"Each little hair on the stem turns into a root. " Although I am well aware that tomatoes will produce roots along the stem if it is buried under soil I am intrigued by the statement that EVERY trichome on the stem will turn into a root. This just doesn't seem possible given the evidence of one's own eyes. I looked this up after reading it and find it repeated all over the place but I cannot find any scientific research (which I can understand) which tells me this is actually so, rather than the adventitious roots being produced by some other mechanism. Can anyone point to a scientific source for this information? I'm intrigued. I can't spare any tomato plants but would someone like to try rubbing off all the trichomes and then burying a stem to see if it will still root? I'd love to know what happens. p.s. nobody has yet warned Contadino against those peat/cow/pulp pots which might have a lot to do with the stunting.

I think personally messing with the roots on any plant is bad unless you're also pruning the top at the same time. If you're planting an intact top, plant an intact root. If a plant is healthy, it will spread its own roots out on its own. I planted some kale plants last summer that were so rootbound in 4 packs that you couldn't even see any soil at all. They were actually so rootbound that I was keeping them in a no holes flat and watering them twice as much as they needed each day just to keep them alive, so they could soak up the water over the course of the day. I really didn't have any hope for them when I planted them out but I thought it would be a good test of just how did plants bought past the end of the season perform...They did just fine and didn't even seem to have any transplant shock and I planted them in July.Come to think of it I did the same thing planting my late tomatoes, I used leftover ones from spring that were in no holes flats, and they did fine too. They were celebrity and big boy tomatoes. I never mess with the roots of any plant I transplant into bigger pots in the greenhouse and they have done just fine. I think that the physical process of ripping those roots apart is bad for the plant, destroying some of them. Then wouldn't they need a top pruning too to make up for the root loss?

I start my seeds in what I guess you could call a hydro setup,I use tobacco float trays made of styrofoam that float on a bed of water.I use peat in the trays so I do have some media that stays with the plants ,I assume you use rockwool or something of the sorts.I would say as long as you have some media attached to the main ball of roots I wouldn't worry about ripping a few of the "water roots" off. When I transplant mine to the garden from my trays I just grab them by the stem and yank them out and I have never had any transplants that didn't make it.Also I find as long as there is some amount of media attached to the roots they are more forgiving of when you plant them about not going into shock.I have planted mine in the heat of the day into a garden and they don't even wilt like a regular potted transplant would. I try to transplant mine by the time they are around 6 inches tall and by that time they already have roots as long as the plant is tall so compared to a potted plant with very short roots even if you lose a few roots you still have a huge advantage imo. To sum it up hydro starters transplant very well and will blow away and normal starter plant within 2 weeks of planting them in soil,I don't even start mine indoors I wait till april to start seeds outdoors and my garden always blows away every other garden around me before may. Hope this helps some even tho I don't use plastic pots in a 100% hydro setup I understand your concerns with ripping water roots and I don't think its a big deal to lose a few.

I got large cherries. They are definitely smaller and way more compact than my Jalapenos. There is no way they will catch up. I seem to remember the bigger plants had the more developed root balls when I transplanted from 6 inch pots. If I had to make a choice I would plant the Jalapenos in the bigger pots and the Cherry in the smaller. And it turned out that I did it exactly that way (14in. Jalapenos vs. 12in. for large cherries). I got a 5 pack of seeds and at transplantation time I did not know what plant was what and just had to make a choice. It was just the most sensible choice to me.