My tomato plants

[jackiedon]

About a month ago I planted tomato seeds in 20 oz styrofoam cups and cut holes in the sides and watered good. I put them in the window with a sandwich bag over them. They've come up and getting taller but seems a little spindley in other words skinny. A few have died but most of them are growing up but just doesn't seem that strong. Is this normal?

Thanks for your help.

jackie

 

[rockytopsis]

I have been told that it is too much light to soon and I was told that if using something like miracle grow to feed the little plants to stop that there was enough stuff in the potting soil and it was not needed.

I do hope someone else comes on and gives more advice as I am getting ready to try to start seedlings again and would love to avoid that problem of tall spindly baby plants.

 

[bid]

If they are in a window they may not be getting enough light. That can make them grow taller, "leggy", and they look spindly. Some air movement would help the stems get stonger. I start mine in a window as well but they go outside on nice days. If the temperature is over 60 or so and the wind isn't too strong I put them out. That seems to help some for me. I put them on top of the dog house because it has a dark shingle roof, so creates a micro-climate, or at least thats my theory.

 

[theOEGBman]

Im glad someone else brought this up, because I've noticed it with my tomatoes as well. I never thought about the wind helping them be stronger, make sense though, haha. I tried the Wintersown deal this year, but after one tomato arrived, we got horrible winds that blew my jugs all over the yard. I brought that one up to my room and its doing EXCELLENT. Its got a nice, thick little stalk and its putting on more leaves. Another one came up in my room in the same pot and its tall and leggy. So I think having it outside when it germinated helped it, and I plan on doing all of my plants like that next year. Thank you for starting the thread, I appreciate it.


I thought I'd add, since Im sure others are wondering the same thing, if they do get tall and leggy, is there any way to save them? Or should we just start over?

 

[curly_kate]

Could you just plant them really deep when you put them out?

 

[farmerlor]

If they're leggy you've gotta start toughening them up for hardening. You can start with just brushing them a few times a day with your hand or get a fan to blow on them, start with a weak breeze and get it up to a good blow over the course of a couple weeks. Sounds stupid but it does help with the hardening process so that by the time you set them outside to harden they should be thickening the stem a little. Make sure they're not in the light 24/7. They need a rest.

 

[vfem]

This happened with a few of mine because the light was not close enough to the plant. It was also a little too cool for some of them and they started to die....

I warmed up the area, got a closer/larger/higher watt light, and now I underwater the plants as well and they have gotten much larger, and the leaves are much fuller as well. (Also a darker shade of green)