Am I doing ok?

16 years ago

I have a nice little flat of tomatoes about 3 weeks old that I have been putting outside on the warmer days. Yesterday 70 and today 60. I have been putting them in full sun for about 7 hours a day and then inside at night. On the really cold days, less than 50 I have just been putting under lights for 14 hours. The plants seem to grow drastically on the days they go outside. We even had quite a windstorm today and I was worried the little buggers would not survive until I got home...they all did well and I didn't lose any.

Anyway, will it hurt the toms if I keep doing this? This is my first year growing from seed and I hope to get some healthy plants to go into the ground...I have about 6 weeks to get them to a decent size. Thanks, Kim

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

atascosa_tx
16 years ago
As long as is there no forecast for a frost...(be safe 34 or below) i would continue ..50 degrees won't hurt the plants..
wind is good for seedlings..it helps stimulate the plant to produce a sturdy stem..and as ya said , they survived..they are hardy lil boogers..I would decrease the sun exposure a bit unless ya plants don't show any sign of stress..but from ya post..they love it..I would continue ya current regimen and forget the lights and leave them outside..keeping a watching eye on the temperature.
digdirt2
16 years ago
For me, the conditions you describe sound too harsh for young seedlings, especially if you can't be home to monitor them during the day. But as atascosa said, if it's working for you so far, you might as well stick with it.

Dave
Related Discussions
Organic in Containers - am I doing OK?
Q
Comments (3)
Thought I would post a little update. Everything is doing really well considering the hard start it got. Tomatoes are sending off new shoots and setting fruit. Bell peppers have lots of fruitset, especially for their size. All other peppers are doing well. But, the new plants are doing amazingly well. I planted them in supersoil mixed with horse manure 5:1 ratio. The plants look beautiful, are growing really fast, have surpassed the plants I planted 2-3 months ago and are producing already. I skipped a week fertilizing and did some fish emulsion in a really low dilution yesterday. I'm going to continue once a week, very diluted fertilization.
...See More
help a noob with a cutting
Q
Comments (1)
Hi Brian I live in the San Fernando Valley. You don't have to worry about spider mites, outside we are a semi dry climate. What I will do is when it starts getting chilly around November, will hit 40's..Will bring the potted plants under my patio and cover them with a frost cloth..will tarp that corner of my patio for warmth. Have some in the ground will try and cover with frost cloth. You can also bring them inside, and put near a warm window area. did that last year, but my plants are too big to bring many inside. Hope for no heavy rains and wind and 30 temps.. Karen B.
...See More
Newbie -- Am I doing ok?
Q
Comments (6)
I put lots of fluffed up wet machine shredded newspaper on top to discourage flying things. I'll put food under that 1-3 times depending on how things are going. Then I'll put food on top and put another layer of bedding. It eventually mats, but not right away. If you just put big squares of newspaper in, the worms will never get to the middle of the mats. It's not the end of the world, when you harvest, you just dump them back in to the working bin, but it's a hassle. Because you're starting a new bin without any compost to put on the bottom, in about a month or two you will need to mix everything up because they won't get to the very bottom layers of the bedding without doing that. No matter what you started with, it will be really compacted and there won't be much oxygen. As my namesake pointed out, oxygen is absolutely crucial. So to answer your question, I throw it on top, but it gets incorporated. I do occasionally mix up the top few inches of the contents, but more because I want to see what's going on than because it needs it. Do you have holes in the bottom of your bin? At 4 inches high, it's not so important, but as the contents get deeper, holes help with 2 big problems. They allow oxygen to come in the bottom as well as the top, and you won't be able to get your VC too soupy wet. Worms can get through window screening, so don't bother with really small holes. Make them big enough that they won't get stopped up. In general, worms won't leave a good environment. If you find a bunch of them in the drainage part (I use the lid of the bin), then you know something's wrong with the bin. My bins are inside my studio apt, so you'll only need to put yours out on the balcony if you want to. When I put mine on the balcony, they get a breeze and dry out REALLY quickly. Just a forewarning.
...See More
Wendy's worm workshop results: Part II
Q
Comments (11)
There were fewer escapees this morning - though most of the ones that did escape, died on the ground. I found no tangled masses of worms like I did Sunday morning. I noticed, though, that they've started in on the food. Maybe I can entice them to stay! I also increased the moisture level, I think I had it too dry (wouldn't have been able to squeeze much out at all). They seemed pretty ok during the day.... we'll see. If I find them out again tomorrow, I may try the dishsoap or garden soil.... Oh, Kelly, btw, I ended up not going with the idea of the sliced plastic bottles simply because I had a hard time getting them all the same size! Just a hair short and they wouldn't support the hardware cloth layer and a tad tall and the whole thing would rest on only one ring.... a nice thought but there's no way to be that precise I think. I ended up with enough foam popcorn stuff so it turned out fine. Wendy
...See More
plant-one-on-me
Original Author
16 years ago
I am actually home during the day since I work the midnight shift. I was gone for a couple hours when the wind kicked up with gusts of 35 mph. The seedlings are fairly protected on my porch but with the gusts I was more afraid the flat would get blown away or tipped over.

The seedlings seem to be growing visibly when placed outside and the stems seem to be fairly strong, not spindly at all. Today it is only in the low 40's so I plan on keeping them inside under lights in the basement.

Tomorrow it will be near 70 so I hope to place them outside again although there will be thunderstorms so I may have to keep them inside. On the weekend it will be in the 40's again, so back under the lights.

I guess the nice thing about being new to growing from seeds is that I don't know if I am doing anything wrong. Maybe I will keep a 4 pack in the house strictly under lights to compare. Thanks Kim
naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan
16 years ago
Your plan sounds great. I'd do the same if I could monitor the outdoor weather more and didn't get tired of draggng them in and out.
yardenman
16 years ago
Under 50 degrees at 3 weeks sounds a bit strenuous to me. I would give them kinder conditions until 5-6 weeks age and only put them outside when the soil and night-time air temperature is above 50. Tomatoes are tropical vines, so they don't do well under 50 degrees.

Am I doing ok?

Comments (5)

atascosa_tx

digdirt2

Related Discussions

plant-one-on-me
Original Author

naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan

yardenman

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Am I doing ok?

Comments (5)

atascosa_tx

digdirt2

Related Discussions

plant-one-on-meOriginal Author

naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan

yardenman

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

plant-one-on-me
Original Author