Hmmm, not sure. Mine would be going to the larger cups because I am trying to push them larger with more fertilizing than I normally give young plants since I want them as large as I can get before midsummer. The bigger cups are roughly the size of your 3 inch pots, just shaped a bit different, but I will be putting mine out sooner than you I think... I guess check them in mid March and if they are becoming root-bound consider potting them up. There was a picture on that page that showed the optimum root mass:soil ratio at planting out to give you an idea. Cheers!

Sunni-this may be a dumb question but how can you tell if they are root bound since they are in pots?

If you've never done it before, how could it be dumb? :)

Basically you have to gently slide one out of the pot to see. If it is rootbound it will look like a basket of roots, like just about every plant I've ever transplanted from a purchased 4-pack. If it is fine, you'll see some roots at the edges, but the dirt is still a bit loose. If it has a way to go you'll likely end up with a pile of dirt in the palm of your hand, which you will need to slide back in with the plant. Cheers!

Just wanted to show my fellow artichoke growers the progress of my seedlings. Here they are at six weeks...Let's see yours!

Here are mine. Not growing nearly as quickly as yours, but the real leaves are starting to get there.

stuffradio- A pic didn't post???

Strange. Wonder if this will work.

I transplanted them into slightly bigger containers a week or two ago. I suspect they will take off closer to the end of March or beginning April when I get them into their next sized pots.

How old are they stuff?

I planted them late January.

Are they under lights? Seems like they should be way bigger by now?

You are right, but I think they are a lot more crowded than yours were. Their tap roots are very long. There is no heating underneath them either.

Mine are outside taking advantage of the appropriate temperatures for vernalization. They look pretty similar to last week since the cold has slowed their growth. Supposed to be putting up the hoop house this week, so then I can have them out there. Stuff, yours really should be bigger, mine were started January 17 and 23. I think your container is maybe too shallow. Why not pick the best and give them their own pots? My experience is limited, but I feel like slowing their root growth early on can have bad consequences later. Mine are grown under lights in an unheated plant room without bottom heat (I generally use the bottom heat only for tomatoes and peppers). I guess the temperature in that room is usually near 60ð, give or take a bit. Looking back at your pictures, something is off, yours haven't grown but a tiny bit in 3 weeks. Cheers!

The temperature in the Garage is between 40-50 F usually.

Here are mine.

Started beginning of Feb.

Ah, I think your problem is that is the temperature used to trick artichokes into thinking they've been through winter. Don't know how that will work out. My impression is that they had to be grown for a while before exposing them to those temperatures, but I would have to go look that up to say for certain. Also, you are in a pretty different area than me, so I hesitate to strongly suggest anything about how to grow a crop I'm still learning more than succeeding to you!

GM, those are nice looking little guys too!

Yeah, I'm hoping it will work for the better. :) I agree, greenmulberry has great looking plants.

My Leeks and Onions are loving the temps in the garage though. It should slowly be warming up in the garage within the next couple weeks. I have Broccoli germinating, so I will be moving them into the Garage very quickly also.

Stuff, didn't know you are purposely keeping them cold. Once they warm up they should start getting bigger. I am so excited to plant mine out. They are hogging the lights. Lol.

I'm only keeping them cold because it is the best room in my house for growing plants. There is an area under our sundeck in the back I could clean up, and start lots of plants. The downside to doing that is, if I were to enclose it with some plastic, I'd be scared if the power went out, because there is a generator. I don't want to get poisoned by monoxide if I was there when the generator started. It's a gas powered generator.

I also am not providing any bottom heat because I am using both outlets for two light fixtures, and I heard the bottom heat is only supposed to be for germination.

This is my first time growing Artichokes also, so we'll see what happens in the end. :)

I have some cold frames, I was planning on sticking my artichokes out there, maybe around April 1st? This is my first time growing them. I was going to try and vernalize them that way.

I hope to try and get two of them to be perennials for me outside by planting one plant in each of my two cold frames, which are dug into a south facing slope and covered with glass lids (from an old shower stall). Let them grow all summer (lids off of course) Once the plants get knocked down with frost, I was planning on covering them with more dirt, filling the cold frames with straw and closing the lid, and seeing if I could get the roots to survive, uncovering them as it warms next spring.

The rest of my artichokes I will just stick in my regular garden. Artichokes are my fun experiment for 2013.

That just might work greenmulberry. I have done a lot of research on growing artichokes as this is my first time as well. I don't have a cold frame but I am going to mulch over a few of mine and dig up the rest and store for replanting the next season. We will see which method works. This is assuming of course the original crop does well.

My seedlings are pretty leggy; can I bury part of the stem when I transplant them?