Advice please on sprouted seeds!

[sybster1000]

Hello, I am putting up a greenhouse and sprouted some seeds indoors. Well, I had to leave town emergently and when I got back, they have sprouted but are VERY leggy/long stemmed. They are seedless cukes and some tomatoes. How can I remedy this? When I transplant them can I bury them a bit deeper, otherwise they are going to fall over! Thanks for help.

[rainbowgardener]

Definitely bury the tomatoes deeper. That's always recommended, even for non-leggy ones. Tomatoes will send out roots from all along the buried part of the stem, so burying more stem increases the root system.

I don't think it works that way for the cukes. Anyway they are vines, they are supposed to fall over and crawl along the ground.

Just be sure they get plenty of light. The legginess is an indication that they weren't getting enough light.

[CharlieBear]

Cukes don't like to be disturbed, so it is best to start them in pots made from newspaper wrapped around vegetable cans. Make them about 4" deep. You only want to start cukes, squash etc about 2-3 weeks before you are going to put them out, so you might concider restarting the cukes.
After you transplant the tomatoes, run a fan close to them several times a day or gently pat the tops back and forth as if the wind were blowing back and forth. That will help them to develop thicker stalks. If they are too leggy, then of course this will only help so much. You didn't say how old the tomatoes were and if they had been pricked out and potted up once or not. You can bury the tomatoes as deep as there is that fuzzy stuff along the stem, that is the area that can form new roots, don't go any deeper.

[sybster1000]

Thanks for the info. They are only about a week into emergence. Yes, they are out side now in sun. It is still hot here in TN. I don't want to throw away the cukes..they were expensive! The Armenian seedless type for the Greenhouse. Thanks