My tomatoes: Transplant to larger pot or just head to garden...

[timnels]

First year trying tomatoes. A little behind on starting seedlings. It's going to be high in 70's and lows in 50's going forward in mid-upstate NY.

Should I move them into larger cups or just transplant them into garden?
Also, how deep should I bury them and should prune those baby leaves?

 

[DirtMechanic]

Get a bbq thermometer stick and poke the soil. Tomato needs warmer soil like 55f or they can stall. Oh they can catch up but its a hassle and no need to rush those plants as it is warming rapidly now. All those fuzzy hairs want to be roots. I will lay them over in the top few inches rather than sink them deep since it can find its own way down and will.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I try and bury the first seed leaves when I plant out, tomatoes will make roots from any stem that is buried. Some people say those top roots are useless, they absorb nothing and only support the plant. Personally I don't believe it, I reckon roots will aways absorb something, but even if I am wrong how bad is it having a bit of extra support?

 

[smitty55]

I would definitely pot them up to a larger pot so they can develop a larger root system and grow much taller before planting them deep in your garden once soil temps warm up much more. I grow quite large indeterminate heirlooms that get up to 8ft tall. Where I am around Ottawa I always wait until June to plant and my plants always catch up and pass plants that others have planted in May and sit there doing nothing due to cool soil temps or get hit by frost. It's not unusual for my plants to be two feet tall when I plant them a foot deep. Here's what I did yesterday. I start my plants in those Jiffy pucks until the roots start showing through the mesh which I peel off with minimal root damage before they get planted deep in larger pots. Those plants are 5" tall and the pots are 4 1/2" x4 1/2" tall