Tomato Seedlings for Fall Garden

My summer garden is nearly finished, and I'm turning my thoughts toward my first fall crop. Tomatoes can grow well in zone 9 in the Fall. Until now, I have purchased plants from a local supplier. But at $5-$9 each, I decided I'd try my hand at seed germination. I also perused the TomatoFest catalog and narrowed my selection to 12 varieties. I'd say I overdid things just a little. So to demonstrate a modicum of logic, I chose 3 varieties of cherry tomatoes and planted 6 seeds each using Mel's method in the SQFT book. I also planted 12 seeds of one beefsteak variety.

A few germinated in three hours; some took a day; the small remainder took 3 days. I am concerned they are growing too rapidly and will result in spindly plants. Most are about a week old.

Here are a few photographs:




I transplanted them over to cups at 5 days old, burying about 1/2 the stem of the seedlings:





As you may be able to see, even the transplanted seedlings are growing rapidly. Temps here are in the lower 90's with 90+% Humidity. On a few plants, I've added more MM to some cups, burying more of the seedling. I have grown all my tomatoes in Earthboxes. I plan on building a SQFT for fall, and putting at least some of the plants in it, and the rest in the Earthboxes.

Can anyone give me counsel on the seedlings. Are they growing too fast? How can I retard the growth?

I could not see your pics but I don't think you want to slow them down since you want ripe toms by frost. If they are getting enough sun and water, love and support (trellis, stake...) I bet they will do just fine. Oh, and, to the forum. I hope you can stop by the Coastal & Tropical forum.

Greetings and welcome to the forum. I also cannot see your photos.
I am so happy for you that your tomatoes are doing great. What I would do is, understand there is no practical reason or way to retard the growth of the plants and just keep transplanting as needed by the plant. Transplanting and adequate sunlight will keep the plants from getting long and spindly. Cherry type tomatoes should do quite well in pots for a while. You can always start more plants in a few weeks, lucky you!

OOPS. I posted the link to the Gallery page and not the image link. Sorry for the size of these. I assumed it would re-size to a maximum dimension. I'll post the next images at a more forum-friendly size.

Welcome to the forum, Cincinnati!!! I'm so happy to have a new member from the "Coastal and Tropical South" region. I think you'll love the forum. There are so many great people on here who are always willing to help with questions and problems.

We also like to share in successes, so please keep us informed as to how your garden grows! As Shannon, our Coastal and Tropical South host mentioned, you'll probably enjoy checking on that regional forum. It's a good place to go to ask for help with questions specific to your (our) region and reading the old posts can help build our knowledge tremendously.

Also, if you get a chance, cast your vote for the regional poll - there's a banner that runs across the top of the forum home page that you can click and "vote" for the Coastal and Tropical South. It's an effort to try to determine how many members are from each region of the country.

I hope to see you around the forum!