I started my tomatoes and peppers from seed this year for the first time (thanks to the good advice on this site). I plan to transplant the seedlings to larger containers and put them in a makeshift "greenhouse" location with sunshine. They are indoors under florescent lights now. When should I transplant the seedlings to pots to take out to "greenhouse?" They are just about an inch or so right now.
You are south of me, so I can't give you the time to put them out. It seems early to me. I can tell you to transplant from the seed starting container to a larger/deeper container as soon as the tap root comes out the bottom of the container. You can do this twice if you use a medium sized container for #2. You might put a high/low thermometer in your "greenhouse" to monitor extremes. A cheap one at harbor freight is $6.
When they get their second set of leaves is a good time to transplant to flats with the the little four hole plastic trays in them. Don't let them get too cold out side in the greenhouse. Try to keep it above 50. They will need to be hardenned off before they are set out in the garden. You can do this by setting the flats out doors in the weather, in the shade the first couple times. Bring them in at night. After a couple days they can be set in a half sunny place, but if they wilt bring them out of the sun.. When they no longer wilt in the sun they are ready for the garden,,
You can safely transplant them into containers as soon as they have their second set of true leaves. I usually wait for the third set, which comes pretty quick after the second one. If your greenhouse is not heated, wean them into it, just as you would harden off before taking to the garden. You will have to repeat this again to get them from the greenhouse to the garden anyway... With the tomatoes, you will probably find that before they go into the garden, you will need yet one more transplant into larger containers (unless you offer protection from hard frosts, and go straight into the garden.) My grams used to do this three to four times with her tomatoes!! Sue
Thanks for all the great advice. I'm planning to transplant them (they have 2nd leaves now) on this coming Monday (March 29) and to move them out of my garage into partial sunlight during the day and back into the garage at night. I'll do that instead of using a greenhouse type set up to see how it will work. Tim Knoxville, TN (where the redbuds, bradford pears and daffodils are in full bloom!)
