Well I would do that except as stated before the carrot seedlings I do have are in clusters; there is almost no space between the seedlings I do have. I figured I should wait a little while to thin them out; they are germinating earlier than anticipated. They take 10-14 days to germinate from seed according to the seed packet info but they are 3-7 days early. I don't want to wait until the root part of the vegetable (where you can see the orange part of the carrot) starts to develop because as said there is no space in between the carrot seedlings I do have. I was planning on waiting until next week to thin them out. However will they still be too young? They're a couple days old right now. I want to thin them out early next week or middle of next week. The reason for this isn't due to time constraints but rather I'm afraid if I wait too long due to overcrowding with the seedlings this will effect them poorly. It was recommended to wait 1-2 weeks however will this be too long to wait? How tall should they be when I thin them out? Please specify as a recommendation how tall they should be in inches when I thin them.

That's a good set-up, Macky77. I wish I had a dedicated space. DH had to build the shelf in the bedroom so I wouldn't have to have the light hanging in the living room(we're in a rental). To keep cats off of your type of shelving, I would attach chicken wire or fencing on the sides and hang a separate piece on the front with maybe S-hooks so it could easily be removed for working with the plants. I'd also make sure the shelving was secured to the wall. It's nice your DD wants to grow things! If your toms get too leggy, you could always take cuttings to keep them going until spring. Ann71, the cats are indeed individual. One ignores the plants, two like to be near the light for heat and one will rattle the chain to wake me up in the morning(at the risk of being squirted with water). He's the same one that knocked everything over on the range...he's just a rascal that knows how to push our buttons. Once the weather is nice enough for them to go outside, they don't really bother with the plants. I keep a container of wheat grass growing for them all winter to chew on too, instead of chewing on my few houseplants.

maybe that's how they grow , see the link http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDoVx9gU1SxgMAT0CJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTFxMmNrcDdrBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZANiNjdmMjg5Njc0MGE4MGEwOTA3YmI2NjViZWEwMTMzYQRncG9zAzE-?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dcoreopsis%2Bseedlings%26sado%3D1%26n%3D30%26ei%3Dutf-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-900%26fr2%3Dsg-gac%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D1&w=1024&h=683&imgurl=seagreenandsapphire.files.wordpress.com%2F2013%2F04%2Fcoreopsis-seedlings-1024x683.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fseagreenandsapphire.wordpress.com%2F&size=422.7KB&name=%3Cb%3Ecoreopsis%3C%2Fb%3E-%3Cb%3Eseedlings%3C%2Fb%3E-1024x683.jpg&p=coreopsis+seedlings&oid=b67f2896740a80a0907bb665bea0133a&fr2=sg-gac&fr=yfp-t-900&tt=%3Cb%3Ecoreopsis%3C%2Fb%3E-%3Cb%3Eseedlings%3C%2Fb%3E-1024x683.jpg&b=0amp;ni=160&no=1&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=119b3achs&sigb=140ahbnve&sigi=12gkoeavt&.crumb=hS7MQ8WJI48&fr=yfp-t-900

Yes, I figured the peppers got too wet, you could really see the Burpee mix wicking up the water and having the "greenhouse" zipped up didn't help. They are drying up some now, the plants look OK but I think potting up might help. Don't know whether it's the Burpee (only used a little of it last year, I don't remember for what) or the new used plug flat with 1 big hole per cell? Half the tomatoes are in a mix that's mostly Burpee with a little bit of Jiffy and they didn't suck up the water as quickly, I didn't see the surface get wet. In act, seemed fairly dry today so I watered them again, but didn't touch the peppers. I don't think I should have to water the tomatoes every 3 days, but the peppers got really wet so they're going to go 5-6 days at least. I don't know why the tomatoes are sending roots down to the bottom of the cells. I've only bottom-watered them once since I just took them off the heat this weekend after the heirlooms germinated. I had just been misting them while they were on the heat (and I was careful to leave the cover ajar for a little bit of circulation while I was waiting for the stragglers the last couple of days last week). None of them has multiple roots coming out, not even the cells with 4-6 tomatoes (some of my seeds got shifted from one cell to another - I hope they're all the same variety! Though I was careful to put the cherries next to the beefsteaks, and purple next to pink, etc. just in case. Only CP and BK ended up next to each other so I might have some of those mixed).