Did you read through this thread? These are moisture loving plants & I know I have personally stated in this thread that I've only succeeded in growing these in Terrariums or the bathroom next to my Shower. Short answer, no I don't think you can take the bottle off w/out the plant wilting again. They really need high humidity, Smart idea this bottle & nice job. Perhaps try to fund some glass vessel to use in place of the bottle for aesthetics (if you care abt that). So you're new to Houseplants? These aren't really beginner plants as you're discovering. Maybe pop over to the Terrarium Forum & do some reading. Don't know how active it is these days. These plants won't propagate from just individual leaves alone. You need to make tip cuttings which are cuttings comprised of at least 2 pairs of leaves for these plants. Put them in soil or moist Perlite & seal in w/ a dome or Cling plastic like Saran to conserve their moisture.

If you want to try your hand at making the most inexpensive, organic, and most durable ( durable=meaning breaking down the slowest, so that it lasts the longest before a rose needs to come out of the pot, root bound or approaching that state), try these simple ingredients that are readily available: 3 parts - mini pine bark mulch 2 parts - sphagnum peat moss, not Michigan peat moss, must be sphagnum peat moss 1 part - aged manure or aged compost...homemade or store bought 1 part. - average garden soil This formula is for all potted roses that are expected to remain in the container for up to 5 years. The pot should not be clay, that is unglazed terra cotta, but should be plastic or resin. Of Course, a pint sized own root rose should not go into a 15 gallon pot. It would most likely get rot in a heart beat. It has to be graduated up to the 15 gal. size in steps. Moses

Glad I could help Gail. Yeah, with the way AT grow, repotting can prove to be a nuisance to the plant, yet WAY overpotting initially can cause as many problems when you're trying to maintain an even level of moisture in the soil. I don't have any photos to show, but when I purchased the two plants, they'd each been occupying 1 gallon nursery pots. These poor things had 6 foot roots running out the bottoms of their pots. That's why I simply went with the biggest pot I had, and planted the other directly in the ground. Fortunately, neither plant missed a beat and never showed any signs of stress after the move. If you look at Lisa's second photo, the one under "How many Y's?" you can see all the marks from pinched off growth. It's a little less than beautiful right now, but it's a great way to focus the nuclear blast-level growth of these plants on where it counts: the canopy. I'm actually arguing with myself over when to trim cuttings. Initially I'd say "leave it alone to develop for a bit", but the more I think about it, some cuttings (like Lisa's) have leaves as long as the trunk. The transpiration from so many large leaves might prove to be (minutely) unhealthy for the plant. It may not hurt to pinch off a few, or even just cut the leaves in half. These take a long time to mature to the point where old growth might not grow new buds. Anything you cut away now should not negatively impact future leafing. Mine are still mass-producing nub growth along the woody stems. You (general) should still be cautious on what you pinch away though. In my second photo, you can see a new juvenile branch growing from the base. I left it alone to grow because I liked the opposite direction it was moving in, and figured it would help distribute the size and breadth of the eventual canopy. 100% pinchage removes the chance for happy accidents. You may find a new shape or pattern that can add to the overall look of the plant. Mike

To answer your original question, "What's wrong with my tomato plants?": It is most definitely sun scald, which someone else also pointed out. Take them out of the direct sun a little to let them recover and make sure to just give as much water as they need. Over-watering them after they've already been burnt might be their death knell. To address some of what was said here after that: Based on your pictures, the plants are slightly leggy, but only slightly in my opinion - the real issue you are dealing with now is that you put your plants into too much direct sunlight too quickly, and they need to recover from that before they'll do anything. I have seen some people who choose to grow seedlings on the windowsill without lights and they can turn out OK - not great - but hey, it's cheaper and if it works for you, no need to change it... everyone on here has their own opinions though. I choose to grow under lights and I sprout a month earlier than some and grow in the cooler conditions in my basement. That works great for me, but that has one primary disadvantage - the plants take a little longer to harden off to wind and direct sunlight... But hey, I'm willing to accept that cost since they are generally good stocky plants with good root systems. If you should choose to start indoors and grow under lights (which is recommended), you don't need to spend a fortune on lighting systems. I grow the majority of my seedlings under a jerry-rigged lighting fixture I got at a yard sale coupled with a florescent bulb I picked up from a local hardware store. No matter what you choose to do going forward, definitely check out the link that Dave provided. While growing tomatoes is far from rocket science, there are still some basics worth knowing before getting started. If you don't choose to follow everything you read, that's fine, but at least you'll have more to work with than before.