Tomato seedlings

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We sowed some tomatoes a few weeks ago using a garland super 7, the compost was a mixture of coir, sieved garden compost and perlite. Germination was pretty good, about 80% I would say popped up.

I then removed from the heat and placed under an LED light about 40cm distance as recommended, which is in the garage. This gets quite chilly in the evening so I bring them inside.

Since the cotyledons emerged about 10 days ago there has been no sign of the true leaves.

I’m now thinking maybe the garage with LED isn’t the best option, either I’m being impatient and should wait another couple of weeks or I should try somewhere else for seedling development. 

So, my options are:

1. Stick with the garage and LED light and introduce some extra heat, I would say it’s about 5-10 degrees c warmer than outside temperature.

2. Keep the trays on the south facing kitchen windowsill full time after germination, where temperatures would be consistent enough but sunlight wouldn’t be.

3. Put the trays in the greenhouse, which is heated at night but the temperature swings about all over the place. Obviously sunlight would be better there.

Those are my 3 options! Would be great to hear what other people do after germination to avoid slow growing! 

Thanks in advance 

Ceres

Stick the poor little plants on the kitchen windowsill. They are far too small to be moving from one place to another with all the differences in temperature and lighting that entails. They need consistency and an even, warm temperature. My plants are germinated and grown on indoors......on a south facing windowsill.....with never a propagator or grow light in sight.

Joyce Goldenlily

I haven't even sown mine yet. Too early for me.

Dovefromabove

I sowed mine two days ago. They’re on the southeast facing dining room windowsill with a little bottom heat. They’ll stay there for ages. I’ll turn the heat off when they’ve got some true leaves and turn them every day. If they begin to get too leggy I’ll put a sheet of foil covered card behind them to reflect light back into them a bit. They’ll stay indoors even when they’ve been pricked out into individual pots. In May, if the weather is mild, I’ll put them outside in a little greenhouse during the day and bring them back indoors every evening. 

They need a steady temperature of around 15C.