Those are some good ideas. Being a terrible seedling raiser, I've experienced puny seedlings to turn out into decent plants. After all this time, it's so hard to let go.

For a few years I took extras to the senior citizens center where the locals came to have lunch. Usually they just wanted one or two plants for a flower bed.

To answer your question "how do you choose tomato seedlings for transplant?", I choose the sturdiest, healthiest transplants of each variety. Generally that means the best-looking plants of each variety whose main stem is largest. Having the largest stem isn't a guarantee, though, as the plants must be healthy and have good color as well, and I look for a nice branching structure. If the choice is between a taller, skinnier seedling or a shorter, thicker or wider one, I go with the shorter/thicker/wider plant.

As for as the extra seedlings? I give some away to friends here locally and take all the rest to the Spring Fling. Sometimes I plant a few of the extra ones outside the garden for the hornworms to feed upon. I rarely have hornworms inside the garden, but if I find one, I'd rather pick it up and carry it outside the garden to the extra tomato plants than leave it there to eat my tomatoes. We love watching the sphinx moths at night, and I'd rather just remove them from the garden instead of killing them.

I don't get in a hurry to give away all the seedlings. Usually I transplant tomato plants into the ground from 1 to 5 weeks before the Spring Fling, and I like having extra back-u[ plants in the greenhouse for a while in case hail or something hits the plants in the garden. They are a security blanket of sorts. Any that I have left I take to the fling and I leave them there. If any are left over after the fling, I leave them for Paula to take to work to share or to share with her family and friends. I know if I bring tomato plants back from the Fling, I'll just fill obligated to find a place to squeeze them into the garden.

Okay, I can already see the traits you mention. (Last year I was just happy they were still alive). I ended up with twice as many tomato plants as intended, but at least it gives me a lot to observe. After all this time, it just seems wrong to off them. So, I'll keep at it and see what home they get.

It's not hard to spot the brandy wine plants! They are so preeeettty.

My tomato plants have been growing awfully fast while hardening off and are getting pretty tall. They just love the real sunshine (when it isn't cloudy and raining, that is). If I cannot start putting them in the ground next week. I'm going to have to pot them up to bigger plastic cups, which is not one of my favorite tasks.

What size are they in, now? I'm potting up into 16 oz. cups, now. That's a lot of dirt and a lot of room which I don't have. They seem to appreciate it, tho.

They're only in 9 oz. cups (the first planting) and in 5 oz. cups (the second and third planting). The ones in 9 oz. cups either need to go into the ground yesterday, which didn't happen, or be potted up to Solo cups. I think the Solo cups that I have are the 18 oz. ones.

There is a high probability that I'll put the first round of tomato plants into the ground Tuesday or Wednesday, and then put up hoops and be ready to throw row cover over it if the cold returns near the end of the month. Some models hint at that. Otherwise, I'd be out there putting the first two dozen tomato plants in the ground right now. I figure that if really cold weather is coming back 8-10 days from now as some models suggest, then by Tuesday we'll have a better idea how cold it will get.

If we hadn't been so cloudy all week long, the plants in the 5 oz. cups would need to be potted up as well but a lack of sunshine has had them growing slower, which is a good thing as maybe I can take them straight to the ground without potting up. The earliest round of tomatoes already had been outside a lot before those last two snowstorms and were getting big so all they did was stall when I had to put them back inside. Now that they are out again, even in heavily cloudy and rainy weather, they're growing like weeds. Good weeds.

The four earliest plants that I bought and put in gallon pots are beyond ready to go into the ground. One of them managed to set 3 or 4 tomatoes before the snow arrived, so I'd like to put them in the ground soon. The other three bloomed while it was snowy and the blossoms dropped. Those three are about to bloom again and this time should set fruit. The greenhouse is staying above 50 at night and they are outside during the day.

I have tomato plants in every possible size and stage of development, and barring an unforeseen disaster, ought to have a great tomato year. I don't know that the harvest will be any earlier than usual because in years with a really rainy spring, all the cloudiness and cooler temperatures make the plants grow really well but the fruit grow and enlarge more slowly than when we have non-stop sunshine.

It has been quite a lesson. They greened up as I was potting up into compost soil. Incredible. I don't have light for all. So, I've started kicking them outside to harden and rotating under fixtures. We're lingering in the upper 40s, still.

You've written that struggling plants produce best, so I'm concerned about the compost soil spoiling them and hope to get them in ground as soon as possible. I think it's helpful to get them off to a good start, tho. After about 20 pot ups it dawned on me to mix in the peat with the compost soil. If anything, they're lighter in weight. I found a few more seedlings in my mess and, of course, they're different varieties which I must try.

They're all sitting on the floor in the storage room under lights when not outside. My husband jokes that it's time to mow the storage room as the weeds are getting thick. I think that's his way of saying he really enjoys seeing everything spring to life.

I grow tomatoes in red clay (which is rich in minerals) highly enriched with lots of organic matter (so, very fertile). I get great yields. Just growing in our heat and wind, thunderstorms and hail, dust storms an tornadoes, derecho winds and flash flooding will be enough to make them feel like they are struggling. What you want to avoid is pampering them with too much water and too much supplemental fertilization, both of which will keep them growing into very lush jungles with tons of foliage and fewer fruit. You don't have to mistreat them to make them produce well, just don't pamper them too much.

Just keep in mind that the plants have a biological imperative to produce seed that will perpetuate their species, so they are inclined to form fruit. If they have a soft, easy life, they may not get in a hurry to form that fruit. So, don't make their lives too easy. For me, the weather usually does something that reminds the plants that they need to get with it and make seed before the weather does something to kill them.