[richrua]

Yes the length of the day is a major factor. Overcast summers are hopeless for tomatoes!

This year I am going to give 'auld sod' a try. It is an Irish heirloom variety that can cope well with our gloomy conditions, apparently.

We will see.....

[mumofstig]

I'm locking this thread for now, as it was all about experimenting with early tomatoes.
Any sown now are not considered early.

I'll unlock it when it's time for feedback 

If there's anything you need to report in the meantime just pm a mod and we'll sort it out

[DD.]

I've unlocked this topic to allow for updates over the weekend.

Please - we ONLY want to know about seed sown earlier in the year that have already been mentioned on this thread, (unless you sowed some very early i.e. January and would like to mention them). It is those very early sown seed for which this thread was created.

As for my 4 x Shirley, sown on New Year's Day, they're still going, quite sturdy at 4" high, but later sown ones are catching them up.

[Auntiemogs]

My shirley's pixie (sown mid Jan) is about 3-4" tall and a very sturdy little plant. It certainly hasn't suffered from the lack of light and I shall definitely grow again. 

[azubah]

Mine are 5" tall and have 5 leaves, only counting those over 2" long. The stems are a little on the thin side, but not too bad. The lower leaves did start to turn yellow, so I dosed them with magnesium sulphate and they now look better. Magnesium deficiency was something I did not anticipate at this stage.

[digalotty]

spindly stems i think mine are to warm indoors

[LilacSandy]

Several of mine have been potted on into my plastic pint pots from the plastic coffee pots, when they are tall enough I just drop the plant into the pint pot and top up the compost so the stalk is burried and the leaves are just above the soil level. 

The bigest of mine are the cooking toms, I presume that they are the most hardy, but these are not the ones I wanted to bring on really.

[mumofstig]

I've moved mine to the brick outhouse where it's cooler - down to about 12C at night.
I think that'll slow'em up a bit 

[DD.]

Mine are just plodding along, nice and steady, but I rather think the later sown ones will catch up.

I'd lose mine if I dropped them into pint pots!

[LilacSandy]

I have found that if I sew a few seeds of each variety in January, any sewn in early March will catch up,  however I find that there is usually one or two plants of each variety that are stronger and get away much more quickly and I end up with perhaps 8 or 9 plants that are well in front of the rest.

[azubah]

Potted my 6 early ones up into 5 1/2 inch pots today. That will last until the end of March when they will go into their tubs for summer. The later ones will catch up, but I want tomatoes in June, not September.

[Totty]

6 Cedrico, 13 Sungold, 10 Shirley. All sown on Jan the 20th. They are all a good 6 inches high and are in the greenhouse. Put in the heated growhouse in the greenhouse at night. The tiniest little sideshoots are starting to appear so with any luck ill be able to root some within the next 3 weeks.

Totty

[LilacSandy]

The Little one was transplanted today, the middle one germinated mid Feb and the one in the pint pot is one of the January sewn one.

[kosh42|EFG]

I'm mildly upset that the tomato seeds I planted mid-Feb are sturdy looking with multiple, healthy looking leaves. Those planted first of Jan are tall, weak, have fewer leaves and are not looking great. Unless things change a lot before I plant out in May, I doubt I'll bother early sowing next year...

[azubah]

Careful inspection has revealed tiny embryonic flower buds on my Jan 20th sown tomatoes.