Elmo Cherry Tomatoes

[Gumbysqueak]

Hello all! I introduced myself and two year old BabyGumbysqueak on the welcome thread and now need some serious help.

BG: Granny bought a gardening "kit" for BabyGumbysqueak at Lowes... Including Elmo cherry tomato plant seeds and little planters. Hubby and I assumed they were dead but decided to try. I took old dirt from my flower pots stored in the garage and hubby dumped the whole pack of seeds into the six pots. I patted a thin layer of dirt, covered them with Tupperware and placed them upstairs since it slightly warmer (we keep the house at 64 when out and sleeping.) That was about two or three weeks ago. We now have a tomato invasion. Platys believes they intend to take over the household and make BabyGumbysqueak their prince.

Current: I lost about a third of the seedlings due to lack of light, water and possibly fertilizer? I really have no idea, my husband waters them each morning. They are upstairs in front of double east facing windows. I fertilized them once with random plant food found under our kitchen sink. Last night I counted 47 with the double "real" leaves.

Fwd: New Message by knittergail

They are my little babies now, so what do I do? Platys has me saving yogurt cups and Propel bottles to cut down. Do I need special dirt? They look kinda yellow, does that mean they need fertilizer? Colorado's frost isn't over until Mid May so we have weeks until I can adopt them out and plant them in our raised bed.

[barefootgardener]

Those seedlings already have the second set of leaves and are getting tall and leggy from what I see in the pic..Time to transplant. You want a soilless sterile potting mix, (which is what I transplant in..Organic..) or a lightweight sterile potting mix. Some people use Miracle Grow potting mix..

Use sterile, clean containers, to transplant in..
You want to plant your seedlinds deep all the way up to the second set of leaves. More roots will form along the stem, making a stronger plant when you set out. So make sure the containers are deep enough for that..

You want your soil mix to be slightly dampened when filling your containers..

Turn your pots upside down and gently ease the seedlings out. Separate each seedling gently try to get as much root as you can, and plant all the way up to the second set of leaves..

Place in full sun or under grow lights.. Keep warm, but not to hot..I grow mine in temps around 70 degrees or so.. You want the seedlings to grow strong and sturdy..Let the soil dry out between waterings..Stick your finger down in soil to check..

No need to use fertilizer on young seedlings, until transplanting out in the garden..but if you have yellowing of the leaves now, make sure it is not from overwatering..You might have a deficiency..In which case you can use a weak solution of fish emulsion..or some use a little M.G..

Good luck! nice pic's..

[platys]

I am super jealous of my sister. So far, I've had one seed come up. I did only sow seeds at 2am Sunday morning, so maybe I'm a little impatient. Here's my lone Dagma's Perfection:

First seedling - Dagma's Perfection by knittergail, on Flickr

Apparently I should have used a bit more light and maybe something better than the macro mode on my camera phone.

[Gumbysqueak]

Originally Posted by barefootgardener

Those seedlings already have the second set of leaves and are getting tall and leggy from what I see in the pic..Time to transplant. You want a soilless sterile potting mix, (which is what I transplant in..Organic..) or a lightweight sterile potting mix. Some people use Miracle Grow potting mix..

Use sterile, clean containers, to transplant in..
You want to plant your seedlinds deep all the way up to the second set of leaves. More roots will form along the stem, making a stronger plant when you set out. So make sure the containers are deep enough for that..

You want your soil mix to be slightly dampened when filling your containers..

Turn your pots upside down and gently ease the seedlings out. Separate each seedling gently try to get as much root as you can, and plant all the way up to the second set of leaves..

Place in full sun or under grow lights.. Keep warm, but not to hot..I grow mine in temps around 70 degrees or so.. You want the seedlings to grow strong and sturdy..Let the soil dry out between waterings..Stick your finger down in soil to check..

No need to use fertilizer on young seedlings, until transplanting out in the garden..but if you have yellowing of the leaves now, make sure it is not from overwatering..You might have a deficiency..In which case you can use a weak solution of fish emulsion..or some use a little M.G..

Good luck! nice pic's..

Thank you Barefootgardener! I never would have thought of planting them up to those leaves. I will pick up some containers and soil on my way home.

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

Have you read this thread at the top of the seed starting forum? It has allot of good information. Also once they are sperated in their own containers watering daily will probably be way too much let the soil dry out in between each watering.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=437

Craig

[matilda'skid]

Fish emulsion that I bought stinks so ask someone here who knows more if there is a brand that doesn't stink. I hope you are successful then you will be hooked.

[dice]

Some places have liquid "earthworm casting tea" on the shelves.
It is kind of pricy compared to fish emulsion, but it has no odor
once you water seedlings or houseplants with it. Will not burn
your seedlings. (I have a worm bin, so I just mixed worm castings
with my seed-starting mix at about 1/4 worm castings. That
works well. I have used the worm casting tea that comes in
a bottle, too, though, and that also worked.)

A moisture meter usually ends up being a win here, because
you actually know whether the seedlings need water yet. (No
guess work.)

[Gumbysqueak]

Hello all and thanks for all the good advice.

I transplanted The Elmo plants over the weekend. Out of the 47 I was able to transplanted about 35. It was a delicate process. I set them in front of the corner window you see the window in the second pic. BRIGHT Colorado light comes in there at 6 am and when I check on them at 9:30 and they were all pretty sad the next morning. They were dry and wilted. We watered them and moved them to side. You can see where we put them in the first pic. I tried to water them once a day but they dried out fast. Lost about 8 over the weekend. The picture below are the survivors. Hubby said we lost another one last night. Overall I think my losses will slow down. I bought tomato fertilizer (forgot the name). When should i start to fertilize?

Fwd: New Message by knittergail


Fwd: New Message by knittergail

[cloz]

I am no expert, but I tried using peat pots once and after they killed all my plants , I threw the rest of the pots out in the garbage. The pots just wicked the water out of the soil and the plants dried out and died. I don't have that problem with plastic pots or foam or plastic coffee or yogurt cups.

[Gumbysqueak]

Originally Posted by cloz

I am no expert, but I tried using peat pots once and after they killed all my plants , I threw the rest of the pots out in the garbage. The pots just wicked the water out of the soil and the plants dried out and died. I don't have that problem with plastic pots or foam or plastic coffee or yogurt cups.

Good point. I have noticed the pots damp. The one I have in a pottery pot has been doing great. It would be easy to trade them out.

[RayR]

You can put sandwich size plastic bags around the peat pots, that will help to keep the moisture in. The only time I had problems with peat pots was when I had them outside in the sun—they dried out fast so I had to keep up with the watering.

[Gumbysqueak]

Elmo update! We have 25 plants going strong. Below is pic I took this last night. They are doing ok, but I am concerned they are getting leggy again. They also seem to be growing slower. How big should they be for planting mid-may?

Fwd: New Message by knittergail

[Gumbysqueak]

There is WorkElmo. I brought him into the office since he seemed lonely at home.
Fwd: New Message by knittergail

[platys]

He's looking pretty! I hope he does some work though!