Leggy seedling help

[hornstrider]

I have been growing tomato’s for approx. 10 years. My first year growing tomato’s I purchased “6-packs” of Celebrity tomato seedlings from a box store, and planted after Good Friday on the advice of my Father in Law. It seems I actually had a decent crop in my first few seasons. After a few years I started going to tomato forum’s to learn more about growing tomato’s. I learned from the experts on the forum’s that I should get my plants in early to insure success in the Texas heat. After approx. 3 or 4 years I started growing my own seedlings. At first I grew hybrids, and when it became time to plant out I would not plant my own seedlings because when I visited the nursery’s I noticed their plants looked so much better than mine that I discarded my seedlings, and planted the purchased plants. Finally 4 years ago I purchased two grow lights from a horticulture store, and also discovered IHORT, and Root Riot grow plugs. At this point I started putting my seedlings into the ground since my plants looked better than what I could purchase. The last few years I started my seedling on Jan 1st, and started planting out in mid to late Feb. I never lost a plant due to a freeze until last year, and I lost 7 plants out of approx. 35 tomato plants. I learned my lesson so this year I started my first batch on Jan 7th, and my next batch on Jan 15th…………..thus far 2014 has been a brutal winter. I planted a few plants on Feb 14th, and lost 1/3 of them last week when it got down to 25 deg. It is supposed to get down to 27 deg. tonight, and a freeze is predicted for tomorrow night also. I am probably going to lose most of my plants tonight. I will do my best to protect, but I will only be able to save a few. My problem is my first batch of seedlings are too leggy, and I do not want to even try to plant them. My second batch are looking good, but starting to get leggy.

I harden off my plants in the southeast corner of my greenhouse. The plants get filtered sunlight most of the day in this location. During the winter I grew lettuce in three EB’s in this location. I pulled the lettuce, and put my plants on top of the EB’s to use this location for hardening off. I put most of plants in treys w/out drain holes. There was not enough room in the trey’s for all of my plants, so I put two plants (Black Krim) directly on the potting soil (no trey). To my surprise these two plants are rather tall like the others but not leggy at all. The roots came out of the bottom of the 4” pot and into the potting mix in the EB’s.

See pic of my first batch of leggy seedlings.
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps0c16e649.jpg

Here is a pic of one of one of my “leggy Indian Stripe’s”, that sat in a trey on top of EB, and a pic of a “tall Black krim” that sat on top of the planting mix in EB. These two plants were started on the same day Jan 1st.
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...psc9f5a3cf.jpg

Here is a pic of the Black Krim sort of showing the roots coming out of the bottom of the 4” pot. This plant is tall, but I will be proud to put into the ground.
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps0c835516.jpg

Here is a pic of a trey of my second batch of seedlings. As you can see they are starting to get leggy, but not real bad yet. They need to go into the ground asap, but I am going to have to wait awhile until the weather settles down. This may take another week or so. If I don’t do something now the second batch will look like the first batch. I am going to move the two treys of leggy plants and put the two treys of the second batch of plants (w/out the trey’s), and put directly on the potting mix……….. and hope for the best. Your input would be appreciated………what do I do to prevent these seedling from getting too leggy?………….shoot I may be buying my seedlings from a nursery again if this cold weather won’t let up.
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps571e9e95.jpg

[b54red]

You should have already been taking these plants outside to harden off and increase the amount of sunlight they are getting and bringing them in on cold nights. Despite being leggy and tall they are still fine for planting. I have put out plants as tall as 2 ft with no real problems. When they are that tall it is easier to plant them in a trench so that only about 8 to 10 inches of the plant is out of the ground. In a few weeks they will look just like any other plant and will have the benefit of a larger root system from the roots that develop along the buried stem.

Bill

[dpurdy]

hornstrider,
After looking at your pictures, I'm curious what is the normal temperature range within the grow room? If your keeping the temps in the 70 to 80 range, I would try to lower the temperature. I keep my grow room around 65 to 70 degrees. I found that warmer temps will increase upward growth and will produce taller leggy plants. The last pic that you have in your post looks as though some of your plants are showing signs of sun scald. It's usually appears as whitish bleach spots on the leaves. It's not necessarily a death blow to your plants. Most times they grow out of this condition. When I harden off my plants, I try to put them in a location that's not in direct sunlight. I put mine out under a large cherry tree that filters the sunlight which allows the plants to harden off in a few days. Taking your plants from under fluorescent lights and moving them directly into the sunlight, will shock their system. After all the time and effort that you put into growing them from seed, you don't want to loose them by hurrying the process.

Some of your taller plants you can lay the stem over in a small trench when you plant them. This would be after you trim the lower branches off. Any part of the stem that you bury will produce roots and add strength to your plant.

One way not to loose plants to the drop in temperatures is to find a way to make a temporary cover for your beds. A plastic cover will protect your plants if the temps drop down to the upper 20's. Here's a pic of what I do with my raised beds for the early Spring to protect them from cold temps and excessive rains.
dpurdy

[hornstrider]

Thank you Bill. The wind is brutal where I am located. The second batch have been outside inside of a makeshift tent for 2 weeks. I opened the front end to allow the morning sun to shine on the plants. I moved inside three days ago. I know how to plant leggy seedlings, but last year my neighbor wanted to grow a few plants. I helped him prep the bed. His plants were right next to mine just across the fence. I helped him plant the Cherokee Purple seedling. It was a leggy plant like the ones pictured, and I layed it down w/ only about 5" above the ground. His plants grew out beautifully....in fact his plant looked better than my plants..................but he only picked maybe 6 tomato's........beautiful plant not much fruit. He did not feed his plant like I did. He just stuck in the ground and watered.........he would forget to water, and I would water for him. When it warms up I will put back outside. For the next few days I am going to put them on the eb. BTW..........I purchased a few gal. of Texas Tomato food because of your recommendation, and your success...thanks
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps09989a9d.jpg

[hornstrider]

Thank you Dpurdy..........It does look like one leaf on the Earl's Faux may be discolored. Generally the look ok though. I do not have any shade trees to set under. Hardening off has been my weakest link. The shade cloth seems to work ok. Here is one plant that survived the freeze. In fact the C Special Tex has few tomato's on it. BTW..........Nice garden you have there . Very impressed.
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps97cd2d8a.jpg