Thanks guys I thought the light was probably the culprit. I'm still learning. I left the plastic on longer because it covered 3 flats and I was trying to give other things a chance to germ. I guess germ rates make it a bad idea to put em all together. Personally I didn't expect them to germ. so quickly. All I've done before is perennial seeds and those took awhile. Mine aren't near as bad as that pic though LOL. Makes me feel better. But mine also aren't as old as those. I went ahead and moved them out to my GH today. I didn't start them in there because we have still had a few cold nights. I have them under a triple layer of insect screen for a shade cloth and it was cloudy today and supposed to be for the next few days. I'm hoping this will be enough to harden them up, unless we get a lot of sunshine, but I can always make some more shade for em. I would think the less time they have spent with poor light they faster they should adjust to higher light levels. If I start anymore it will definitely be in the GH since it has warmed up nicely in the past week. Let's hope it stays that way. Thanks for the help, I'm hoping they'll recover.

It sounds like you've done everything right at least close enough. In my experience seedlings that manage to only grow up as runts never really do well in the long run. I think I'd restart the tomatoes and maybe bite the bullet and buy peppers from a nursery. I'm not saying the peppers won't come back but they'll probably never thrive. Give them fertilizer and give them some sunshine if possible. As far as repotting I think I'd tap a few of them out and see what the roots look like first. Greg

If you are using a cheap shop light from Wal-Mart, it may be using T12 fluorescent bulbs at 20 Watts per bulb (most T12 fixtures are 40 Watts per tube). I am assuming bulbs of 48 inches. So 2 inches from the growing surface may still not be enough. I got a light meter for $30 at a hydroponics store. It was well worth the investment; my only complaint is that its max reading is 1/2 solar (5000 foot candles). I have my indoor grow lights set to 1250 to 2500 foot candles at the growing surface, which is about 1/8 to 1/4 solar. I'm mostly using T8 fluorescent bulbs, with the electronic ballast in the fixture replaced and rewired in order to "overdrive" the bulbs with twice the normal amount of "juice" (from 30 watts to 60 watts per bulb). Gardenweb has a forum on indoor plant lighting, which has had threads about overdriving. Otherwise, aquarium forums also discuss this. Even at 1/8 to 1/4 solar, red lettuce cultivars require full solar to get full color. And loose leaf cultivars are taller than outdoor seedlings. By the way, a brightly lit indoor room is usually 1/100 solar at best.

That is a tricky question, here is what I am thinking. You can plant hos (hunk of seedling) method. Which I seriously do not like this method unless I have no other choice. Though you may try it and have great success and I know others have tried it and they swear by it. They pretty much cut into the seedlings like you have above and plant out like you have a hunk of brownies, they don't separate the seedlings from one another. The reason I do not care for this method is because it seems as it takes forever for the plants to grow using this method in my soil. With that said I would be scared to separate those seedlings now at the cotyledon stage, though they may do just fine. This is me and only me, I would wait to see what happens. See if the plants will get their first set of true leaves, as they are now, I wouldn't wait to see the second set. If it seems to be taking awhile for the plants to develop then I would throw caution in the wind and separate them out. If they start to grow and thrive just as they are I would let them continue to grow at least till they got their first set of true leaves. Then I would separate them and replant. At the first set of true leaves the roots aren't to awfully bad for some plants. You didn't mention which type of lobelia, but looking at the pictures and comparing it to my cardinal flower you must be growing the annual lobelia. If you are growing the annual lobelia I would almost just divide that one hunk in several hunks. From my guesstimate (yes I know that isn't a real word but I still use it guess + estimate = guesstimate) I would say you could maybe get 10 hunks out of the one on the bottom left. Sorry I am not much help on that one!! I will say very nice job at posting pictures, though!! lol