Without overhead lighting close to your plants, you will notice in just a few days or less, the plants turning towards the sun and getting leggy. The degree varies by the quality and quantity of light.

In general, standard florescent lighting should be near 2" from the top of the plants. Much closer risks burning, much further will begat leggyness as will overcrowding. They grow quickly. Be prepaired to adjust the lights daily.

You can use grow tubes but don't have to. A search will bring up lots of discussions about various tubes. A pair of 4' dbl tube fixtures hung side by side and on a timer is what I use. Some do more, some less.

This is probably one of the few things you can for your plants where more is better :-)

Thanks! Should I move them to larger pots to give them room to grow over the coming weeks? If so, do I use potting soil, since they will still be in containers, and should I fertilize at any point? I'm still learning about transplanting, and I thought that you only fertilize when transplanting into the ground and not re-potting but I want to be sure.

I usually start my own seeds but when I do buy store bought plants I buy the small sizes which are a lot cheaper and repot them into four inch square pots. In a couple of weeks they are just as big as the more expensive plants were. I bought a case of four inch pots about 15 years ago and am still reusing them. Just don't leave them sitting out in the sun after you plant the seedling that was in them.

I'd plant them. These were purchased locally and have already been hardened off, correct? If so then it is safe to plant them and much better for them than added delays will be.

Early planting to beat the heat and get some fruitset before the heat gets there is vital in your area. 40 degree nights aren't going to hurt them and it wouldn't take much to protect that few on any freezing night you should get.

What are your day time temps running? Check your soil temps. If your soil is 60 degrees they will do fine.

JMO

Dave

Thanks, Dave. Yes, they have been hardened off. I was thinking that they would need some acclimation to our weather, since they came from a shade house and were accustomed to warmer temperatures.

I would rather plant them, but I was worried about our erratic temps as of late. Highs are running upper 50's, and lows went into low 30's, but averaging around 38-40. We're going to move up to highs in the 70's this weekend before cooling back off into the mid 60's, which is still warmer than what we've had, and getting more rain. (my yard is saturated!) Low's staying consistently around low 40's. Not sure of my soil temp, but I'll check those tomorrow in the various beds...it's still pouring out there today.

I'm outside of San Diego about 2K feet up in the local mountains, so we get a bit cooler here at night, but warmer than the coastal areas in the day.

I'll give it a go and see what happens. I have so many plants, seedling, and seeds waiting to come up, that it's a bit like running an experiment at this point. I'm recording what I've done with each one, so I can determine what worked (and didn't) for the next go around.

Dave has it nailed.

If your soil temp approaches 60, be prepaired to protect but get em in.

Excess moisture is a different problem. They can drown, any way to improve drainage? Maybe set the pots where they'll go for light but on top of the garden so they drain?

Rock an a hard place :-)