Got the Tomatoes Transplanted Today

Today was the first day in a while that it didn't get hotter than 90 degrees.  For the next week it isn't going to hit 90.  Highs in the 80's - how nice.  It was exactly what I was waiting for - the perfect day to get the tomato seedlings transplanted into the garden.  I was worried about the high heat and dry conditions killing them.

The tomato seeds were planted on August 1st.  They have grown and grown and are very healthy.  It is past time that I get them in the ground.  Roots are coming out of the bottom of the little pots they are in and they are long and leggy, some two feet tall!

I am planting them in the very southernmost part of the garden.  This is the part of the garden that I experimented with hügelkultur.  I buried big logs deep in the ground and covered them up with soil.  It raised the area of the low-lying portion of the garden that would flood.  The buried wood acts as a sponge, holding water and releasing nutrients.

Since these plants are leggy, I'm planting them deep, covering the stem up to the bottom leaves.  The entire stem will grow roots.  I put some composted chicken litter in the hole along with composted wood chips and then watered them in good.

This is a horrible photo as the lighting is all wrong, but there are 19 tomato plants in the garden on three rows.  As they grow I'll trellis them using the "Florida Weave" method of staking since they are indeterminates.  There are 19 plants in all made up of the following varieties: Creole, Campari, Pink Brandywine, Roma, Black Vernissage, Black Krim, Big Rainbow, Mortgage Lifter, and Cherokee Purple.

I gave my son, Russ, some plants that he'll plant in his garden and the following six plants will go to my Mom and Dad for their fall garden.

Louisiana's tropical weather allows you to get a second crop of tomatoes in. Fall is a wonderful time to grow tomatoes.  The pest pressure is light.  The disease pressure is light.  The temperatures to work in the garden are nice.  However, it is tricky.  All it takes is an early frost, and all your work is for naught.  We'll see how it goes this year and report back our success (or failure).

Transplanting Tomatoes into bigger pots

In this earlier post we shared an update on our tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings that we planted in little seed pots.  We planted 12 varieties of tomatoes and seven varieties of peppers.  They sprouted on top of the freezer in the utility room as I've discovered that the heat from the top of the freezer keeps the soil warm and allows a great growing area for seeds.  Once they sprout, though, the seedlings need light.  At that point I remove the four foot fluorescent light fixture that hangs above my work bench in the garage and bring it inside.

I have found that the very top of the cabinet in the utility room is a good place for raising young plants for several reasons.  First, hot air rises and it is warm up there. Next, the area is a perfectly sized space for the amount of plants I start indoors. Although there's no place to hang the light from, I carefully balance the light fixture atop some canned goods stacked on top of each other.  Finally, the cabinet top is out of the way.  I simply use a stool to climb up and stand on top of the washer and dryer to water and care for the little plants.

Tomato Seedlings under the grow light

Well, the plants are growing and look pretty good.  We had a few casualties, but that is to be expected.  The survivors have outgrown the little seed pots that served them well up to this point. There's not enough dirt in the seed pots to sustain a growing seedling that is pulling in the amount of water that a growing seedling takes in from the soil.  In the past few days, I've come home to wilted tomato plants from lack of water.  We can't have that.

They've outgrown the seed pots

So, it is time to re-pot them into a bigger container.  They are well past the cotyledon stage and have several true leaves that are growing upward to the grow light.  I rescued some Community Coffee cups from the trash at work.  I find that these are the perfect size pots to transplant the tomatoes into until the weather stabilizes and I can transfer them to the garden soil.  The residue remaining in the coffee cups also provides caffeine to the growing plants, giving them a solid, invigorating jolt of energy and give the tomatoes a rich, robust flavor.  I kid... I kid.

Caffeinated Tomatoes

I use a plastic fork to coax the seedling out of the seed pot, being careful not to damage the delicate roots.  Then I put the seedling with attached soil into the cup that's half filled with an organic soil mix and fill with extra soil until its full.

Carefully replanting the seedling

A liberal squirt of water will get the young plants happily growing in their new pot. I can't even think of putting these out in the garden yet.  First I'll have to harden them off for a week to get them used to the cooler temps and wind.  Then, it has been raining cats and dogs and the garden soil is saturated - way too wet for planting, not to mention the weather is still quirky and we had freezing temps as recently as last week.

Watering the newly planted tomato seedlings

One thing I'm noticing on the young plants is some yellowing of the leaves on some of the tomatoes. I think they are trying to tell me that they need some fertilizer.  I'll give them a dose of fish emulsion tomorrow.

Yellow leaves!