How long should one grow seed sprouted tomatoes inside before putting them outside? (but still in the sprouting trays and not in the dirt)

Mine died after a week outside. I had Rutgers and Brandywine.

I planted my tomatoes the last week of March in 4" pots. I filled them 1/3rd with good potting soil and put them on a heat mat set at 70. As they grew I kept adding more potting soil until the pots were full. I kept raising the fluorescent lights as they got taller and tried to keep the lights just off the tallest ones. I started hardening off this week. They are sitting on the trunk of a car with the rear windshield blocking the wind. I am up to 3 hours. Weather is partly cloudy and 60. I plan on planting over the weekend if the weather holds. I don't like restricting tomatoes in those small cells. You really have to be up on their watering needs. It is too easy to stress them in those, IMHO. So, long story short= 6 weeks for me.
Edit, I just re-read your post. Did you just put them out without hardening them off? What is your weather like?

I planted mine the 3rd wk of March, they are very tall and some becoming leggy, even with lights. But they are very forgiving, you can plant them deeply or trench them and they will be fine.

Next year, I will wait till the end of March! I just put them out a couple days ago.

What were your temps like during that week, Allenwrench? Was the sun bright and hot? Was it really windy? Or did you get a big downpour? Any extremes can kill off a young 'un that hasn't been hardened off enough. (I think if you'd ask around, most of us have probably done it at least once.)

Don't panic. For this year, you can always pick up some started plants from the garden center and get the experience of tending them through the season (plus enjoy the fruits of your labor later on ). Just try again next year on the starts-from-scratch.

I don't put mine out until I'm real certain that they won't freeze. I think it's going to be another 4 weeks and than means I'll need to repot them at least once more in the meantime.

Here, at least, you have to have more soil around them when you take them outside. They need extra soil to maintain moisture level. If you just have them in starting trays, the soil goes from too drenched to too dry and they just die.

I started mine on March 17, so they will have been growing inside for 12 weeks when I finally get them outside.

Once outside, they will live under row covers until July probably. The spring winds are just whithering here, and it's not unusual to have a freeze in mid June or later.

You need to know your Average Latest Date Of Frost and count back 6 or 8 weeks from that to start the frost tender plants that will be growing outside. Some people do start earlier and have bigger plants to set out which take longer to condition to the outside. Did you take time to "harden", acclimate your plants, to the outside? That can take a week, or more.

The instructions on my seed package had said 8 weeks before the last frost - which is how I did it last year. By the time they could go outside (memorial day) they were way too big. So this year, I didn't plant my seeds until 6 weeks before memorial day. I think it mainly depends on the zone you are in and your last frost free date (and some trial and error!) good luck!

Allenwrench - you said your plants died after a week. The ideal thing to do before going outside was to repot into larger containers as they outgrew the old ones. Than on nice warm days, place them outside, out of direct sun in the beginning, taking them back inside in the evening. Continue taking them out during the nice days, and bringing them back inside during the evening until the nights stay warmer than 50 degrees and your soil has warmed up also.

...seem's that Northeast United States would be a little far north to even be hardening tomatoes ( being a heat loving plant ) The first week of May.....

quote:

Originally posted by oh2fly:
I planted my tomatoes the last week of March in 4" pots. I filled them 1/3rd with good potting soil and put them on a heat mat set at 70. As they grew I kept adding more potting soil until the pots were full. I kept raising the fluorescent lights as they got taller and tried to keep the lights just off the tallest ones. I started hardening off this week. They are sitting on the trunk of a car with the rear windshield blocking the wind. I am up to 3 hours. Weather is partly cloudy and 60. I plan on planting over the weekend if the weather holds. I don't like restricting tomatoes in those small cells. You really have to be up on their watering needs. It is too easy to stress them in those, IMHO. So, long story short= 6 weeks for me.
Edit, I just re-read your post. Did you just put them out without hardening them off? What is your weather like?

That's a great system. My stuff is all leggy. I never thought of adding dirt as they grow.

quote:

Originally posted by Liz1:
What were your temps like during that week, Allenwrench? Was the sun bright and hot? Was it really windy? Or did you get a big downpour? Any extremes can kill off a young 'un that hasn't been hardened off enough. (I think if you'd ask around, most of us have probably done it at least once.)

Don't panic. For this year, you can always pick up some started plants from the garden center and get the experience of tending them through the season (plus enjoy the fruits of your labor later on ). Just try again next year on the starts-from-scratch.

Some days in the mid 70's with sun. Some nights in the high 40's. Will have to consider the extremes more so in the future.

How did the old timers do it in the prairie days? They didn't have all our fancy sprouting stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by Liz1:


Don't panic. For this year, you can always pick up some started plants from the garden center and get the experience of tending them through the season (plus enjoy the fruits of your labor later on ). Just try again next year on the starts-from-scratch.

In zone 6 is it too late to raise tomatoes from seed?

Yes, I can always buy some store bought plants.

But, I just feel bad, as a survivalist devotee I do a poor job o growing stuff from seed. My goal is to save seed and grow from that seed...or at least be able to if the need arose and not have to depend on Lowes or Walmart.

quote:

Originally posted by ctdahle:
I don't put mine out until I'm real certain that they won't freeze. I think it's going to be another 4 weeks and than means I'll need to repot them at least once more in the meantime.

Here, at least, you have to have more soil around them when you take them outside. They need extra soil to maintain moisture level. If you just have them in starting trays, the soil goes from too drenched to too dry and they just die.

I started mine on March 17, so they will have been growing inside for 12 weeks when I finally get them outside.

Once outside, they will live under row covers until July probably. The spring winds are just whithering here, and it's not unusual to have a freeze in mid June or later.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Is it better to start them in 3 inch pots and not have to transplant them until they are ready for the ground? Can they get by in 3 inch pots without having to go to big round pots?

I used small 1-1/2 inch cells and they do have wide extremes of moisture due to their small size. The previous responder had a good idea of just adding more dirt to the container after they started out with it only partially full.

Yes, what Kimm1 said.

I have planted tomatoe seed in the garden where it will grow for the season. I am sure you can do that in zone 6. Plant on your average last day of frost.

quote:

Originally posted by allenwrench:
But, I just feel bad, as a survivalist devotee I do a poor job o growing stuff from seed. My goal is to save seed and grow from that seed...or at least be able to if the need arose and not have to depend on Lowes or Walmart.

Nobody says you have to glean all this knowledge and hone it to perfection in one year. Better to learn to raise the plant and harvest your own tomatoes from plants you raised yourself than to buy somebody else's food altogether. Any experience is better than no experience. But go ahead and start some more if you like. See what happens!

Also, around here there are lots of plant nurseries to buy from; one need not rely on big box stores. Perhaps the same is true where you live.

quote:

Originally posted by allenwrench: How did the old timers do it in the prairie days? They didn't have all our fancy sprouting stuff.

Of course I wasn't there. But I'll bet that people who really, really had to rely on their crop for their food were extremely careful about when those babies went out into the world! I expect that the first Americans who saved veggie seeds and tried to beat the weather by starting them early did somewhat as I've read that the French did: Made outdoor hothouses heated with horse manure; laboriously moved hotcaps off and on the young seedlings according to the weather.

I'd also guess that people pushing Mother Nature's limits had a few failures along the way, learned from their mistakes, and didn't gamble the whole crop at one shot. I would further guess that mothers, fathers and grandparents taught their children, who became experts in their own right at a pretty young age. (I have been given excellent gardening advice by not one, but several teenagers I know -- born into families of growers, and obviously much farther up the curve than I am.)

quote:

Originally posted by allenwrench: Can they get by in 3 inch pots without having to go to big round pots?

I would even further speculate that their guiding question was something like "What can I do to grow the best plants and get the best crop?" versus "What can I get by with?" My observation is that in most other aspects of life, successful short-cutting comes after mastery of the skill, not before.

Oh, and Allen ... in the north, they ate a lot of meat and animal products. A shipload of cows saved the Jamestown colony (milk). The plains indians hunted buffalo & pheasant. Etc. Think pemmican; beef jerky.