How to Grow Tomato Plants from Seed, Part 2

Seedlings to Plants

Yes, this is my first year trying to grow tomato plants from seed, and in fact, the only year I have tried. Now that the seeds have sprouted and the plants have been growing the last few months, I thought I would share their progress.

As you can read, at the link below, in my previous post, I explained the process I used to spout some tomato seeds. After they had grown a little, and developed the first set of small leaves, I decided it was time to transfer them to larger pots. So on April 27th, I chose the six best seedlings and transferred them to a six pack left over from the pansies I purchased a few days before.

Gently pull the seedlings from the planting medium and place the roots all the way to the bottom. I then filled each cell with some of the remaining seedling dirt I had left over.


I don't have the funds for sun lamps, so I placed the plants in my south facing kitchen window to get the most amount of light possible. It is still to cold outside in April and early May too put them outside and get some real sun. At this point, I watered them only when they appeared dry, and did not fertilize them.

Around May 27th, roughly four weeks later, the tomato plants were going on the third and fourth set of leaves. I decided it was time to transfer them to the next stage of individual pots. The original seedling/sprout leaves have at this point fallen off, but you can still see where they were.

Using the pots that some begonias came in, I carefully loosened each plant, placed the root system at the bottom of the new pot, and covered with seedling dirt all the way to the top. For the most part, this meant that everything below the sprout leaf nodes is now under dirt.

I will most likely leave the tomato plants in these containers for three more weeks, then transfer to the garden by the end of June. On June 1st, I moved the six tomato plants, now in individual containers, outside to my deck where they can now receive maximum sun, get fresh air, and grow.


How to Grow Tomato Plants from Seed, Part 1.