When do I transplant my tomato seedlings?

Hi folks,

I have some tomato seedlings that are itching to get out into the garden. I started the seeds on 2/22/15 and the first one germinated on 2/24/15. I use soil blocks so they are not in planters. The roots are bursting out of the bottom of the seed block. I am zone 7a and my frost date is about 4/13. My soil temp outside is hovering around 62 degrees now. There is no frosted predicted for the next ten days at least, which gets me well past my predicted frost date of 4/13. Do you think it is safe to transplant my seedlings now? This is my first time growing anything so I hate to make a major mistake now and lose all my weeks of hard work!

Thanks all!
Christine

im in the same climate zone, and i have put mine in the ground a couple of days ago, if any colder weather makes a surprise visit, i will just toss a cloth covering over top of the cage. Although if you want to make absolutely sure i would go ahead and wait until after that predicted date. a day or two more of being in those soil blocks shouldnt hurt them.

although i jumped the gun a lot quicker than you did and started mine the moment February started, lol, so i ended up with some monsters to set out. ;) Im thinking i will wait until around the same time you did next year so i wont have to lug any big guys around until transplant time anymore.

Next time you transplant a seedling, dig deeper and bury the stem all the way to those top leaves. You can even snap off some lower leaves, up to, and including the "nurse" leaves, to clear the stem you will bury deep. Make clean cuts and snaps, and don't rip a leaf from the stem (like peeling a banana). The tear down the stem exposes the plant to disease.

The most important thing in transplanting a tomato seedling is to establish a good root system. The stem will make roots anywhere it touches the soil. if you don't want to dig a deep hole, you can dig a trench instead.

Simply withhold watering your seedling for a day or so and it will get limp and pliable, sort of like a noodle. Then you can lay it down into the trench on a curve, like an inverted L, without snapping the head off -- which would be disastrous... Lay most of the stem in the trench, and just leave the head outside of the dirt. The seedling will automatically srart growing vertically as it reaches for the Sun.

All of the stem buried underground will produce roots along that stem...

This message was edited Apr 11, 2015 9:23 AM

you both did very well by starting your seedlings as early as you did. Depending on how many days to maturity it takes for your seedling to produce fruit, starting early is not necessarily a bad thing.

I grow long season in determinate beef steak tomatoes. my average days to maturity is 85 days. in order for me to beat our Texas heat, my tomatoes must be in the ground by the second week of February with out fail. in order for me to have them ready I must start my seedlings December 20th.

I grow them for 6 to 8 weeks. Then it's time to harden them off, and transplant them into the ground. but, the second week of February is the middle of our coldest winter. consequently, I have to protect the seedlings. to do this, I have put all sorts of frost protection contingencies in place. my first defense against the cold is a covered PVC hoop. my hoop stays up year round over my raised beds. I simply change out the covers according to the season.

for winter I use solid 4 to 6 mil plastic sheeting.you can buy at Home Depot or Lowes. I fasten all the cover to the hoop with spring clips or bulldog clips. The solid plastic sheeting provides the most warmth under the hoop. once the weather changes, and the seedlings are established, I change to a perforated plastic sheeting. the holes allow air and water through.

once the tomatoes start setting fruit I may remove the cover all together. however, the hoop stays up.if I change out to another crop in the summertime I put shade cloth over the hoop to protect new seedlings from the brutal heat. I also have light weight frost cloth available.

if our temperature drops below freezing for a couple of hours overnight, in addition to the solid plastic I will throw old bed sheets, and/or light weight blankets over the plastic. if the cold temperatures hold for more than a few hours, in addition to those covers my additional contingencies include putting old fashioned Christmas tree lights underneath, or gallon milk jugs filled with hot water, or lastly, shoving a small space heater under the hoop.

this may seem like a lot of work and preparation, but once these things are in place, you have a good chance of getting your seedlings through the cold and into the growing season. to date, I have only needed to go as far as the additional bed sheets and lightweight blanket.

Hope this helps!

Linda

This message was edited Apr 11, 2015 9:51 AM

A hoop tunnel can really advance the season, protecting and warming the plants in the transition between greenhouse (warm, stable temps, no wind) to outdoors (wind, sun, hot and cold).

I do have some row cover material but I was planning on just laying them across the seedlings and staking to the dirt. Do you really need the hoops? I read that if they are loosely draped, the seedlings will continue to grow and lift the fabric with them.

Row covers like that can keep the bugs away, but depending on what fabric they are the cold could go right through them. Maintain an air gap between the plant and the fabric.

Hoop.

When in doubt, start more seedlings, so you can plant out half of them optimistically a little early.

If you have a frost that your protection can't handle, plant out the other half.

If not, give away the other half.