Tomato seedlings need help

Can anyone please give me some advise on keeping my tomato seedlings healthy and happy until I can put them outdoors? This is my first year raising anything (other than nastursiums) from seed. My heirloom tomatoes (Bright Rainbow, Red October, as well as SuperSweet 100) have all grown like crazy - planted 3/29 - have been moved into 6 1/2" pots, and are about 10" tall. I have them inside at about 70f and under grow lights. My problem is that they are starting to flop over and I'm not sure what to do to correct the problem. I keep them watered but haven't fed them anything yet.

Appreciate any advise I can get. Thanks in advance.

Rhonda

They need some cold to build up strength in the stems. That is called hardening off. I usually start putting them outside in the cold for a few hours a day and work up to keeping them outside overnight. Last night was the first night for me that my tomato seedlings stayed outdoors all night long. Hope this helps.

Cindy

Thanks Cindy. I put the little guys out for a few hours this afternoon & will begin increasing their time outside dependent on the weather. Glad to get the process started as I'm just about stumbling over the plants in my livingroom.

You're a gem - appreciate the info.

You are welcome.

Actually, chilling has nothing to do with stem strength & is counter-productive. Bright light and warm temperatures increase the amount of photosynthate produced in relationship to leaf/stem mass. This allows the plant to layer more cells in the cambial layer. Distance between leaves also decreases with brighter light, which means more leaves & branches feet the stem. Hardening off is more about acclimating the seedlings to bright light conditions. The air flow (breeze) does help to strengthen stems as it stimulates the production of lignin, the material that makes stems more wood-like.

Grow lights are designed to provide light in specific ranges required by plants, but standard shop lights with two fluorescent tubes per fixture provide plants more light and are much less expensive. Use cool white fluorescent tubes that provide 3200 lumens each.

When it comes time to plant your tomatoes, strip all but the top two sets of leaves from the plant and bury them deeply, or strip leaves & lay the plants on their side in a sort of trench so just the top is above the soil. This puts a very strong root system under the plants, quickly.

Al

Never heard of your method before Al. Guess I'm from the old school of doing things.

Cindy