Would You Repot and Move to Greenhouse

[marc_groleau]

I've got over 600 seedlings growing indoors under lights. I have moved them outdoors frequently on nice days so they a fairly well hardened.

There are 4 seedlings to a cell and I want to repot to individual cells before the roots get too large. Once I do, they will have to go to the unheated greenhouse during the day and the basement at night.

The forecast for the next 5 days is two nice sunny days and 3 days of clouds and rain with morning temps in the 40s and high temps in the 50s. Considering they'll be stressed from potting up, I leery of stressing them even further with cool cloudy weather.
Should I wait another week and let their roots get further entangled? that's my dilemma.
What would you do?

[KarenO]

If you have a greenhouse I would pot them up. They are pretty crowded. In a closed greenhouse full of plants the temp will be warmer than outdoors. I heat mine with a 25$ ceramic space heater and it keeps it warm enough at night.

[marc_groleau]

I'll take the advice of someone from Alberta. You must face this every season.

[KarenO]

pretty much but I don't have 600 seedlings, you have your work cut out for you. what kinds are you growing ?

Karen

[marc_groleau]

rutgers
porter’s pride
earl’s faux
sioux
eva purple ball
x pine female
x ch prpl female
stella rosa
luna rosa
black cherry
aker’s w. Viginia
greel domata
neaves azorean
prudens purple
omars lebanese
cherokee purple
small red early
jersey devil
san marzano
speckled roman
box car willie
dr. Lyle
st. Lucie
cuostralee
russian big roma
opalka
viva italia f1
beaver lodge
st. Teresa
siletz

[BennB]

In Seattle, it is common for the days to be in the 50's and nights in the 40's all through May (or longer). I have an unheated 8'X12' greenhouse and I've had potted up plants in it for 6 weeks and they are doing fine. The first few weeks when night temps could still dip into the 30's I made a small plastic tent (basically just clear plastic draped over some old tomato stakes. I have two high watt bulbs in cheap shop light fixtures on a timer under the plant trays and the "tent" that kicked on at dusk and help take the edge off the nighttime temps. Since I only need this for a few weeks, I just run a 100' extension cord from my garage.

The attached image is a screen capture of the downloaded data logger I put in the "tent". This chart is from March 2014, right before I moved my first starts out into the greenhouse. Day 1 (the 12th) is when I set up my "tent" and did not have any lights on at night. Day 2 (the 13th) is when I had one light on. Day 3 (14th) is when I had two lights on and extended to time a little on both sides to knock off the dips.

You can really see how the lights are effective at keeping the night temps from dipping. If you have a greenhouse, I would recommend you spring for a USB data logger. They are a bit expensive at about $60 to $100, but they allow you to really be confident that you are doing it right. The one I have been using for 3 years with one change of the AA battery, so it seems to be good investment.

[marc_groleau]

Thanks Benn.
Man you really run through some extremely differing temps in the course of a day!

[BennB]

Originally Posted by marc_groleau

Thanks Benn.
Man you really run through some extremely differing temps in the course of a day!

Keep in mind those temps are from inside the plastic tent inside my greenhouse, and since I didn't have any plants in it at the time I did not open it to vent during the day. The vents on the main greenhouse open when it hits 75 degrees. Under normal conditions on a 50-55 degree sunny day in March, the greenhouse gets to about 72. On a 55-60 degree sunny day in April, my greenhouse gets to about 75-80 with the vents open.

[marc_groleau]

I didn't realize that data was taken in an empty greenhouse. I have automatic vents on my cold frame. Those things are the best thing since beer in a can.
So I did begin repotting this weekend. Got a couple hundred done and they are all looking good so far. Thanks

[BennB]

Originally Posted by marc_groleau

I didn't realize that data was taken in an empty greenhouse. I have automatic vents on my cold frame. Those things are the best thing since beer in a can.
So I did begin repotting this weekend. Got a couple hundred done and they are all looking good so far. Thanks

So what are you going to be doing with all your plants? Last year I did 400+ starts all at the same time and a ton of varieties too, but I really only had room for about 40. So a lot went to friends and neighbors. I had a small "plant sale" at my office, basically just at cost and managed to get rid of most of them.

This year I dialed it back a bit and also did it in batches both so I managed production better and also so it was not so much work I had to do all at one time. As such, I have some that have fruit on them in containers the greenhouse while others are still under grow lights inside.

[marc_groleau]

I always grow a few hundred and give many away. This year I doubled up because I was going to grow them for a CSA. But this year the operators lost their lease on the property. So I am going to contribute some to the local community garden. I will have many left over. I was thinking today that once they,re all repotteded and doing well, I might do a giveaway here on tomatoville. Of course local pickup only.