Yes, it really is best to remove the leaves and stems of the part that will be buried. But since you have already buried it it will do more harm to pull it up to remove them that it will to just leave it. The buried leaves will eventually rot allowing the new roots to develop from the stem. Tomato plants grow roots all along any part of the stem that has soil contact - thus the recommendation to plant them deeply always a good practice. Assuming this is a standard Early Girl which is an indeterminate variety, rather than the variety called Bush Early Girl and since you are only using a 5 gallon container, then yes, you will need to cut off all but 2 of those side stems. But check the tag to be sure because if it is a Bush EG, you don't have to remove them. Bush varieties are bred to grow that way...like a bush. ;) Some trim to one stem but the plant will get quite tall (6') so in that small a container 2 stems will work better I think. You'll find a great deal of info about all this over on the Growing Tomatoes forum here (linked at the top of this forum's front page) and there are also great FAQ's there on how to prune and how to grow in containers, feeding, staking the plants, etc. Be sure to check them out. Enjoy your plant. Dave

Hi Xuan, Variegates just tend to be slower growers, I suppose because they photosynthisize less due to less green surface. If you have some all-white growth, that will slow it down further. Some remove all-white growth, some don't. I generally do, though I might wait a few months and enjoy the white growth for awhile before removing it. It's awfully pretty, but I feel it's not worth sacrificing growth, because that's really what we live for in our plants, right? I just got my variegated kerrii this spring and it put on a little new growth, but not much. I'm hoping it'll take off next year, but I'm certainly not anticipating growth like I see with the green kerriis! Denise in Omaha

The cling wrap will help keep in the humidity and heat like you said, so I would keep it on. I am guessing you have shop lights or CFLs, and they don't get very warm so I would not worry about it getting to warm. If the cling wrap is giving you more of a headache just remove it, your seeds will be fine...just take a little longer germinate. As soon as the first one germinates, get the plastic off, and crank up the light. I have never started succulent seeds, what kind are your growing? Sounds fun and interesting! What is their mature age? Keriann~

first.. remove dead leaves ... if they were in the ground.. i would suggest that is where early slugs are hiding ... second ... you should be able to tell from the weight of the bag... how much water is in there ... if you had a grow bag of dry media ... im just making up numbers.. maybe it would weigh one pound ... if you can barely lift a bag .. and it feels like ten pounds.. well ... you have 9 pounds of water in there... just a little more than a gallon.. if that old 7 pound thing is correct ... what you should do over the summer.. is water a bag ... mark the date.. and not water it again.. until you see the plant wilting a bit ... then see how many days to took to dry ... and then water accordingly ... i think you ought to cut way back.. until you figure out some facts to work with ... until the high heat of summer hits.. i cant really think they need water every day .. especially when they havent spread out their water losing leaves to the atmosphere ... and keep track of spring rain amounts... to use in your equation ... my bottom line.. as usual ... try not to kill them with too much love.. and watering every day in march.. might just be that ... ken