Potting Up Matt's Tomatoes

 

I had to thin out the seedlings that Matt gave to me. The black cherry tomato pot had more than 25 seedlings.

First, I poured a high quality seedling mix (NOT what I used when all my seedlings turned purple and grew scrawny) into a large pot to make potting easier.

Then I took the hunk of seedlings out of the pot and gently teased individual seedlings out of the root clump, trying to get as much root as possible with each seedling. I removed the lower leaves from the seedlings.

I chose the strongest looking seedlings with the largest clump of roots to pot up since I had so many seedlings.  Tomato plants will grow roots along their stems if the stems are buried, so it is a good idea to bury a good portion of the stem when tomato seedlings are potted up.  I buried a good 3-4" of stem for each tomato plant.

I ended up with 18 black cherry tomatoes.  I'll  use a couple of them and give the rest away to friends, neighbors, and gardeners who come to the Central Indiana Plant Swap.