I do not see anything that's not worth saving. It could use some epsom salt IMHO and lime ( VERY LIGHT on both) and warmth. It will catch up!

I sowed 12 tomatoes in cups
8 have sprouted, of those a few are getting first true leaves, the rest in seed leaf form
Two of those were flattened by rain yesterday
No sprouts at all in 8 of the 12.

I think I'm going to regret wintersowing them this year. Should probably have started them under lights.

Karen

Karen don't get discouraged. Those little buggers will turn into full grown bueaties in no time. You have to believe.

The top ones are actually bigger than almost all of mine, and I'm not upset. The best of mine look like the bottom one. From what I've read the wintersown toms will be small until it warms up and they get in the ground. Then they supposedly catch up. I'm keeping the faith, partially mainly because it's such a pain hardening off the ones I grew inside. I'll be comparing the two and if the ws do well in the garden I'll never grow inside again.

Karen, I don't know if it violates the meaning of wintersowing, but you might get quicker sproutage if you brought the unsprouted cups inside at night for a few nights. I've read that tomatoes don't sprout until the soil temp is over 50 degrees, and we've been having some cool weather lately. I hope it works out for you; I have read a lot of people have both success and not success at wintersowing tomatoes in zones 6 and below. I have been hedging my bets big-time this year by taking my seedlings in when the temps are below 40 degrees. Last year, I wintersowed in 2 liter bottles and did not take them in, and the seedlings all croaked at 5 inches tall.

Lois in PA

My indoor plants died when I left them out one night. The temperature dropped to 38 and they up and croaked. So I wintersowed new ones the next day using the same containers. I planted them out today. I have 54 tomato plants, about 10 varieties in all. I was supposed to have 23, but some of them didn't survive the caterpillar attacks of the last week.

Keep them all! All of my WS ones are smaller than yours. I planted some out in the soil with a plastic top from a bottle on top to see how they do.

Maybe you can re-pot the ones that are sulking and they will perk up?

I would never throw out a tomato plant. I never met one I did not like either :)

Karen

Karen, you're right about re-potting. I re-potted about 12 of mine because they're getting new homes in a few weeks and they seem to be thriving in their individual cups. It's also been a little warmer so that no doubt is the real reason since most of them had plenty of room in their jug.

Caryl

OK, I will do as suggested and repot to bigger cups. We are supposed to have some frost tomorrow night so I am in no hurry to get these guys into the ground. I planted 9 others that had only one set of true leaves in the new raised bed and they have been just sitting there in suspended animation for 2 weeks under their clear covers. Here is the whole motley crew of tomatoes and a few cantaloupe. Since I had so much empty space in the sweater box, I decided to plant some more tomato seeds as backup to ones that might not make it due to my terrible tomato parenthood skills.

{{gwi:376532}}

All of yours are further along than mine, if that helps. Six sprouted two weeks ago, during our un-natural warm spell. They only have cotyledons. I seeded more when the first batch sprouted, and they have not germinated. It's been cold since then and I hope they will all start growing once the warm weather returns. I only started one indoors and it's a Tiny Tim.

I'm a first-year wintersower. Who here has successfully wintersowed tomatoes in zone 5 and colder?

I've found that if I plant them in black pots/containers and either set them out on the deck (could be anything higher than ground) they actually get more heat and grow faster!

Now, I do spend more time watering, but the ones I did this too versus lighter containers, etc----are much bigger!

Lois, I notice you don't have any holes in the sides of your cups. Someone taught me this tip: if you look at commercial pots, there are always holes near the bottom of the cup on the side. This produces better drainage, so your plants won't get water-logged no matter how much rain they get. All my containers have holes on the bottom and at least three on the sides. Works very well.

That's what I have been doing; setting the seedlings out on the sunny back deck which is off the ground and taking them back in when it's colder than 40 degrees at night. I also planted some tomato seeds in a gallon jug and left it out to see how fast those would germinate and grow. With my usual impeccable timing, I planted them right before the 2 week cold snap we are (hopefully) near the end of, so nothing has germinated yet.

I do have holes near the bottom of the cups, but they are rather small. That's a good tip for the future, bigger and more numerous holes near the bottom of the cup. For the time being, I am fastening plastic sandwich baggies with a few holes punched in them over the top of the cups to prevent them from being flooded if it rains.

This growing-tropical-plants-in-small-containers gig is a whole new ball of wax for me.. I've always just planted shrubs or direct-sowed easy things like cosmos. I'm learning a lot. :o)

Lois in PA

Edie,

Last year was my first year WSing and I did many tomatoes that came out wonderful. Since we have been having such warm weather,I've already planted some of my tomatoes. I covered them for a couple of nights of frost, but they look great. I have them in Sq Ft garden beds. I dig out a deep hole and plant them at the bottom. As they grow I fill in the soil. This was they create roots all along the stem. I'm hoping since I have them out so early that I will have really early tomatoes!!! Can't wait.
Bev

Mine are just getting first true leaves. Lots of time here.

Karen

Thank you so much ontheteam and caryltoo for your encouragement. The tomato seedling has improved quite a bit. It's one of the two in the following picture (I can't tell which one it was now!)

{{gwi:376533}}

Lois in PA

Lois, they look great, bigger than all but a few of mine. Once they hit the warm ground with room to spread they'll probaby take off.

Caryl