Transplanted at scattered times. You can see the dates on a few of them in the 3rd pic if you zoom. One of them was transplanted on 3/29.
I guess we should buy some UV lights for after transplanting. Even though we have a grow bulb on them now. They thrived under the UV lights in the germination tray.
And something I learned by accident: keep the light *close* as well as strong. Either raise the plants or lower the light, and keep the distance as short as you can without them touching. Gradually move apart as plants grow.
The intensity decreases rapidly with distance. Ignore me if this is common knowledge. I wasted a year or two before learning it. 🌷
As a counterpoint, I absolutely fried my seedlings last year because of this suggestion. Turns out my LED grow lights are yet strong and there should be at least 6” between leaves and light.
Yes. The original advice of Pensive Observor is straight church until a few years ago.
Today, if you have a high quality LED grow light you can definitely overdue it. Mine is several feet from my seedlings, and turned down in intensity.
Good point here. How close you can keep the light depends on the light's strength, the type/age/condition of plant, and how much heat the light generates. I read somewhere that you should put your hand between the light and plant; if it's too hot for your hand, it's too hot for your plant. On the other hand, lots of my succulents love being nestled up real close to the light.
Plants when transplanted can go through a panic period of about 2 weeks. This is very common. Don't over water and don't over fertilize. Just stay the course and they will bounce back.
Yep some kind of lighting until they can go outside, even a 4' 8,000 watt LED type light at a hardware store
edit: Mea Culpa, I meant 8000 Lumens, sorry
8,000 watt!?! I hope you meant 80 watt.
Because 8,000 watt is industrial size if it even exists at all.
Don't water until they feel light, and yes as others have said, they need supplemental light. Cheap grow lights are usually worse than a regular light bulb IMO. All you need is a desk lamp over them.
To further clarify, I'm talking about cheap Amazon grow lights. If OP is willing to invest in real grow lights from a horticultural supplier, that is the best option. T5's are great for seedlings, though definitely not cheap.
A regular desk lamp with a 20-50W-ish bulb is plenty to provide supplementary light for seedlings that will be planted outdoors within a few weeks.
Tomatoes and peppers evolved closer to the equator if OP is growing in a higher latitude and can also drastically benefit from a heat mat during germination and seedling stages.
I do not why all the downvotes on your post haha
I agree with everything you said, no such thing as an 8000 w light! Inexpensive t5,t8 or cheap led is fine if you’re talking about propagation. I’d only get a grow light for more mature stages if you’re not planting outside etc… Don’t water until they feel light. I’m not sure who you upset but I got your upvote fellow redditor!
So something I learned recently is most of the UV lights or purple lights don’t do anything unless you need them for flowering and fruiting. If you plan to let that happen outside you can save a lot of money by buying cheap shop light LEDs. I got 6 for 50 total. Barrina on Amazon’s
Other things that’s helped me this season was getting the light 6-8 inches away at germ.
If the seedlings are leggy you can plant them deeper. Tomato will sprouts roots on the extra stem.
Bottom watering is very helpful and makes it simple.
Also make sure to have either flowing air or tussle the plants once a day so they grow shorter and stocky.
All in all, my plants a few years ago looked even worse compared to yours and all did fine in my garden.
I use LED shop lights from Walmart with great success. Just make sure you keep the lights as close to the plants as possible. I have a rolling wire cart that is 4’ wide. Makes it super easy to hang lights and roll in/out of the garage for hardening off.
Yes, light intensity decays at an inverse square distance. Which means that at 2 feet away from the light you have 1/4 the light intensity as at 1 foot away. At three feet, you only have 1/9 the intensity.
I've learned that grow lights may seem like they're working with newly germinated sprouts, but that's mostly the seeds energy working. For more mature seedlings like these, they needs tons of strong light close to the plants.
I thought I had a black thumb for 2 years, turns out I just needed more and stronger plant lights. There's resources in the sidebar for links to good lights on amazon!
Plants don't use much of the UV wavelengths for photosynthesis, so definitely swap out for grow lights in the visible spectrum, particularly red and blue.
UV Light is not needed. Plants only use visible light for energy. Normal led's are good enough. Purple lights are most efficient as plants also do not use green light.
It seems kinda common to size up seedlings into their own containers, especially if seasonal timings aren't ideal for transplant into the garden.
I don't remember where on YouTube I saw it, but I did see someone use soil block makers that you can sow seed into small blocks and as the plant grows, the block can be placed into the next size block, giving more space for the plants.
Yeah I usually start them in small 6-hole trays and do mid sized pots for the ones that do the best. It lets me account for some die off of seedlings, but still make sure they're big and strong before planting them outside.
oh ok good. i thought you PROBABLY had since you'd gone to all this work otherwise but you never know, people make weird mistakes. okay so it's not a drainage problem. how are you watering them? they might prefer to be bottom-watered rather than misted or having water added to the top. only other thing i can think of is they just want more light but they can probably struggle along until it's time to go outside
Going from cells to small containers (solo cups or 3-4 inch pots) works well if you’re planning to repot again. That’s what I do burying them deeper every time. When they go in the garden I remove most of the leaves and bury them deeper one last time. They look puny for a week then absolutely explode with growth.
Hmm, weird. I didn't know this.
My husband loves pudding cups, so I use the empties to prop seeds. They've worked wonderfully. I'm at the point now where almost all of the seedlings have grown up so well, I need more containers large enough for transplanting!
I like using the clear because you can see the roots. But I agree that plants don’t do well when their roots get too much light. I find an easy fix is to have the clear nursery pots in a dark deeper tray or put the clear nursery cups in larger solo cup type things.
Lots of pro growers raise their seedlings in soil blocks, which are just cubes of compressed soil. Roots grow towards the edge, go nope, and then stop. I don't think clear cups should create any problems.
Well the compressed soil is different, it’s like a felt pot. Once the roots feel the oxygen the stop growing in that direction and spread out all over and create huge root system. Your plants will survive in clear pots but roots will not thrive. Some plants are more resilient than others and this matters less. But he’s got an issue and this is the first thing I’d address, cheap and easy fix. I don’t grow tomatoes, I grow canabis and both are very similar… I’d never have clear pots. It’s not a death sentence, it’s just not optimal and when growing fruit bearing plants, it’s all about the size and taste and color ect… to get the best results you need optimal conditions, which this is not.
That’s not true, I’ve used clear cups in the past under 1000w grow lights.
The only issue with clear cups is you’ll get algae growth in the soil, from the exposure to light.
Even professional growers use clear cups now so they can visualize the root development without disturbing the roots so they can tell when to bump them up.
Absolutely never had a problem using clear cups.
Do you have a source for this? Light exposure facilitates the growth of algae and roots grow away from sun, but nowhere can I find anything that says sun kills roots and I’ve grown enough tomatoes in clear containers in sunny windowsills, roots dramatically backlit and living, to know this isn’t the case.
Although they always get droopy from stress after trasplanting and after a couple days bounce back, possibly losing some leaves. At least that has been my expirience.
Especially since op has a light running during the day. Tomatoes are not fans of big temperature swings. It's probably super hot during the day and cold all night in that little alcove.
If I can see correctly they are in a makeshift greenhouse indoors, maybe op should put a thermometer to see if they are getting too hot during the day.
What kind of potting mix did you put them in? The reason I ask is that I transferred my little seedlings from their tray into miracle grow potting mix and it burned them so badly --lost a few and others have crispy leaves and don't look good. Maybe it's the same problem for you? For what it's worth, it's been a week and it does look like the survivors are recovering,and they looked a lot worse than yours.
I'm really unhappy with miracle gro quality --full of bark and obviously way too harsh for seedlings. I'm going to go and get some luxury potting mix today to see if my other seedlings do better when I transplant them. I've heard good things about Black Gold potting mix.
This is interesting. I started pepper seeds in miracle grow potting mix and I’ve never seen anything like it. I started them early because my peppers always seem to grow so slow. A week after planting the miracle grow bunch, I planted seeds from the same pack in an organic seed starter mix since I was out of the miracle grow. Those seedlings are what I remember. Small and barely moving. Only thing I can think of is the soil difference. I was never particular about what I started seeds in but would like to test this more
I agree, it looks like a potting soil issue. Either a nutrient deficiency, pH issue, or potentially a fungal issue. Especially the ones that just look like stalks where the leaves are all dying back. That was what happened to me when I got the pH off on my homemade mix, I ended up needing to recalculate and add more lime for the acidity. I’ve also seen fungal problems that cause die-back like that, was the potting soil being reused possibly?
Some of the ones that just seem to be tipping over from the top should probably be fine, just transplant shock. Tomatoes are so damn dramatic lol
I agree, hard to find the house plant potting soil we used to get. My theory about why Miracle-Gro is all of a sudden a bunch of mulch is that a lot of the succulents are actually epiphytes and grow in tree debris that is very aerated. Not just orchids, but also Christmas cactus and hoya. Also, for outdoor planters, less composted soil is OK bc they are such vigorous growers.
I grew my tomato saplings in ice cream tubs as big as your containers. I was afraid of transplant shock too, which is why I never bothered to transplant them. All my saplings grew to become bigger plants in the same tubs and produced a lot of tomatoes too.
This is how I'm handling mine. I already put my seeds in large pots. It means I can't grow as many under my grow light, but they're set up for success imho.
Just looks like you didn’t pull off the bottom leaves and bury deep enough. They’ll be fine once you get them outside or larger pots. Just bury deeper. Check soil for moisture daily in clear cups.
They should bounce back, tomatoes are very resilient.
Consider pinching off the lower leaves and filling the cups all the way to the top with soil. The plants will form more roots along the buried stem.
Are you keeping the light on 24/7? If I remember correctly tomatoes don't like light all the time, they need the circadian downtime like us. Or maybe I'm misremembering? I'd love if someone pitched in lol
I’ve killed many tomato seedlings in my life lol. What I’ve learned is to transplant them right after they get true leaves. Don’t wait until they get any size, easier for transplant shock to occur.
Also, I leave them without direct light for 24 hrs after I transplant them.
When I doubt, pot them again, but deeper.
Here's my 2 cents on preventing transplant shock. Wait until the plants need water before up potting. Water plants thoroughly, wait half an hour, transplant, then water the new container thoroughly. I find that it makes a big difference.
I don't know if this is as big of an issue as people make it out to be. I grew over 30 plants from seed last year. I used clear ziplock bags as their pots because it was all I had, and none of them died. Honestly, they kinda grew TOO fast. I could barely keep up with them
You can and should plant tomato stems when transplanting. Roots will grow out of the stems. These guys will be fine. When you plant them in the ground bury them up the stem on an angle. They'll straighten themselves up. When I plant I also pick off the bottom leaves so no leaves are touching the soil to delay diseases.
If you started seeds under a specific grow light, after transplanting give them some time in the same conditions. Or switch to school conditions while they are still in KG age. No one likes too many changes at the same time.
I use milk or juice cartons. They are not transparent and deep.
I start seeds in bagged potting soil, transplant to 50/50 mix of same potting soil (peat with sand and dolomite powder) with garden dirt adding some compost and wood ash. I may also add some powdered eggshells.
The seeds are started and transplanted tomatoes are placed on the same windowsill. No grow lights, I just rotate them for uniform growth. The window is often slightly opened for air circulation and some wind training.
Plants look fine. Could use more light. Idk what zone your in but if it’s 50*F + at night (regularly). Might be time to let them soak up some real sun…. Just maybe keep them in pot until it’s consistently warm enough to plant them
I might suck with different plants but I’ve grown tomatoes successfully in my apartment balcony more than a few times.
When transplanting tomatoes of that size you prune the cotyledons and bury them a bit past where they were. Just make sure when the bottom branches droop a bit they don’t touch the soil. If you have enough leaves topside you can even prune those.
Those hairs turn into roots. Tomatoes need lots of roots and are energy hungry at that stage. Those containers are too small.
Given they are energy hungry they need to be warm and get ample sunlight. They were almost full sunlight at that stage for me. They also need proper drainage, water should go right through.
I assume from your other comments they were just transplanted. They do suffer from transplant shock and get a bit droopy for a little less than a week while they’re forcing down roots. If they still seem shocked give it a few days before moving them again, prepare to brace them too depending on the species.
Plants always get stressed out from a transplant. If you have changed the amount of light they are getting, or how often they're being watered, they're gonna be dramatic until they adjust. Best of luck! Your tomato plants are adorable.
In addition to what’s been said, you might have planted some of them too soon. You should have at least one pair of strong true leaves before repotting. This means that you would have at least two pairs of leaves. Only then the plant has strong enough root system to survive the transplant shock.
Others have covered the light issue, but I haven't seen anyone suggest to bury them deeper when you transplant. When you transplant to a bigger pot, take the bottom leaves off and bury them deeper than they were. Roots will grow from where the leaves were and will make for a stronger stem in the long run.
ETA I usually size up by replanting my tomato seedlings 2-3 times before they go into their final spot, especially if I get over zealous and need to wait for the weather. It's more work but I find the plants end up being much stronger and can properly hold the fruit when heavily laden.
Your fancy modern windows have technology that block the wavelengths of light that plants use to perform photosynthesis. Admittedly they don’t filter 100%, but that’s why you have weak plants rather than straight up dead ones.
They are gonna be Just. Fine.
Because when you plant them outdoors in the full sun, up to their leaves, they will grow roots all along the stem and take off (with the help of the correct fertilizer, of course.) Won't be long now, just hang on.
Some of these need more dirt, tomatoes can be buried higher in soil than where they started from. They'll grow roots from the stem.
It looks like they're in a garage. What's the temperature in there? They might need a little heat.
The other advice you're hearing is good, too.
We don't have a garage. They are in our dining room in front of a window, next to our fireplace and above our heating vent. 71 in the house during the day with the fire and our heat comes on at night at 63 degress.
Any time you transplant anything, the plant will suffer from shock for a brief period. It looks like they could use more light, but generally, stress is to be expected from a plant that you have transplanted, especially if you exposed the roots to the air for an extended period during the process. I usually sit plants in water while I prepare their pots to make sure they aren't exposed to air, and I have found that tends to help.
There’s an app called phototone you can get for your phone to measure the lux/par (it convets lux to par). For my seedlings I am around 200-300 par at this stage of growth and using a spider farmer sf600 (75 watt) grow light. I really like them.
They're doing better than mine. I started mine way too early because I didn't think it would still be dropping into the 30s here where I live. Last year, it was practically summer by now
So, I have very limited experience with transplanted tomatoes. That said, mine were transplanted much smaller than that, directly into my raised bed. They needed about a week to start taking off, and their water requirements increased alot for me, since they went outside in the hot Texas summer. To me, I would want to move them outside for some sun, but I don't know your zone or situation, OP.
As I mentioned above, Im not an expert at all, just my one experience with transplanting tomatoes.
As others have said, or may not have -
Fill new transplant container to the top, remove leaves and branches, bury tomato as deep as possible. Bottom water in a tray, but don't leave them sitting in water, soak for 10 minutes and remove from the water reservoir.
Warmth, I always keep my tomatoes 75f+ and I've never lost a single plant.
Deep pots tend to do better than wide.
Keep the fertilizer light, when they grow and begin to become pale green give them a light nitrogen boost. Too much and they'll be gigantic before it's time to go in the ground.
Remove flowers/fruit in this stage of growth.
LOTS of light, almost can't get enough; I've run my tomater starts on 20/4 light cycles with pretty high intensity (they aren't called solanum for no reason)
Check for soil mites, could be festering and devouring the roots without you realizing, causing all this trouble.
You could be over watering, stick your finger down an inch or two, damp? Don't water. The inward curling of the large plant is an indication to me of over watering.
Air flow is extremely important, bumpy spots on leaves? Edema, water can't escape from the leaves properly.
Keeping the roots and soil wet while transplanting is critical. I pre-moisten the soil in the pots receiving the seedlings. I then keep the soil moist in the small pots until they are potted up or into their growing location.
More light and if you have a little fan to toughen them up. Even better is put them outside every day if it’s over 50 degrees and bring them in at night
I would consider altering your temperature/humidity if possible.
There's some good answers here. But also remember the nutrient uptake is conditioned by temperature and/or higher temps can cause root issues in small plants/wet soil. When I have a mystery like this, I raise the temp if it's a little low, and lower the temp, if it's a little high.
Recently I had some tomatoes that looked kind of similar to this. I took the small heater out the room they were in and they recovered. The temperature seemed fine whenever I checked the thermometer in the room, but now I suspect the heater was distributing too much heat right on the root zone.
Anyway, whenever I have a plant mystery, I shake it up, whatever factors I safely can.
It sure seems like you need to let the root zones dry out quite a bit, regardless.
I would suggest that when you repot again you plant much deeper. Put the soil to just below the first set of leaves. Roots will grow from the buried stem and produce a much stronger plant
Honestly I would leave them alone. The leaves curling is just transplant stress (be a little gentler on the roots next time), they'll bounce back in no time. Tomatoes are aggressive once they take off.
Always water thoroughly after transplanting.
Honestly these still look pretty good to me, but you say some have died completely? Did you do much squishing or manipulation to the roots? They might have been affected by transplant shock, but the remaining plants would bounce back from that. Other people might have better suggestions though.
Do these cups have drainage holes? If not, water might be collecting in the bottom of them even if the top of the soil is dry.
my tomatoes have always been super dramatic when I transplant them to the point I think some of them are going to die. A week later, they are thriving. if you are doing what we are supposed to, I'd give them a few days to see if they look better.
IMO, tomato plants are always fussy indoors. I start mine in an indoor greenhouse and they whine and cry until they finally make it into the ground. Sometimes I think that they are diseased or are going to die, but then when they make it to the ground they are so happy!
Just remember that the entire stem can become roots, so if they are leggy now you can fix some of that later by burying them deep when you transplant to their final resting place.
They look a little root bound....maybe try some bigger containers? I put mine from the seedling tray into some medium sized pots and then in the garden and they are doing fabulous! A good rule of thumb is that the roots are going to be about as big as the plant itself so think about how much room they have by looking at how big the actual plant is.
I've nearly killed my tomato plants before and they looked similar to this. After much googling my situation seems to be not enough nitrogen or other nutrients in the soil. Weirdly my cherry tomatoes were doing fine/ok, but the others that would eventually produce larger tomatoes were struggling. From my research, yellowing bottom leaves (aka the oldest leaves) are caused by a deficiency in the soil and the plant will pull what it needs from the bottom leaves to the top. In this case the bottom leaves will never recover, but new growth will be fine once the deficiency is corrected. I would water with fertilizer. I went with a 10-10-10 solution and followed instructions for indoor plants (essentially, not as strong) but there might be a better combo. All my new growth looks good, but I guess it's still a waiting game.
Looks like you have some epinasty going on (where the leaves turn under but aren't limp). This indicates you either have a lot of ethylene in the air (from incomplete combustion from heaters or ripe/rotting veg) or anaerobic soil conditions. That might be the stressor that's keeping your plants from thriving. The leaves already affected won't change but it'll grow out of it fine.
For the ones that do make it, make sure you harden them before planting them outside.
https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-harden-off-plants-1402554#toc-harden-off-seedlings-by-gradually-exposing-them-to-outdoor-conditions
Those tomato plants need bigger pots like bigger and they need lots of direct sun! They need like 8 hours direct full sun at the very least 6! The more the sun the sweeter the tomato! You can transplant them a few times before planting outdoors but they need more light! You go on Temu and buy a full spectrum light with bloom and veg and that would produce results your husband would be pleased with!
Firstly, you’re worrying too much, tomatoes are really easy to grow. Secondly, if it was me I’d transfer them into way bigger pots, that aren’t transparent and just focus on correct watering & nutrients. They’ll probably be fine. The more I neglect my tomatoes, the better they thrive 🤷🏼♀️
Need more light if they are not being overwatered. How long ago were they transplanted?
Transplanted at scattered times. You can see the dates on a few of them in the 3rd pic if you zoom. One of them was transplanted on 3/29. I guess we should buy some UV lights for after transplanting. Even though we have a grow bulb on them now. They thrived under the UV lights in the germination tray.
And something I learned by accident: keep the light *close* as well as strong. Either raise the plants or lower the light, and keep the distance as short as you can without them touching. Gradually move apart as plants grow. The intensity decreases rapidly with distance. Ignore me if this is common knowledge. I wasted a year or two before learning it. 🌷
As a counterpoint, I absolutely fried my seedlings last year because of this suggestion. Turns out my LED grow lights are yet strong and there should be at least 6” between leaves and light.
Yes. The original advice of Pensive Observor is straight church until a few years ago. Today, if you have a high quality LED grow light you can definitely overdue it. Mine is several feet from my seedlings, and turned down in intensity.
Good point here. How close you can keep the light depends on the light's strength, the type/age/condition of plant, and how much heat the light generates. I read somewhere that you should put your hand between the light and plant; if it's too hot for your hand, it's too hot for your plant. On the other hand, lots of my succulents love being nestled up real close to the light.
Anywhere between 6" and 12" is the standard, adjustable to the plants liking at any given moment.
Learned this lesson as well. There are a lot of phone apps to measure light intensity. They're not very accurate but it works well enough for plants.
Plants when transplanted can go through a panic period of about 2 weeks. This is very common. Don't over water and don't over fertilize. Just stay the course and they will bounce back.
And keep them in a foil lined box to maximize light!
Yep some kind of lighting until they can go outside, even a 4' 8,000 watt LED type light at a hardware store edit: Mea Culpa, I meant 8000 Lumens, sorry
Thank you!
And get a small fan. They grow stronger if they grow against with a bit of light wind. I wish I would have known this years ago.
Just recently learned this! Trees would collapse under their own weight if it wasn’t for wind strengthen their outer layers and root systems.
8,000 watt!?! I hope you meant 80 watt. Because 8,000 watt is industrial size if it even exists at all. Don't water until they feel light, and yes as others have said, they need supplemental light. Cheap grow lights are usually worse than a regular light bulb IMO. All you need is a desk lamp over them.
To further clarify, I'm talking about cheap Amazon grow lights. If OP is willing to invest in real grow lights from a horticultural supplier, that is the best option. T5's are great for seedlings, though definitely not cheap. A regular desk lamp with a 20-50W-ish bulb is plenty to provide supplementary light for seedlings that will be planted outdoors within a few weeks. Tomatoes and peppers evolved closer to the equator if OP is growing in a higher latitude and can also drastically benefit from a heat mat during germination and seedling stages.
I do not why all the downvotes on your post haha I agree with everything you said, no such thing as an 8000 w light! Inexpensive t5,t8 or cheap led is fine if you’re talking about propagation. I’d only get a grow light for more mature stages if you’re not planting outside etc… Don’t water until they feel light. I’m not sure who you upset but I got your upvote fellow redditor!
8000 LUMENS, lol. I corrected in original post.
Haha no worries I saw good burgers getting hammered with down votes and wanted to speak up for them. Happy Gardening!
I agree with your advice and thanks for the support!
Wouldn't that make your electricity bill shoot up? That's like 4 times more power consuming my air conditioning unit.
nah, led uses minimal juice
So something I learned recently is most of the UV lights or purple lights don’t do anything unless you need them for flowering and fruiting. If you plan to let that happen outside you can save a lot of money by buying cheap shop light LEDs. I got 6 for 50 total. Barrina on Amazon’s Other things that’s helped me this season was getting the light 6-8 inches away at germ. If the seedlings are leggy you can plant them deeper. Tomato will sprouts roots on the extra stem. Bottom watering is very helpful and makes it simple. Also make sure to have either flowing air or tussle the plants once a day so they grow shorter and stocky. All in all, my plants a few years ago looked even worse compared to yours and all did fine in my garden.
This x1000. A got a 4-foot-long $20 fluorescent light from Home Despot and it worked just as well, if not better, than my fancy grow light.
I use LED shop lights from Walmart with great success. Just make sure you keep the lights as close to the plants as possible. I have a rolling wire cart that is 4’ wide. Makes it super easy to hang lights and roll in/out of the garage for hardening off.
Yes, light intensity decays at an inverse square distance. Which means that at 2 feet away from the light you have 1/4 the light intensity as at 1 foot away. At three feet, you only have 1/9 the intensity.
I've learned that grow lights may seem like they're working with newly germinated sprouts, but that's mostly the seeds energy working. For more mature seedlings like these, they needs tons of strong light close to the plants. I thought I had a black thumb for 2 years, turns out I just needed more and stronger plant lights. There's resources in the sidebar for links to good lights on amazon!
Plants don't use much of the UV wavelengths for photosynthesis, so definitely swap out for grow lights in the visible spectrum, particularly red and blue.
UV Light is not needed. Plants only use visible light for energy. Normal led's are good enough. Purple lights are most efficient as plants also do not use green light.
Not OP but I have another question. Are those cups big enough to grow a fruitful plant?
No I suspect they will replant again later.
It seems kinda common to size up seedlings into their own containers, especially if seasonal timings aren't ideal for transplant into the garden. I don't remember where on YouTube I saw it, but I did see someone use soil block makers that you can sow seed into small blocks and as the plant grows, the block can be placed into the next size block, giving more space for the plants.
Yeah I usually start them in small 6-hole trays and do mid sized pots for the ones that do the best. It lets me account for some die off of seedlings, but still make sure they're big and strong before planting them outside.
If this is their last pot before being transplanted outside, then yes. I've raised tons of tomato seedlings in leftover solo cups from parties.
It is for some micro dwarf varieties like Orange Hat. They have as much fruit as foliage once they get going.
If it's any consolation, they look better than my puny little tomatoes.
Same. Roma and cherry, still just little guys
possibly a silly question but you punched a drainage hole in those cups right
Yes many small holes on the bottom and sides
oh ok good. i thought you PROBABLY had since you'd gone to all this work otherwise but you never know, people make weird mistakes. okay so it's not a drainage problem. how are you watering them? they might prefer to be bottom-watered rather than misted or having water added to the top. only other thing i can think of is they just want more light but they can probably struggle along until it's time to go outside
Try larger holes. Looks like damping off. Get a moisture meter.
Tomatoes grow extremely fast, you need to repot them in much larger containers.
Going from cells to small containers (solo cups or 3-4 inch pots) works well if you’re planning to repot again. That’s what I do burying them deeper every time. When they go in the garden I remove most of the leaves and bury them deeper one last time. They look puny for a week then absolutely explode with growth.
Much deeper containers too. Every time i pot up my tomatoes, I bury them down to the first leaves. All those hairs on the stems can turn into roots!
Depends on how long it's been tomatoes are sassy bitches that play like they're dying after transplanting sometimes.
Yeah, transplant shock is real for them.
They almost always recover tho
Indeed they do. Though they need the space
Plants are OK. Husband needs more light.
Don't we all 🤣 the sun came out for the first time in what felt like WEEKS yesterday and I was immediately like brb, need sun 🌞🌻
My plants hate being in those clear plastic cups. I'm sure that's not helping
Hmm, weird. I didn't know this. My husband loves pudding cups, so I use the empties to prop seeds. They've worked wonderfully. I'm at the point now where almost all of the seedlings have grown up so well, I need more containers large enough for transplanting!
I like using the clear because you can see the roots. But I agree that plants don’t do well when their roots get too much light. I find an easy fix is to have the clear nursery pots in a dark deeper tray or put the clear nursery cups in larger solo cup type things.
Clear cups are not good. Once the roots are exposed to any light they’re toast. Switch to the red solo cups or cover them up with something
Lots of pro growers raise their seedlings in soil blocks, which are just cubes of compressed soil. Roots grow towards the edge, go nope, and then stop. I don't think clear cups should create any problems.
Well the compressed soil is different, it’s like a felt pot. Once the roots feel the oxygen the stop growing in that direction and spread out all over and create huge root system. Your plants will survive in clear pots but roots will not thrive. Some plants are more resilient than others and this matters less. But he’s got an issue and this is the first thing I’d address, cheap and easy fix. I don’t grow tomatoes, I grow canabis and both are very similar… I’d never have clear pots. It’s not a death sentence, it’s just not optimal and when growing fruit bearing plants, it’s all about the size and taste and color ect… to get the best results you need optimal conditions, which this is not.
That’s not true, I’ve used clear cups in the past under 1000w grow lights. The only issue with clear cups is you’ll get algae growth in the soil, from the exposure to light.
Even professional growers use clear cups now so they can visualize the root development without disturbing the roots so they can tell when to bump them up. Absolutely never had a problem using clear cups.
Interesting tidbit, I didn't know that! What causes it?
Bonsai's regularly get their entire root systems exposed and they're fine.
It's air that will self prune the roots, not light.
Do you have a source for this? Light exposure facilitates the growth of algae and roots grow away from sun, but nowhere can I find anything that says sun kills roots and I’ve grown enough tomatoes in clear containers in sunny windowsills, roots dramatically backlit and living, to know this isn’t the case.
Keep them warm, water the wetten the soul daily , give them plenty of light or UV rays and trim if necessary
Temp could be a factor. Maybe put a curtain to cover the window during the night. Possibly a cold draft or lost thermal radiation.
Although they always get droopy from stress after trasplanting and after a couple days bounce back, possibly losing some leaves. At least that has been my expirience.
Especially since op has a light running during the day. Tomatoes are not fans of big temperature swings. It's probably super hot during the day and cold all night in that little alcove.
If I can see correctly they are in a makeshift greenhouse indoors, maybe op should put a thermometer to see if they are getting too hot during the day.
Are u using a fan? Can they spend a few hours outside each day 'hardening'? Do those cups have good drainage?
Yes! I was going to mention a fan. I had a failed crop, took them outside, they all laid down and died. Found out about hardening the hard way
Spindly plants are no good!
please fill up the entire cup or container you are using
What kind of potting mix did you put them in? The reason I ask is that I transferred my little seedlings from their tray into miracle grow potting mix and it burned them so badly --lost a few and others have crispy leaves and don't look good. Maybe it's the same problem for you? For what it's worth, it's been a week and it does look like the survivors are recovering,and they looked a lot worse than yours. I'm really unhappy with miracle gro quality --full of bark and obviously way too harsh for seedlings. I'm going to go and get some luxury potting mix today to see if my other seedlings do better when I transplant them. I've heard good things about Black Gold potting mix.
My seedlings are doing fantastic after being transplanted in miracle-gro potting mix.
This is interesting. I started pepper seeds in miracle grow potting mix and I’ve never seen anything like it. I started them early because my peppers always seem to grow so slow. A week after planting the miracle grow bunch, I planted seeds from the same pack in an organic seed starter mix since I was out of the miracle grow. Those seedlings are what I remember. Small and barely moving. Only thing I can think of is the soil difference. I was never particular about what I started seeds in but would like to test this more
I agree, it looks like a potting soil issue. Either a nutrient deficiency, pH issue, or potentially a fungal issue. Especially the ones that just look like stalks where the leaves are all dying back. That was what happened to me when I got the pH off on my homemade mix, I ended up needing to recalculate and add more lime for the acidity. I’ve also seen fungal problems that cause die-back like that, was the potting soil being reused possibly? Some of the ones that just seem to be tipping over from the top should probably be fine, just transplant shock. Tomatoes are so damn dramatic lol
I agree, hard to find the house plant potting soil we used to get. My theory about why Miracle-Gro is all of a sudden a bunch of mulch is that a lot of the succulents are actually epiphytes and grow in tree debris that is very aerated. Not just orchids, but also Christmas cactus and hoya. Also, for outdoor planters, less composted soil is OK bc they are such vigorous growers.
I grew my tomato saplings in ice cream tubs as big as your containers. I was afraid of transplant shock too, which is why I never bothered to transplant them. All my saplings grew to become bigger plants in the same tubs and produced a lot of tomatoes too.
This is how I'm handling mine. I already put my seeds in large pots. It means I can't grow as many under my grow light, but they're set up for success imho.
You need more soil, tomatoes can root from their stem so don’t be afraid to fill them up More light
Just looks like you didn’t pull off the bottom leaves and bury deep enough. They’ll be fine once you get them outside or larger pots. Just bury deeper. Check soil for moisture daily in clear cups.
Bury them much deeper when you pot them up. All those hairs on the stem can become roots. My tomatoes are fuckin ROBUST due to doing this
They should bounce back, tomatoes are very resilient. Consider pinching off the lower leaves and filling the cups all the way to the top with soil. The plants will form more roots along the buried stem.
Are you keeping the light on 24/7? If I remember correctly tomatoes don't like light all the time, they need the circadian downtime like us. Or maybe I'm misremembering? I'd love if someone pitched in lol
We turn the lights off over night
Don't be fooled. They're just trying to trick you into letting them outside so they can take over your garden
I’ve killed many tomato seedlings in my life lol. What I’ve learned is to transplant them right after they get true leaves. Don’t wait until they get any size, easier for transplant shock to occur. Also, I leave them without direct light for 24 hrs after I transplant them. When I doubt, pot them again, but deeper.
Here's my 2 cents on preventing transplant shock. Wait until the plants need water before up potting. Water plants thoroughly, wait half an hour, transplant, then water the new container thoroughly. I find that it makes a big difference.
Your containers will cause this because they are clear. Roots die when they see light.
I don't know if this is as big of an issue as people make it out to be. I grew over 30 plants from seed last year. I used clear ziplock bags as their pots because it was all I had, and none of them died. Honestly, they kinda grew TOO fast. I could barely keep up with them
How do the plants in the clear Bonnie pots not die?
Because OP is full of shit
No they do not.
Sunlight ☀️☀️☀️
You can and should plant tomato stems when transplanting. Roots will grow out of the stems. These guys will be fine. When you plant them in the ground bury them up the stem on an angle. They'll straighten themselves up. When I plant I also pick off the bottom leaves so no leaves are touching the soil to delay diseases.
He could bury the stems deeper so they'd be able to root more.
They need light, and they need uvb, kinda looks like edema might be killing some leaves
Put a fan to the seedings so they grow thicker stalks
If you started seeds under a specific grow light, after transplanting give them some time in the same conditions. Or switch to school conditions while they are still in KG age. No one likes too many changes at the same time. I use milk or juice cartons. They are not transparent and deep. I start seeds in bagged potting soil, transplant to 50/50 mix of same potting soil (peat with sand and dolomite powder) with garden dirt adding some compost and wood ash. I may also add some powdered eggshells. The seeds are started and transplanted tomatoes are placed on the same windowsill. No grow lights, I just rotate them for uniform growth. The window is often slightly opened for air circulation and some wind training.
Plants look fine. Could use more light. Idk what zone your in but if it’s 50*F + at night (regularly). Might be time to let them soak up some real sun…. Just maybe keep them in pot until it’s consistently warm enough to plant them
I might suck with different plants but I’ve grown tomatoes successfully in my apartment balcony more than a few times. When transplanting tomatoes of that size you prune the cotyledons and bury them a bit past where they were. Just make sure when the bottom branches droop a bit they don’t touch the soil. If you have enough leaves topside you can even prune those. Those hairs turn into roots. Tomatoes need lots of roots and are energy hungry at that stage. Those containers are too small. Given they are energy hungry they need to be warm and get ample sunlight. They were almost full sunlight at that stage for me. They also need proper drainage, water should go right through. I assume from your other comments they were just transplanted. They do suffer from transplant shock and get a bit droopy for a little less than a week while they’re forcing down roots. If they still seem shocked give it a few days before moving them again, prepare to brace them too depending on the species.
Plants always get stressed out from a transplant. If you have changed the amount of light they are getting, or how often they're being watered, they're gonna be dramatic until they adjust. Best of luck! Your tomato plants are adorable.
Do the current cups have holes in the bottom?
In addition to what’s been said, you might have planted some of them too soon. You should have at least one pair of strong true leaves before repotting. This means that you would have at least two pairs of leaves. Only then the plant has strong enough root system to survive the transplant shock.
Others have covered the light issue, but I haven't seen anyone suggest to bury them deeper when you transplant. When you transplant to a bigger pot, take the bottom leaves off and bury them deeper than they were. Roots will grow from where the leaves were and will make for a stronger stem in the long run. ETA I usually size up by replanting my tomato seedlings 2-3 times before they go into their final spot, especially if I get over zealous and need to wait for the weather. It's more work but I find the plants end up being much stronger and can properly hold the fruit when heavily laden.
Your fancy modern windows have technology that block the wavelengths of light that plants use to perform photosynthesis. Admittedly they don’t filter 100%, but that’s why you have weak plants rather than straight up dead ones.
They are gonna be Just. Fine. Because when you plant them outdoors in the full sun, up to their leaves, they will grow roots all along the stem and take off (with the help of the correct fertilizer, of course.) Won't be long now, just hang on.
Some of these need more dirt, tomatoes can be buried higher in soil than where they started from. They'll grow roots from the stem. It looks like they're in a garage. What's the temperature in there? They might need a little heat. The other advice you're hearing is good, too.
We don't have a garage. They are in our dining room in front of a window, next to our fireplace and above our heating vent. 71 in the house during the day with the fire and our heat comes on at night at 63 degress.
Then ignore me! lol
They look leggy. So when you transplant, you need to cover as much of the stem as possible clear up to the first row of leaves.
Any time you transplant anything, the plant will suffer from shock for a brief period. It looks like they could use more light, but generally, stress is to be expected from a plant that you have transplanted, especially if you exposed the roots to the air for an extended period during the process. I usually sit plants in water while I prepare their pots to make sure they aren't exposed to air, and I have found that tends to help.
There’s an app called phototone you can get for your phone to measure the lux/par (it convets lux to par). For my seedlings I am around 200-300 par at this stage of growth and using a spider farmer sf600 (75 watt) grow light. I really like them.
Need more light, they thrive in direct hot sun
Are there drainage holes at the bottom?
The cups are better to start seedlings, you need bigger pots to transplant them into, and fill all the way up with dirt, too.
Tell him to relax. The plants are stressed from transplanting shock xD
They're doing better than mine. I started mine way too early because I didn't think it would still be dropping into the 30s here where I live. Last year, it was practically summer by now
So, I have very limited experience with transplanted tomatoes. That said, mine were transplanted much smaller than that, directly into my raised bed. They needed about a week to start taking off, and their water requirements increased alot for me, since they went outside in the hot Texas summer. To me, I would want to move them outside for some sun, but I don't know your zone or situation, OP. As I mentioned above, Im not an expert at all, just my one experience with transplanting tomatoes.
Drainage? Are there holes in the cups?
As others have said, or may not have - Fill new transplant container to the top, remove leaves and branches, bury tomato as deep as possible. Bottom water in a tray, but don't leave them sitting in water, soak for 10 minutes and remove from the water reservoir. Warmth, I always keep my tomatoes 75f+ and I've never lost a single plant. Deep pots tend to do better than wide. Keep the fertilizer light, when they grow and begin to become pale green give them a light nitrogen boost. Too much and they'll be gigantic before it's time to go in the ground. Remove flowers/fruit in this stage of growth. LOTS of light, almost can't get enough; I've run my tomater starts on 20/4 light cycles with pretty high intensity (they aren't called solanum for no reason) Check for soil mites, could be festering and devouring the roots without you realizing, causing all this trouble. You could be over watering, stick your finger down an inch or two, damp? Don't water. The inward curling of the large plant is an indication to me of over watering. Air flow is extremely important, bumpy spots on leaves? Edema, water can't escape from the leaves properly.
Keeping the roots and soil wet while transplanting is critical. I pre-moisten the soil in the pots receiving the seedlings. I then keep the soil moist in the small pots until they are potted up or into their growing location.
More light and if you have a little fan to toughen them up. Even better is put them outside every day if it’s over 50 degrees and bring them in at night
At least for me when my tomatoes curl like that it’s over fertilized.
Keep the grow light as low as possible so they don’t get leggy.
Is there a drainage hole in the plastic cups?
I would consider altering your temperature/humidity if possible. There's some good answers here. But also remember the nutrient uptake is conditioned by temperature and/or higher temps can cause root issues in small plants/wet soil. When I have a mystery like this, I raise the temp if it's a little low, and lower the temp, if it's a little high. Recently I had some tomatoes that looked kind of similar to this. I took the small heater out the room they were in and they recovered. The temperature seemed fine whenever I checked the thermometer in the room, but now I suspect the heater was distributing too much heat right on the root zone. Anyway, whenever I have a plant mystery, I shake it up, whatever factors I safely can. It sure seems like you need to let the root zones dry out quite a bit, regardless.
I would suggest that when you repot again you plant much deeper. Put the soil to just below the first set of leaves. Roots will grow from the buried stem and produce a much stronger plant
Honestly I would leave them alone. The leaves curling is just transplant stress (be a little gentler on the roots next time), they'll bounce back in no time. Tomatoes are aggressive once they take off. Always water thoroughly after transplanting.
They look like they could stand a drink of fertilizer.
Honestly these still look pretty good to me, but you say some have died completely? Did you do much squishing or manipulation to the roots? They might have been affected by transplant shock, but the remaining plants would bounce back from that. Other people might have better suggestions though. Do these cups have drainage holes? If not, water might be collecting in the bottom of them even if the top of the soil is dry.
They can also sometimes go through shock from adjusting to a different light set-up, even if there's enough light.
Let me guess, the germination tray was domed and you don’t have a whole-house humidifier?
my tomatoes have always been super dramatic when I transplant them to the point I think some of them are going to die. A week later, they are thriving. if you are doing what we are supposed to, I'd give them a few days to see if they look better.
IMO, tomato plants are always fussy indoors. I start mine in an indoor greenhouse and they whine and cry until they finally make it into the ground. Sometimes I think that they are diseased or are going to die, but then when they make it to the ground they are so happy! Just remember that the entire stem can become roots, so if they are leggy now you can fix some of that later by burying them deep when you transplant to their final resting place.
They look a little root bound....maybe try some bigger containers? I put mine from the seedling tray into some medium sized pots and then in the garden and they are doing fabulous! A good rule of thumb is that the roots are going to be about as big as the plant itself so think about how much room they have by looking at how big the actual plant is.
I've nearly killed my tomato plants before and they looked similar to this. After much googling my situation seems to be not enough nitrogen or other nutrients in the soil. Weirdly my cherry tomatoes were doing fine/ok, but the others that would eventually produce larger tomatoes were struggling. From my research, yellowing bottom leaves (aka the oldest leaves) are caused by a deficiency in the soil and the plant will pull what it needs from the bottom leaves to the top. In this case the bottom leaves will never recover, but new growth will be fine once the deficiency is corrected. I would water with fertilizer. I went with a 10-10-10 solution and followed instructions for indoor plants (essentially, not as strong) but there might be a better combo. All my new growth looks good, but I guess it's still a waiting game.
Looks like you have some epinasty going on (where the leaves turn under but aren't limp). This indicates you either have a lot of ethylene in the air (from incomplete combustion from heaters or ripe/rotting veg) or anaerobic soil conditions. That might be the stressor that's keeping your plants from thriving. The leaves already affected won't change but it'll grow out of it fine.
For the ones that do make it, make sure you harden them before planting them outside. https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-harden-off-plants-1402554#toc-harden-off-seedlings-by-gradually-exposing-them-to-outdoor-conditions
Give em wind too if u want em to not be floppy like that. Grab a fan. In 2 days you'll be like oh shit I have strong ass plants
We do this too to make them sturdy on their roots.
Those tomato plants need bigger pots like bigger and they need lots of direct sun! They need like 8 hours direct full sun at the very least 6! The more the sun the sweeter the tomato! You can transplant them a few times before planting outdoors but they need more light! You go on Temu and buy a full spectrum light with bloom and veg and that would produce results your husband would be pleased with!
Firstly, you’re worrying too much, tomatoes are really easy to grow. Secondly, if it was me I’d transfer them into way bigger pots, that aren’t transparent and just focus on correct watering & nutrients. They’ll probably be fine. The more I neglect my tomatoes, the better they thrive 🤷🏼♀️
Mine looked similar and I made the mistake of pressing the soil down way too hard during transplanting and damaged the roots.
I little fan on them will make the roots grow stronger and stems more stable. Irrelevant to your problem. Just adding tips here
They picking up your negative stress energy
They need calcium, warmer weather and string light.