When you say, "final pots", do you mean that you are not going to plant them in the ground?

Actually, I don't know if that matters too much. If you can put them in their final place, be it in the ground or in a container, and you are not worried about frost, critters or bugs killing them, then I'd say, sure, plant them out. The fewer times they are transplanted, the better. I'd even go so far as to say it's better to actually start them in the place they are going to grow as long as the soil you are using is OK for starting. Since they are already started, that's not an issue.

Place a black plastic leaf bag secured on the ground where the tomatoes will be planted for 3 weeks and pot up the maters and transplant on March 5th. Still waiting here in No VA to start my maters end of this month for April 15th plant out. Enjoy your maters!!

Geeboss

There's no minimum size when they can be planted in their final home. The sooner they get there and get full sun the better, as long as temps permit.

If the weather is OK for them to go to their final location, I would remove all but the top two leaves, and transplant them deeply, so that they'll get a bigger root system.

I agree with what others have said that the sooner they get into their final home, the better off they'll be.

They are ready for the final transplantation but if you're going to put them in pots I would use 20 gal cloth pots.

Hi Ameera,

You used to live in Colorado? What a change from there to Dubai!

Plant those babies in their final home as soon as you can. As Taz says "There's no minimum size when they can be planted in their final home."

Personally, where you are going to be fighting very high temperatures and humidity in short order, I would not strip the leaves from the stems as you are going to need the energy the leaves can generate to get fruit to set as soon as possible.

Go as large as you can on the containers. It will help buffer the heat, especially if you can insulate them in some manner, white cloth wrapped around the planters, or reflective sheeting. If you can put shade cloth over them when the heat gets up there, that will help too.

Remember that in containers the nutrients tend to wash away when you water, so plan to feed them regularly, say every 3-6 weeks depending on how they are doing. Just be sure to use a balance fertilizer because if it is too high in nitrogen, you'll get lots of beautiful leaves and no fruit.

Good luck with your tomatoes!

Betsy

where you are going to be fighting very high temperatures and humidity in short order, I would not strip the leaves from the stems

Now, see, I was thinking the opposite. I was thinking that with that much heat, I'd want a good strong root system to take up lots of water!

Oh wow, thank you everyone!! I wasn't getting email notification so I didn't realize people had responded to my question :)

Ok, I am going to put them in their final pot (they are determinate varieties--I got them because our teeny tiny garden is too shady to do an indeterminate variety (and there would literally only be room for 1 indeterminate plant)

I was going to grow them in 7 gallon pots (I haven't bought any yet) but I will go get larger ones now.

I didn't know I could just plant the seedlings in their final location (I wish I had asked this question sooner!)... I researched how to grow tomatoes from seed a while back and on a couple websites I was on said to plant seedlings in a bit of a larger pot first before putting them in their final location. now I know I can skip this step when I try again after the summer :)

anyhow, the temperatures are in the low to mid 70s here now and I have kept the plants in these pots strictly outdoors so I don't have to harden them off.

I had read about removing leaves to plant them deep in their final location and was going to do that but for this time I will skip removing leaves as advised by bets because of the fact that I started late (hopefully not too late!)and have to give them the best chance to set fruit before the heat and humidity can fry the plants.

I will also try to make a way to put a shading cloth over the plants...

this is my first time I will see if I can get fruit to set (I first tried last year but started I think it was in late February by seed and it was way too late... the heat came in and killed the plants)

bets, yes it is a HUGE change from Colorado LOL... The short winters here in Dubai are awesome (though the temps are more in the mid to high 60s during the coldest time LOL) but the summers are absolutely brutal here!

my biggest concern is fertilizing... last year I saw organic fertilizers here in Dubai but this year I haven't found any yet... there are a couple other gardening stores I haven't gone to yet so I hope I find some!

For now I have some crushed egg shells and alfalfa meal... but its probably just enough for the planting of these 4 I have...

Also, for the pots they don't have the cloth pots here! I just learned about them the other day so I am going to order some from Amazon for the next growing season.

again, thank you everyone :)

ohhh I forgot to update... thank you so much for the advice... I decided to go with both leira and bets in suggestions...

so for two of the plants I just removed the bottom two leaves.

for the other two plants I removed all but the top 3 (I was going to go for just two but I got nervous LOL)

I just want to see how it works for each method... the only thing is, I lost track of which variety was which (I planted 2 varieties-2 plants each) LOL

but now I am having other problems with both plants (there is a new post about that...)

just wanted y'all to know I am listening to your advice! :D

when your roots grow in their final destination, over time if they grow under good conditions, you should notice minor problems go away.

Dubai??? Questions - are you planting in containers or in the ground, AND what are your night temps? ***IF*** your night temps are over 75F forget it, you won't get any bloom set....

Tom

sprinlift34 I am holding out in hope my plants are ok!

tomncath, yes I am in sunny Dubai... so far the night temps are in the upper 60s low 70s.. I'm know I may be too late this season... but I will keep trying to take care of the plants....

One thing, the one variety I am growing named Homestead 24, on the tomatofest site I got them from says:

"Great for hotter growing regions in the South since this variety sets fruit under even in hot weather. Big, leafy vines produce huge amounts of smooth, red, round fruits with good taste. Resistance to cat facing."

so although I am late for our season, I hope the homestead variety can make a good effort to fruit... I mean, of course I want the Fargos as well, but they didn't come with a description that they set fruit in high heat.

If I can at least successfully get tomatoes for fried green tomatoes I will be happy at this point!