Transplanting Cherry Tomato Seedlings

My Sun Gold Cherry Tomato Seedlings (see this blog entry) are tall enough that they are ready to place into the ground. I think that the weather is warm enough that the plants will not get damaged by any cold weather.

In a previous blog entry, I showed how I put up the Texas Tomato Cages.

In this blog entry, I'll show you how I transplant the Cherry Tomato Seedlings.

The picture to the right, shows the area of my Raised Bed that I plan to put the Cherry Tomato seedling.

The first thing I do is to dig a hole about 1 feet deep and wide enough so that I can put in a 4" container.

I then pour a cup of Fish Bone Meal into the hole and along the side.

Fish Bone Meal is very high in phosphorous, which is an essential element that enables plants to produce flowers. You can use Bone Meal instead of Fish Bone Meal if you want.

The picture to the right shows the Cherry Tomato seedling that I want to transplant.

There were a couple of side shoots near the bottom of the seedling. I cut off these side shoots (see picture to the right) since they were going to get buried and used them to clone additional Cherry Tomato plants (see this blog entry).

The picture to the right shows the root structure of the seedling.

You can see the roots just beginning to curl at the bottom of the container.

This tells me that this is the right time to transplant the seedling. If I wait too much longer the roots will cover the outer edge. This would constrain the roots from branching out and get nutrients for the plant.

I put the seedling into the hole.

The picture to the right shows how the seedling looks after I cover up the hole with dirt.

It is half the height as before. I plant the seedling this deep to ensure that the plant develops a good root structure.