You should be putting themoutside during the daytime now. As I write this my 3 week old starts are in flats on the picnic table, even though I am 5-6 weeks shy of planting out. I'll do this any day I can, provided that it's not too cool. Direct sunlight is always better that grow lights. The starts flourish with the sun and the breeze.

How close are you to planting out?

I'm in zone 9, so as soon as I can. It is low 50's at night and 60's during the day.

When your low soil temp is 60 you should plant out. Until then, do what I said. After a week or so of this, start leaving your plant out at night for a few hours at a time.

Thanks! How will I know when the soil temp reaches 60? Also, they are just in the small pots send by the seed company, should I re pot?

how small are the pots? my 3 week old toms are in seed plats, 3 plats of 48 cells each and some cells have more than 1 plant. i was out of town and my wife did not move the extras to dead cells like she was supposed to, so now i have a couple with 3-4 plants in a cell. not as bad as my water mellons though, one cell has 9 plants! that is what happens when you let a 3.5 yr old help daddy start his seeds. but it is worth it!

as far as hardening them off, just stick em outside a little at a time for a few days/weeks. mine will be ready to go inthe ground as soon as i have the garden ready, since i start mine on my wife's laundry room counter and 99% of the time the window there is open and they are exposed to mucho sun and outdoor temps. no different than if i started them outside, so very little hardening off required.

the pots are probably 3 x 3 x 4.

How will I know when the soil temp reaches 60?

You just measure it with a thermometer. ;) If you are using containers then you'll measure the temperature approximately 6" down in the soil. Just fill your large containers with a good potting mix (not soil), set them in the sun where the plants will be growing, and give it a day or 2 for the mix to warm up to the outside temps - then check it.

How to measure soil temps

Should you re-pot? That depends on how soon you can plant them out. I would think in your zone it would be past time as even zone 8 gardeners have theirs in the ground already.

end by the seed company??? If these are store bought plants from a local nursery, then they have already been hardened off and should be ready to plant. If they were ordered online then the company can tell you if they are already hardened off - most are before shipping or the shipping would kill them - and most are only shipped to you at the proper planting time for your area.

Otherwise, if you don't plan to plant them into their permanent containers in the next week, then yes I would re-pot them into larger containers.

Dave

you are all wonderful! I'll put my containers in the sun today to warm up the soil and plant them this weekend. seriously, thank you!

If you don't have a soil thermometer, there are Extension Service website in some states that post it. In rural areas this info is often included in the weather report.

Here is a link to soil temp info for Illinois.

http://www.sws.uiuc.edu/warm/soiltemp.asp