Germinating & hardening seedlings.

I've been trying different methods of germinating tomato seeds. I finally built a light box out of paneling pieces with duct tape used as corner hinges, and everything covered with aluminum foil. I started with a fluorescent light but I didn't get the color I wanted in my new leaves plus they grew pretty leggy, quickly. I normally prefer leggy seedlings at planting time, but when they are still very new, it seems to promote damping off. I changed the light to a 100 watt halogen light and the leaf color is now vivid green.

Since we are now in the early part of a high temp. summer, I was also concerned about hardening my seedlings to accept the high temps (97 degrees F yesterday) and the intensity of the sunlight. By using the halogen light, I have been able to germinate the seed at about eighty five degrees and grow them at 95 degrees. I put one little "runt of the pack" seedling outside in the garden yesterday in full sun and full heat. It was only about two inches tall. I expected it to shrivel and die. It didn't die, but seems to be thriving. I don't know if I am fooling myself, but the high growing temps, intense growing light; and a strong drying breeze from an overhead ceiling fan seem to be hardening the seedlings as they grow.

Anyone have experiences to share with a similar method?

Ted