Agreed. Tomato plants are very fragile and even if you manage to "heal them up" the stress has caused serious development problems which probably will lead to stunted growth, low flowering and few fruits. If I were you I'd re-germinate now and keep them in your house until you can properly harden them off. If you can't keep your ambient temperatures within your hoop house at least 40F, I wouldn't bother trying to grow tomatoes with them. smithmal

To Ohiofem, That's crazy that you've been growing tomatoes for twenty years and yet just five years you've been doing seeds! And by "new to gardening" I mean NEW to gardening. lol I liked the idea of starting from seed because you get more plants for the money, TONS of varieties to choose from, and, being a stay at home mom of an eight month old, it's been fun to take care of. :) As for heirloom versus hybrid, you ain't kiddin'. My Sungolds are the rock stars. They look awesome and are bigger than the rest. Yeah, they are also cherry tomatoes, but as others have said, a lot of times hybrids are that way-super growers. As for not as easy to grow, it's funny because yeah, my pepper and broccoli plants haven't scared me yet like the tomatoes have a few times. haha That's also good to hear that the problem isn't likely bacterial canker. I was just heartbroken thinking it might have been last night. Looked up the Tomato Girl company as a back up plan should my plants not make it. My local nursery has mostly hybrids and a few heirlooms, but none that I was really interested in. As for hardening off, I got some advice from a guy at the local nursery that my plants seemed to be too large for this stage, so I should start hardening off now to slow down their progress some. That way, he said, I wouldn't have to transplant to bigger pots within the next week or two before I plant them outside. He said then they wouldn't have outgrown the pots they're in now. To Suncitylinda, I did notice that having the fan on them helped bulk out their stems. They used to have pathetic thin stems when I first came back from vacation. See, my first year gardening I planted the seeds, then, having to go to Washington to visit family for two weeks, told my husband all the knowledge I'd learned, and then left the next day. I learned almost everything from reading online and reading forums like this, but, since it's my first year gardening, I had never put any of it into practice. lol Bless my husband's heart though, he tried his darndest to keep them alive, and they did pretty well, except they got leggy. That's what I fixed once I got back. The people at the nursery told me they were leggy, put a fan on them, and gosh darnit! It worked! :D As for sitting them outside, hahaha! Being in Utah, in a NORMAL winter(this one has been uncommonly warm), when I started these seeds there'd be some snow still in patches! Lucky you to be able to put them outside once they pot up. I'm jealous. ;) Also, thanks for the reminder about gardening is to DE-stress, not increase it. lol I know I can't be the only one who stresses about these kinds of things-I see posts like mine every day on this forum. We want our babies to grow up right, and lead productive lives, just like our real kids! ;) So thanks for all the advice ya'll and reminders to just relax. I gotta keep in mind what you said about they grow like weeds. I think maybe we do tend to over worry. I know my seedlings seem to pop back real nice and quick after a problem may arise. :) To Bobby, About the planting more than you need-I know. I'm so glad I assumed for some not germinating, and some didn't. And even still, I have three of each that popped up, so even if one died or didn't look great, I should still be fine with my planting adventures. ^_^ So, after listening to everyone, I've decided to not freak that it's bacterial canker(thank you Ohiofem!), chill and take whatever happens, and just in case my problems arose out of wind burn(as a pic I saw does look a bit similar), am hardening off my plants in our 3 sided carport, so no serious breezes bother it yet(thanks both of those to Suncitylinda!). I want ya'll experts to know. Being a newbie to a field that one could never in a LIFETIME master, I'm so grateful ya'll take the time to help people like me. I know you must get tired of all us new to growing asking you so many questions about possible diseases, how to plant, what varieties are good, but I know, at least for me, knowing ya'll are willing to answer our questions definitely keeps me going. It's so easy to get discouraged, worry you don't know what you're doing, so it's nice to have ya'll telling us we're doing alright and keep it up. :) Hopefully that doesn't sound too cheesy, 'cause I mean it.

Miracle Grow Garden Soil or Miracle Grow Potting Soil??? MG Garden Soil stipulates right on the bag that it is NOT intended for use in any containers. Not only is the fertilizer content too high - especially for seedlings, but it drains poorly unless used as an additive to the garden as it was intended. Your seedlings are overstressed from the fertilizer and likely developing root rot due to poor drainage and overwatering. Miracle Grow Potting Soil is also quite high in nutrients and is inteneded for established plants, not new seedlings. There are several threads here on GW about how to properly use these products that a search will pull up. I suggest you buy a bag of Jiffy Mix or some other seedling mix (something with little or no added fertilizers) - tomatoes don't need them anyway - and transplant your survivors to cells of it. When translplanting make sure the new cells of soil are well wet first (not soaking) and then set the seedlings in as deep as possible. The tomato stem will develop roots all along its length. Lastly, for future reference, there is a good (not great) How to Grow from Seed FAQ here that is linked at the top of the forum page. Good luck. :)

Not sure about the top picture, in which I don't even see a first set of leaves on the plant, but in the bottom picture I see what I call "bowed head". Doesn't look like damping off. Damping off is rotting at the base of the stem, so the whole plant falls over. Also doesn't look like poor lighting, in which a leggy plant with big leaves would start to tilt. Looks more like over-watering stress. Once the plants come up, you want the roots to head south, and they won't do that if the top of the soil is always wet. The soil does really look moist in these later pictures. Although your plants don't look that leggy, they also are pretty young, so they may just not have had a chance to get leggy yet, with poor lighting. It's good you now have decent lights. Yes, be careful about heat. Do you know the soil temperature? It's best at 70-75F. Overheating would be a major stressor.