
Consider mixing a handful of homemade compost into the soil before filling the hole to provide the young plants with some added nutrients. Make a large hole in the soil for the plant’s root ball, place it in the hole, and firm the plant into the soil. Gradually acclimatize the plant to the outside conditions for a few weeks and ensure to not plant them until the last frost for your area. As well as in greenhouses and outdoor beds, tomato plants are perfect for growing in pots, or as part of a vegetable container garden, and are commonly grown in grow bags. If you are planning to grow your tomato plants outdoors, it is important to harden off the plants before transplanting seedlings them to their final position. Tomato plants can be transplanted into their final position in a heated greenhouse in late April or early May, while outdoor plants need to wait until night-time temperatures are above 50˚F – which can be a few weeks after the last frost. Individual plants are transplanted when the weather warms up to between 70 and 75˚F.

Harden tomato seedlings how to#
(Image credit: Getty/mikroman6) How to transplant tomato seedlings to their final locationĪ young tomato plant ready for transplanting into its final spot should be between nine and 12 inches tall. Ruth warns that, as with pricking out any seedlings, it is vital that you make sure you are holding the young seedling by a leaf between the fingertips and ‘never holding the fragile stem as you might damage it which could kill the plant’. Make sure the leaves are dry before night falls, as if they are still wet they are more likely to rot or ‘damp off’. Check them every day, and give them a light watering as necessary.Do not firm them in – just water them in, gently. Plant them so that the cotyledons are sitting just above the surface of the compost.Hold the seedling by a cotyledon (seed leaf) and ease it out of its seed tray or pot, using a dibber or pencil.Make a hole deep enough to take the roots and the seedling without curling. Fill the pots to the brim with the compost.Ruth Hayes, gardening expert for Homes & Gardens advises a simple four-step plan for potting up tomato seedlings:

Transplant seedlings from their seed trays or modules into larger pots that are 3-4 inches in diameter, and use a good-quality potting compost. Tomato seedlings should be first transplanted when they are between two and four inches tall. The process is a fairly simple one. (Image credit: Getty/Kurt Brodbeck / EyeEm) How to transplant tomato seedlings from trays to pots
