Is it okay to start hardening off right after germination?

[bate181]

I dont have any grow lights. I was wondering if i can begin harding off once the cotyledons emerge. I started seeds a while ago with store bought seeds that i dont really care about.

i just sowed some new ones that i got from TGS, and i want to make these ones count because i plan on using them for a fall harvest in a new garden.

another question, when i transplant the plants from small cells to bigger pots, would it be best to transplant them into some store bought potting soil? what do you guys transplant them into?

[dice]

... transplant them into some store bought potting soil?

Most people probably transplant into the same seed-starting
mix that they sprouted the seeds in (unless the seedlings did
not do well in it). Carolyn has said in another thread that she
uses any old potting mix that she can find for that.

If you scroll down to a post by ROB TWO-HAWKS in the thread
at the URL below, he supplies a couple of recipes for homemade
container mix:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ight=leaf+mold

As for hardening off with just cotyledons, that would not be
much different from what happens with volunteers that sprout
from seeds left in the soil (from split or rotted fruit or dropped
there by birds). Just don't let them dry out in the pots.

[feralcatfriend]

If you set your babies out when it's windy and the temps are in the 40s, it will only be a couple of hours before they are dead.

Don't ask me how I know that.

However, you CAN get away without transplanting from the seed cells to bigger cups at the right time. (But if you do, just get a bag of potting mix--NOT garden soil--potting mix. You can figure out how much you will need because both your cups and the potting mix show their volume on the package. A quart of potting soil will fill two 16-oz. plastic cups. Don't worry about magic formulas for DIY potting mix.)

If you get sunshine in your home, you can get pretty far along by moving your seedlings to follow the patch of sun, or setting them in a sunny, sheltered place outside during the day and bringing them in at night.

If they get a bit leggy, your salvation will be the way you plant them. Make sure to remove all but the top few leaves and then plant them up to the base of those leaves. Then the entire stalk can send out roots. Be patient and even scrawny, leggy transplants can grow up to be big, strapping plants.

Don't ask me how I know that.

Cynthia

[elkwc36]

You could transplant to the garden if you provide some protection like a plastic bucket ect.. I started several direct sown this year and also have moved young ones before they had their full first set of leaves. They have done fine. Most of mine will be bigger this year but it can be done. JME. JD

[dice]

I have put seedlings with a couple of sets of true leaves out
with no hardening off by covering them with plastic milk jugs
with the bottoms cut out. I would remove the caps on the milk
jugs in the daytime, so that they would not overheat and some
air circulation could get in there, and then replace them in the
evening if it was going to be cold. The point of the milk jugs
was to avoid sunburn or possible windburn on the tender seedlings
(the plastic in milk jugs diffuses the sunlight) in the daytime and
have frost protection if it was going to be close to freezing at night.

After a few days of this, the weather changed from clear
and sunny to cloudy, so I removed the milk jugs and left
them off all day. After a few cloudy days, a little rain,
and nights in the mid-40s (F), they were hardened off
and good to go. I still kept the milk jugs handy for a couple
of more weeks in case I needed them for night time frost
protection.

[Vince]

bate,

Where are you at in SoCal? This time of year you should have no problem putting the seedlings out(no need for grow lights). If it gets too hot just put them in a spot that gets partial sun for a while until they get a little bigger. I like to put the seedlings on the porch in full sun right away(when I go to work in the morning) and then put them in the house for the night to keep them nice and warm. In many places in SoCal, This time of year there is little reason to bring the sprouts inside since the night time temps are usually high enough 55-65(of course now we are in an unusual cold snap). Soil, differs for me every year and things usually are fine(matter of individual preference). One thing is the more air the roots get the better, don't buy any garbage that will pack down into a hard cake.

Vince

[bate181]

hey vince. im in la verne. pretty close to pas. i have had them under grow lights the past 3 days due to weather. but may just end up putting them out once it heats up.

this is my fist year growing tomatoes, are people in socal able to grow year round generally? also, do you know of any places that sell compost in bulk?

[Vince]

bate,

Tomatoes year round? Year round as long as we don't get a hard freeze. The problem is you can have the plant, but won't get fruit the whole year. In the summer you usually won't get to much fruit set from mid June to mid Sept do to heat. Hopefully this cool weather will hang around a little longer since I don't have any fruit set yet this year(started really late). From Mid Sept.-Early March you won't get a lot of fruit set accept on cherries(Do to low temps). Even if you get the big toms to set during this period they usually won't get that big and will grow and ripen very slow. This year I had a huge harvest of cherokee purple from late january through mid march. Although I have nursed plants through the summer for fall harvest, I like to plant two rounds of plants instead of keeping them alive, because the hold over plants start to take a beating from disease and the new ones perform better.You should try both methods and see what works for you.

You mentioned you have start fall seeds now . From my experience it is a little early in this area to start fall plants they grow really fast in the summer. I think 1st week of july through first few days in August work best for me. Last summer I started the plants in early june and they looked beutiful by mid july. Then all the sudden fungus galour and 80 transplants in the trash. The point being, that the longer you have nice transplants sitting around in peak fungus time the more likely they are gonna get it. I Don't use daconile, maybe this would have helped. So I restarted on August 3rd or so and put the transplants in the ground the first week of September and every thing worked out fine. If you got a good indoor settup I am sure you could keep the plants more sterile inside under lights, until set out time(I just don't have thew space indoors to do this).

The key point about getting the fruit to set in the fall here is to have the plants ready to the point where they can throw out lots of flowers in October to the first 2 weeks in September (this is when temps are most likely to be good 70-80's).

One more point about fall winter tomatoes. Some say the flavor is bad in the winter. From my experience this is not exactly true. You should get plenty of tasty toms, the difference is you will see more variability with respect to texture and flavor. Actually the biggest variability is texture for me(More grainy and mushy toms in winter as aposed to summer).

As far as bulk compost, no idea.

[bate181]

very helpful vince. im going to attempt to grow year round. even if i dont get fruit, ill gain some experience.

on my current tomato plants i have plenty of flowers but none of them want to fruit. however, i do have one beginning fruit on my black krim. its about the size of a marble at this point

another question, where do you get your soil amendments?

[Vince]

bate,

I just moved here about a month ago from Riverside. So I have no favorite place here. As previously mentioned I do things different year to year. This year I got 18 in the ground at the new place. All I did was throw in some composted cow Manure from Osh and mix it in. For the potted plants I bought something from Osh called cactus mix or something. Seems like great stuff, toms of perlite, Vermiculite as well as a bunch of other stuff, very lite and fluffy. I made a mix of about 50-60% cactus to 20-25 percent both Osh potting mix and composted steer manure. The transplants seem to be loving it.

[coronabarb]

bate, for amendments, be sure to stay away from any stuff that has too much woody matter in it. Light and fluffy, like vince says, is better. As far as winter tomatoes go, I've had plants live through the winter, but with low nighttime temps, the sugar never really develops. I think the tomatoes taste nasty like that...but I guess I could try cooking with them and add sugar if needed.