OK to transplant?

[sooby77]

Hello everyone,

I'm a newbie at tomato gardening this year and I have a couple of plants that's growing really well. I also attempted at starting two plants from seeds, SunSugar and Black Cherry. I'm going on vacation this Tuesday and won't be back for about a week and was wondering whether it's OK for me to put them on the ground at this stage? That way I won't have to worry about getting someone to water them. I have a soaker hose system put in on my other tomato plants to water every 3 days for 90minutes.

SunSugar


Black Cherry


Thanks for your thoughts.


Soo
North Raleigh, NC

[Granny]

They look a little bit small to me, though I don't know what others might say. I see they are in clay pots though. Now those you can do something with to auto-water:

Get two more clay pots. Put your pots that are holding the tomatoes in a couple inches of water for a couple of hours until the pot itself soaks up water. Now put the pot on another clay pot (upside down) that you have put into a big pot of water. As the pot your tomato is in starts to dry out it will draw water from the pot it is standing on, which will suck up water from the puddle in the bucket. Good for several days at least.

I used to use this method when I had to go away for a week or more and had a house full of plants to deal with. Stuck the plants on pots in the tub, then sealed off the tub with plastic to make a temporary "greenhouse." Works like a charm.

[sooby77]

Granny, thanks for the suggestion. I guess I thought I could just put them in the ground and see if they'll survive. I'm more worried about them being eaten alive by flea beetle or snails!

[Granny]

Sooby77, you should not just put the plants in the garden and walk away. If you have been raising them indoors, then they need to be hardened off before they move outside for the duration. Take them out for a little walk, then leave them out for a little bit, then build up so they are staying outside to play all day, then leave them overnight at least once or twice before you stick them in the ground.

[sooby77]

Granny, they have been hardened off and have been sitting in that pictured position for at least 4 days/night now. I left them in the exact spot where I planned on planting them to see how they will do (sunburn, pests, etc). So far, there was no sign of sunburn or any indication of stress. That's why I considered putting them on the ground already.

[Granny]

AH - now that is a different story! In that case I would likely put them in the ground too. The last thing you would want to do would be to bring them back in and "unharden" them. You might put a little collar around them if you are afraid of cutworm or put out a saucer of beer if slugs are a problem, but I wouldn't worry much.

[sooby77]

What do you mean by 'saucer of beer'? Slugs hate beer? I'm actually more worried about flea beetles eating up all the true leaves..

[Granny]

Slugs LOVE beer - so much they drown in the stuff. Just make sure the edge of the saucer is level with the ground - make a slight indentation for it. Cheap beer - no point in wasting the good stuff.

Are you having a flea beetle plague? Are they on the leaves now while the plants are in about the same spot anyway? If there are no flea beetles now then I wouldn't think they would magically appear in just a few days.

[sooby77]

Cool! I didn't know that slugs love beer! I'll have to try that. At the moment, flea beetles have not yet appeared on the seedlings, but among the four plants (back row) in the pic, the leftmost had the most problem with flea beetles, while the rest was more or less undisturbed. Of course, it has outgrown the problem at this point.

[sooby77]

It's now in the ground and hopefully they'll survive!

[garnetmoth]

Ive got a lil tent of wire cage and Reemay row cover for a transplant-helper.

its about 10" tall and wide, and it shades one plant. Ive also got a hoop that is about 1/2 the size of my beds, in case im transplanting multiples (or trying to grow delicate things once it warms up.)