Planting out small seedlings
 

I'm starting tomato seeds for the first time, and only have experience with planting out the stocky, 8-12" tall plants from Home Depot, etc. I don't have the time/space/permission from my wife to buy a shop light & heating mat setup this year, so I'm hoping to start a dozen plants in my kitchen window. I've got a bag of Gurney's seed starting mix, which is coir-based and contains some fertilizer. Here in MD, we have a last frost date of May 5, so I'm thinking about starting seeds around April 1. That gives me 5 weeks until plant out, which I'm hoping is long enough to get them going, but not so long that they get spindly without artificial light. How tall can I reasonably expect them to be, and does that time-frame sound right? Most of what I read suggests starting 6-8 weeks before plant-out -- will they be too small at 5 weeks? Is there a downside of planting small seedlings, other than that it'll take longer to get fruit?
Thanks very much!

Those stocky-looking plants from Home Depot probably got sprayed with growth regulators to make them look that way.

Big plants, small plants, it doesn't seem to make much difference in my garden. I do pick off blooms of any blooming seedlings when I plant. Mechanical transplanters that plant by the acre are made for small plants, 6" or so at most.

Also, don't confuse legginess with growth. Taller isn't really better, especially if the plant is taller due to not getting enough light.

I feel very content to plant out 5 week old seedlings.

You could consider doing two batches, or at a minimum start a couple plants at 8 weeks and the rest at 5 weeks. Shot half the fun is piddling with them and transferring them to a solo cup or peat pot.

I have never used a heating mat and have no trouble with speed of germination or germination. Extra light would help keep them from stretching out too much. I have a lot of 2 gallon or so pots that I use to cover the plants when it might frost. Never trust the average last frost date.

Just make sure to choose the window that gets the most sunlight during the day.
However, I wouldn't start the seedlings at the window, they don't need light to germinate, so I would search for a warm place. 72-78°F seems to be perfect.
Just put them at the window as soon as they germinated.

[I]I feel very content to plant out 5 week old seedlings. - Joseph[/I]

Good to know. You're colder, but our climates are similar.

Would be interested to know why you pick off small blooms?

Thanks Mike

The idea of picking blooms is to force the plant to use its energy to grow roots instead of trying to form fruit as a tiny seedling.

They should be a great size by 5 weeks, especially if you can get them used to being outside early on when day temps are 50+. I think Tormato sows his seeds May 1 and plants out on June 1 every year. Once when my plants got wiped out by a frost in May, I restarted seed and planted them by 4 weeks and they did great.

Edited to note that I always put 2-3 heavy round toothpicks next to each stem to protect from cutworms.

Sometimes, when I plant out very small seedlings, something will bit them off, so that they die. That doesn't happen in my garden with older seedlings.

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I started some lettuce and other seeds to practice, so we'll see how it goes!