Well, my watermelon plant has started growing...but my tomatoes aren't producing much yet. I have two large plants and only one has maybe 6 tomatoes on it. The other has been flowering, but not much (same with tomatillo). I have plenty of flowers nearby and plenty of bees visiting the area. Usually by this time of year the things are weighted down with tomatoes! My green beans are slow going as well. Haven't done anything different from years past....could it really still be from the wacky weather we had earlier in the season? Anyone else's veggies still coming along very slowly? Kristy :)

sjetski, you know what, some of the smaller plants I do remember not having a full entact rootball and the dirt falling away when planting the seedling. Is that the key... Only potting up with seedlings when they are getting root bound, and then putting them outside in the same circumstance? Kevin: You always have awesome advice! Yes the cluster of growth I can see on 2 or 3 so I agree. One is in a pot and not doing well. I should have kept potting it up but just threw it in a big pot instead. It's a 7pot. How do I help them along a bit as they are only a few inches tall with like 10 blossoms forming. I'll leave them, but if they don't improve, any ideas? Beside the peppers are melons. They grew good in that spot last year but totally have different watering & soil needs so have adjusted that. Nice thing is the way the containers are shaped, it's pretty easy to hand water and not affect the peppers too much. That area dries out lots as it's right by the windows so that helps too. I'll consider planting the melons beside cucumbers next year. They are on the opposite side. Here is a pic from last fall. More peppers this year so it's going to be tight but I need to keep everything smaller! These trays are awesome for peppers. I wish I would have put my overwintered Bhut back into the tray instead of a pot. I think it would be doing much better with more oxygen but has a few pods about an inch long :) Live & Learn

oilrigg, I've never sprouted seeds as you do; I used to use peat-pellets and now sow the seeds in seed-starting mix. I have a similar set-up to yours except mine are in multi-cell inserts in 10x20 flats, and I keep the cool (not grow) fluorescents about an inch above the top leaves. [I have sheets and chunks of styrofoam which I stack under the flats; as the seedlings grow, I remove layers of styrofoam. This saves the hassle of having to raise the lights all the time.] I water them from below, let them sit for 10-20 minutes, then just lift out the insert and switch it for a flat that hasn't been watered yet; this means that ideally the seedlings don't sit in the water too long. I plant 2-5 seeds per cell, depending on the age of the seeds and whether or not I've had trouble germinating them before. I've never noticed any correlation between the number of seeds and the health or size of the seedlings. When I'm transplanting to 16 oz. cups, I can be pretty rough on seedlings; and sometimes I save two seedlings from the same cell, which certainly kills a number of rootlets. I don't know if they respond positively to rough treatment as you speculate, but I do know that it doesn't seem to set them back much.

I had always heard that you should never put out transplants (without a wall of water or something else) until nighttime temperatures were stable above 50 degrees F. I thought that a temperature drop below 50 would stunt the growth. Definately some misunderstanding going on. The learning curve has been difficult for you as you started the plants so early and so have had to deal with issues most don't have. ;) Thus much of the confusion I think. In previous threads of yours you were advised that you could begin hardening off some time ago and told then that 40 degree nights would pose no problems. But I think you might be confusing soil temps and air temps. Totally different issue. Back in one of your earlier threads - the one where you were going to transplant them out on April 9th (3 weeks ago) it was suggested to you by one poster that soil temps in the 40's or lower could lead to stunted plants without a WOW or something similar. That may be true but it does not apply to air temps. That is a totally different issue. You mother's plants will be fine as already said and yours can easily go into the ground now. Hope this helps clarify the issues. Dave