orgoveg
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I started my seedlings too early

Oops! I got anxious this year in January and I sowed my German Johnson tomato seeds in the second week of January. I had trouble getting them to germinate until I used some heat and they finally popped up at the end of the month. Well, they are now 12" tall and I still have 2 months before our average last frost date. I only have so much ability to accommodate their space for indoor lighting as I have cats to protect them from. These are from seeds that I have been saving from season to season and I used all the seeds I had so they have to produce this year or I will lose the strain I have. I am up-potting them as necessary so they don't get root-bound.

So, without going to alot of trouble to build a greenhouse or try to create more space, I'm looking for ideas. I will go to those lengths if necessary but I'm looking for a simple solution. The biggest problem is the height that they will reach before I can't raise my fluorescent lights any higher (and will probably need more lighting than what comes from the top). I'm wondering what will happen if I clip the tips off to discourage upward growth and encourage outward growth.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Dillbert
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>>they have to produce this year or I will lose the strain
>>Any thoughts are appreciated.

don't put all your tomato eggs in one basket.
try a couple different approaches - one being let a couple go rootbound, concentrate on survival.

it may happen that you will not get a big crop of your plants this year. but
if you're intend on saving the strain and 'the one and only approach' fails, oops.....

you might check with local florist/greenhouses/etc to see if you can convince them to tomato-sit a couple plants . . .

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applestar
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Simple solution: "Clones"

Let the suckers/side shoots grow until they get some thickness to them -- this weakens the leading tip of the main trunk and slows it down so you may not need to "top" it though you can if you get desperate or you want to encourage more side shoots to grow.

When the side shoots have two or three pairs of leaves plus the growing tip, cut at the main trunk and root in water until roots are 1/2"-1" long. If you have willows growing that you can cut the branches from, willow water (chopped branches steeped in hot water overnight and cooled) will encourage root growth.

Cut off the lowest pair of leaves and pot up the rooted cuttings in 4-6" pots and keep under the lights.

Voilà! Many smaller German Johnson plants that will be ready to plant out when time is right. :wink:

sepeters
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applestar wrote:Simple solution: "Clones"
applestar, you are a genius!

orgoveg
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Dillbert- You're right. I planned on experimenting with more than one method. Thanks alot for the input.

Applestar- That sounds like what my uncle was trying to tell me on the phone, but I didn't really understand what he was saying. (His Cajun dialect is thick and difficult for this simple Yankee to follow). I thought he was telling me just to cut the suckers off and root them. I didn't know about willow water - that's very interesting.

I'll definitely try that. Thanks alot!

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rainbowgardener
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Willow water is a natural version of rooting powder, which you can buy.

Yeah, when I was newer at seed starting, I thought if early is good, maybe earlier is better and tried starting tomatoes in late January. Had the same kind of disaster with tomato plants that were way too big, no place to put them. Tried putting them in front of windows and where they instantly got extremely leggy.

So I switched to planting tomatoes on Valentine's Day. Eventually, I decided even that was too early. This year I planted tomatoes 2/22. My average last frost date is 4/15, so I am now starting them less than 8 wks ahead of ALFD.

orgoveg
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I had just the opposite experience, always waiting too long to start and then the plants never got very big in the short growing season. It seems like last year I started around the end of February and it worked out well. This time I jumped the gun, of course.

Last year started with everything going swell until the drought. I went on vacation, returned, and everything was in very poor shape. Then, every time I had my eye on a nice tomato to let over-ripen on the plant for seeds, a squirrel or groundhog would steal it just before I was going to pick it. So, I ended up with precious few seeds that I had scraped off the ground amongst the evidence that the thieves left behind.

You have to be a fool to love gardening. I'm a fool :)

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rainbowgardener
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It's always a bit of a guessing game. 2/22 was waiting a little longer than I usually do, which should have been a good thing. Except that this year, I switched from commercial potting soil, to making my own. Everything seems to be growing a bit slower than when they were pumped full of Miracle Gro. I may end up wishing I had started a little sooner! :)

You could let your tomatoes finish ripening indoors to collect the seeds from them.

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ElizabethB
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Apple's suggestion of harvesting suckers is a good one. I root late season suckers to plant in late summmer for fall tomatoes. I have never rooted in water. I keep only the top 2 or 3 pairs of leaves and plant the entire sucker horizontally gently bending the top up. Tomatoes like to be planted deep. Roots develop all up and down the buried stem. You could also repot your plants by removing all side growth and leaving 2 or 3 leaf sets on the top. Bury the entire stem. Your tomatoes will thank you for the deep planting.

Good luck!

orgoveg
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Yeah, I guess I will let the best tomatoes finish indoors. I read somewhere that it is best to let them get over-ripe to be sure the seeds are fully developed.

ElizabethB - I see that you are from the great State of Louisiana. I mentioned above that my uncle is Cajun. It's interesting that you and he both told me the same thing. That's exactly what he told me to do. I understand it now that you have translated it for me :)

So, I now have 4 different methods to try and I will do all of them. I already gave one plant to my mother-in-law who has a huge sunny window to grow it in. There is one hedge against my bets.

valley
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I've had my ear pressed to the door listing as ElizabethB again is talking of deep planting. I've held back from doing that until now. But I will for sure do it this season. Thanks

Richard

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ElizabethB
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I have tomato seedling growing. When they are large enough to plant outside I will trim all of the side foliage to the top leaves and plant them deep. Maters really like to be planted deep. Adds a lot to the stability of the plant. Better production results from a much deeper root stock.

Anxious Mother - have germination still waiting for true leaves on my babies.

3 Pound Tomato
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I'll start mine this weekend, and plant outside about mid May.

orgoveg
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I want to thank everyone for the advice I received in this thread. I took a bunch of side shoots off and tried rooting them with two methods. Half of them were set into cups of water after dipping in rooting powder. The other half were also dipped in rooting powder and set into the pots with soil. Most of them started out looking sickly from the stress but a majority survived it and produced nice roots. The shoots planted directly in the soil fared better overall. Many of them are now looking like they will start growing soon. If I hadn't culled them to save space, I could have nearly doubled the number of plants. It worked out well and I have a new trick up my sleeve!



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