Catching up from a late start

[SueCT]

I was about 10 days behind in starting and transplanting my seedlings this year. Now they need to be ready in about 2 weeks but are only a 2-3 inches tall. Even less in some cases because they were planted deep when I transplanted them. It has been cloudy most days, 50s-60s (mostly 60s) during the day and high 40s to low 50s at night. I was considering taking about half of them and putting them outside in the shade in my wagon to see if they will grow a little faster. That way I could quickly and easily roll them into the garage if necessary. They seem to be slow growing and I am reluctant to lower the overhead lights too much because last year I had physiologic curing of leaves and I think the replacement T12s I bought were too strong. I don't want to go there again, so I have the lights about 12 inches above the plants this year, and put one of the old bulbs back in one light and placed that one only very close to those plants, but I think over time the old ones have become too weak. Decisions, decisions... This is what they look like now. The largest is about 5" high. Most are not even that large. Any ideas on getting these guys shooting up in the next couple of weeks? By the way they were potted up into miracle grow potting soil so it already has some fertilizer in it. I do have some TTF but have never heard of anyone using it on seedlings.

IMG_0085 by Susan Albetski, on Flickr

IMG_0082 by Susan Albetski, on Flickr

These were only transplanted a 3-5 days ago. I usually keep that blind closed because I have had seedlings get sunburned from that south facing window, but opened it for a couple of hours today.:

IMG_0083 by Susan Albetski, on Flickr

[greenthumbomaha]

Sue, we've had misty-cool-rainy, below normal temps and I've had transplants outdoors in this unseasonable weather for weeks. I think they are large enough and it will help them toughen up and grow stronger to be outside in the less than ideal sunny conditions vs indoors. I even planted cold tolerant varieties in the ground and they are growing slower than normal but still have grown a few inches and leaves are increasing in size and number.

- Lisa

[slugworth]

glass blocks UV
I had plants outdoors april 16th in cement blocks.
4th of july hybrid from saved seeds and sub arctic plenty.
The rest of the plants are indoors under lights or outside in the mini greenhouses.
I still have to till the soil for the traditional memorial day weekend planting.
I am donating the extra plants to the local community garden that supplies soup kitchens.

[slugworth]

I have an eight week old bloody butcher with a blossom.
I will baby that one in the house.
Sounds like a prime cloning candidate.
Started to clone my cukes indoors,the chinese suyo long.

[SueCT]

Glass blocking UV, is that good or bad, lol? It still burned my plants one year.

[b54red]

Get them outside at least during the day time and at night when it is in the 50s or above. Start in the shade and gradually move them into more and more sunlight until they are used to it then leave them in it. After a couple of days outside I would give them some liquid fertilizer but only 1/4 to 1/3 strength until they get a bit larger.

Bill

[SueCT]

Thanks, Bill. That is what I do every year to harden them off before planting, but they are usually quite a big bigger. I wasn't sure if they were big enough for that yet and if it would spur growth because of the increased light or if the cooler temps than they get in the house would retard growth.

[Scooty]

The lower temps 50-60 and more blue will help with forcing stocky short vegetative and root growth in a short time. The UV or lack there of shouldn't be a big issue methinks.

[xellos99]

My way is outdoors all day in glasshouse / hoop house or anything resembling that.
When light dips off noticeably for the day I bring them inside and use grow lights and turn lights off just before I sleep.
I use a product called Rhizotonic starting from only a few days old seedlings and seems to help make lovely rich green plants but I have no proof it works.

[SueCT]

Unfortunately I don't have a greenhouse, glasshouse or hoop house, or time to keep bringing them in the house and taking them out. I can put them in garage for shelter when necessary or outside, but that is about it. I work, so I can't even take them in if the weather turns while I am work, or move them after a couple of hours. I can place them outside on cloudy days in front of the house which is east facing and under shelter of the garage overhang, or the side of the house which is north facing, but with no overhang, and in when I get home if it will get too cold at night. I can leave them inside the garage all day if the weather looks like it might be bad. That is about it. Once they go out, they pretty much stay out and just get moved into more sun as they seem to be able to tolerate it. So my options are pretty much in under the lights I have or out.

[bower]

Personally, I would keep them under the lights until they are about twice that size. 3-5 days is not a long time to get settled and over the transplant stress, so you would be taking a chance to expose them to another stress risk when they're not over the first one. It will be easier for you to take care of them, as well, at least for another week. They will catch up fast in any case, once they get out in their ideal temperatures.

Fusion Power gave me this tip a long time ago, that it's risky to expose tomatoes to more than one stress at a time. This has turned out to be such excellent advice, I treat it as a rule.

[oakley]

I follow the same advice/formula as Bower. As a basic rule, that I've often broken.
It falls in the 'tough call' category.
We are having similar weather patterns being in the same zone. Whippy strong winds.
Sudden downpours. Half days of warm and sunny. Cool nights but not much below 50º.

My tomatoes are in all life stages. A dozen dwarfs and a couple dozen micros in their
final grow bags. They have been out for a couple weeks. (winter grows)
Many are like yours. A few trays still in their small cells. All are out from under lights since my
grow room is cold/damp. I chose to get them all outside and acclimated. The delicate ones under
the eaves and protected. I still lost one to the wind. Bent and snapped off. The whole flat
was pretty beat up.

I would wait. Even if you have extras to do a comparison, I bet their growth would be about the
same in no time. Maybe even the early ones outside would suffer from the cool nights and
double stress as Bower pointed out.

If you watch Craig's recent walk through his garden (driveway) he has all his out and even many
trays still in small cells. Much smaller than yours. He is NC and warmer but I mean that you are not
at all necessarily late in starting.

Mine were suffering indoors so I went against my 'better judgement' and usual rules. Yours look
healthy!

[Tormato]

I have all of 1 plant, 3 weeks old , 1 inch high.


Tonight, I start my main seedlings, 1 week later than in the average year.



I think it's rained 15 of the last 20 days, with 1 day of sunshine.

[SueCT]

Thanks, everyone. They actually look today like they are going really start growing now. I swear I can see a little growth in just a few days. I think they needed time to get over the transplant stress and put down a few new roots in their new homes. I still think they will be smaller than what I have put out in past years, but maybe they will surprise me. I like to start them outside when I have a couple of days off so I can keep an eye on them take them in early if needed at first. I might consider putting the first batch out next week. I am off This weeken and then again next Weds and Thurs, which will give them another full week.

Just to give you an idea of where I usually am, this is a photo I took of my seedlings on April 29, 2017. That would have been 11 days ago, lol.

2017 tomato seedlings by Susan Albetski, on Flickr

[AlittleSalt]

A little bit late is okay. They will look like they did in 2017 before you know it.