I wouldn't use top for anything, except for top soil. What they sell around here is terrible. I still think your soil mix is finer than mine, even your regular soil, aside from the rooting soil, which would be nice too for that purpose. I use some Perlite fines for seed starting because there's no way I'd use Pumice and Perlite that's 3/16 - 1/4". Now that I started using at least half Pumice and Perlite, it might be nice to eliminate the peat moss stuff altogether, but I don't know what a good third ingredient would be. I have to see what they have locally at a garden store, which is difficult with a bad back. I got the Pumice and Perlite from Amazon, not being able to really see it first.

Hm, I was somewhat disappointed with it. The whole time I was watching it I kept thinking "just like Splash". The sea creature in the bathtub, the love story between the sea creature and the human, the evil scientists who want to exploit the sea creature, the end where they swim off together. It was a cross between Splash and The Monster from The Black Lagoon. I saw The Post over the weekend and really enjoyed that. ETA: I thought Octavia Spencer did a terrific job in her role in SOW.

Personally, I think plant maturity is a lot more important than hardening off here, when it comes to planting early under frost protection. We've never hardened off anything under those or milk jugs, and the implements seem to protect them from the environment just fine, due to the UV protection, wind protection, added humidity, and added warmth. I wouldn't leave them on when it gets to ~80° F., as that can damage them (at least with milk jugs), unless you give them more ventilation than the cap hole provides. However, if the tomato plants are too young, you're probably not going to notice much benefit to putting them out early. I have had plants that were too immature struggle to grow under milk jugs, though, but more mature ones seem to love it. That being said, I'm not saying you shouldn't harden your plants off in this situation (maybe it helps), but I don't find it a necessary step, personally. Note: As I mentioned using milk jugs, it's important to have ventilation all the time. Throwing away the cap is sufficient for cooler temperatures. You're basically creating a mini, unheated greenhouse. I believe the water in the Wall O Waters may improve matters, though. We've had great results with those (with store-bought plants). I've used milk jugs only on those I've started myself. The plants don't get mature enough starting them in my unheated greenhouse to make it very worth using milk jugs, though. I might start some tomatoes indoors next year. This year the tomatoes are going to be planted later-than-expected anyway, since our shade trees are coming down later than I would have wanted to transplant.

if you try again ... do the water deal.. until you just see roots forming ... and then immediately pot into damp potting media ... its fun to watch in water ... but they are trees.. not aquatics ... so the faster they are in media ... the better for them ... you can probably skip the water altogether ... if you can keep the media moist enough ... while the roots are forming ... i am sure you can search out all kinds of video on this ... i have never understood the idea of trimming the top of a tree ... to encourage growth .... youre not the first.. and you wont be the last ... without a pic.. its hard to give you any specific advice ... can you post one .. finally ... they are trees .. think in tree time ... they are slo motion.. compared to non-trees ... you just have to give them time to do their thing ... so cutting the top off.. isnt going to speed anything up ... though i might change my mind.. if i saw a pic .... ken ps: changing the water every few days ... might help the slime issue ... but regardless.. pot it up if you can ...