Wow, I only started my seeds last week. I have experimented with those Wall-o-Waters, after three years of playing with them I decided that they're not worth the trouble. They will protect against frost. I had a couple of test plants out a couple years back when we had that bit of snow in early May and they survived that too. But as digginthedirt says, the plants stop growing, and sulk if you put them out this early. If you put them out just a couple of weeks early with the WOWs (Memorial Day Weekend has always been the planting time for tomatoes around here, putting them out is extremely early) then you may get some impressive foliage grow, but by the time early July rolls around you can't tell the difference. You definitely are not eating tomatoes much sooner than you would otherwise. It sounds like you started your seeds too early. I've always regretted it whenever I've started them any sooner than the 4th week of March. It's hard to wait, especially if we get some nice days before that. It took me a few years of leggy plants before I could resist.

No it doesn't. And they will tolerate the stress of transplanting better too. Just pinch off the bloom clusters and move them to a cooler environment while cutting back on watering and no feeding. That dormant treatment will slow growth till they can be planted. Dave

Instead of the bottom, drill around the circumference about 2" off the bottom every 4-5 inches. Holes in the bottom allow water and fertilizer the ability to drain too fast. I have some jalapeño plants that are mild and others that are hotter than any other jalapeño I've tasted. A golden cayenne feels as hot as my habanero peppers. I think it is the professional growers know/understand the care aspect better. I water every 5/6 days normally, but super dry here so every 3 days I flood them and protect them from too much sun. The super hots tend to be more sensitive in my experience. The standard cayenne and pepperoncini seem to just take care of themselves as long as I stay out of their way. My bhut and scorpions are very very hot but smaller in size than many people have in better climates and longer growing season. By the way, 5 gallon buckets from HD are much bigger than 5 gallon landscape containers. Since you're in HD anyway, they sell earplugs which are a great asset when the complaining starts ;)

First, you don't have to remove them for any reason on either plant. It is simply an option some choose to exercise while many do not because it can cost you some production. Usually if the plant can't handle them then it aborts them. Second, early blooming - if that is really what it is - is normally caused by stress. Something is causing the plant to try to reproduce because it is stressed. Knee high tomato plants, unless you are exceptionally short, will normally bloom. Suggest you just leave them alone and learn what happens. Sometimes we can cause the plants stress simply by suffocating them with attention rather than just letting them grow normally. Dave