It wouldn't hurt to pinch off the small fruits. Otherwise, I suspect the plant itself will abort them. Tiny squash, even with the flower still attached are very good in vegetable soup! George Tahlequah, OK

Alikhat, I see that you recently joined GardenWeb, welcome to the Tomato Forum. Everyone else that wants to read this post may want to grab a cuppa, it will probably be kinda long.  What part of California are you in? There's a lot of growing zones in California, all the way from 4a near Yosemite to Santa Monica's 11a. What works in one zone, may have no relevance to another zone. If you'd like answers from other GW members that are useful to you, its a good idea to include your location and/or zone in your profile so it shows on your posts. Now, on to the problems at hand. Even though kellogggarden.com lists their GARDNER & BLOOME® POTTING SOIL Natural & Organic For All Indoor & Outdoor Potting as "Ideal for indoor & outdoor potting, container planting, raised bed applications & an excellent addition to existing garden soil.” I have to wonder if that isn’t part of the issue. It is described as ”Organic, long-lasting ingredients including chicken manure, peat moss, worm castings & kelp meal. Perfectly balanced with essential plant nutrients & special water-saving formula features for excellent growth.” Mixes with manure in them tend to compact and not drain well. Your leaves could be droopy and the plants stunted from not enough air and too much water at the roots because of their water-saving feature and compaction of the growing medium. If you are in a zone like 5 or 6, and the weather has been cool, watering every other day may be fine. But, on the other hand if you are in zone 10 or 11, the plants may appear droopy because they aren’t getting enough water. GardenWebber sprouts_honor (Jennifer from Cleveland) had a wonderful suggestion on how to tell whether or not you need to water your tomatoes, and I quote here: ”Get a wooden dowel rod (or two) and sink it in the ground near a plant or two and leave it. Pull it out when you think you need to water. If the top is dry and the bottom is a little damp, it’s time to water. If it looks dark and feels saturated, wait to water. I use this technique with potted plants that don’t like being over watered and it’s helpful with in ground plants too.” If your moisture is right, it may likely be that your plants are starving. As edweather indicated, plants that are grown in any kind of container will need feeding more often than plants that are grown in the ground because each time they are watered, the water run off carries away vital nutrients. Many container growers will use a dilute solution of a liquid fertilizer every week or so depending on the condition of the plant. Additionally, they may not be able to utilize the nutrients in the “organic” mix you have them planted in because containers don’t usually have the “micro-herd” found in soil that helps plants use many types of micro-nutrients other than NPK. Looking at the stems of your plants, I am surprised the stems are not sturdier. When my tomato plants are that tall, the main stems look almost like small trees, and are 2 - 3 inches (or more) in diameter, the fine stems are possibly another indicator of the need for feeding more often. I don’t see any leaf roll, but I do see droopy leaves: When you've checked the moisture level of the growing medium 3-5" below the surface, you may have an aswer to what is going on with your plants. If it is soggy, they are drowning (and the paleness of the leaves could be an indicator) if it is dry, they need more water, if it is just right, something else is going on. Betsy

Well, I am quite thrilled to read these great responses! I live in Zone 7, but our Winter is still long. The zones just refer to the extremes in temperature, not how long it lasts. I have noticed volunteer tomatoes come out earlier than I would choose to plant out. So, I can watch for that as a sign. I do not have any trouble with legginess of my tomato seedlings. I have a picture window that faces full-South, and shelves there (for seedling starting in Winter) outfitted with shop-lights. I read somewhere that it is important to use fresh bulbs (fluorescent tubes) as the light diminishes over time. I do not get new ones every year, but if one seems to put out less (judging by the plants), I use that on my alpine strawberry seedlings or something else that doesn't mind. I want to start even earlier because I'd like to keep tomato strains true when I grow them out. I plan to grow out severl this year, and if one flowers first for a week, then they are in the clear, and I can mark those fruits, and then not really worry about the rest. I guess what I mean is that an early & staggered start will allow me to focus on each plant as it comes into bloom, selecting from that, and moving on to the next one. I do have some limitations (medically), so it would be easier to focus on them staggered rather then so many at one time. It may not work out the way I hope, but I figure it is a good experiment for this year. By choosing good varieties for this (my un-familiarity with varieties hurts my experiment here) I can better insure success. The funny thing is that I don't really eat tomatoes--except in spaghetti sauce. BUT, everyone else loves them, and I find there is a group involved with tomatoes that have a zeal for the plant like no other vegetable/fruit. A great deal of home-breeding is going on, and I find it the most fascinating thing. Tomatoes provide a great opportunity to study genetics at home, and to look very intensely at varietal development in plants. I guess I am hooked for a reason not common to most, but I am hooked. So, I will try my experiment this year, and see how it works for me. I am thankful at the varieties/categories I see mentioned. When mentioning "use determinate or dwarf" plants, how can I find out which is which? I have consulted some websites, but is there a thorough tomato base out there? Keep the posts coming! Happy Holidays, Robin

If you already have a grow light I suggest you put the starter plants under them until a week before you want to plant in the garden. Use that last week to harden them off. If you don't have the light instead of buying one you could either put them in a sunny window or plant out with protection, after hardening them off.