[AmandaLouise]

My tomato seedlings are in modules and looking really well.  About 7 inches high.  I have 12 but wont need all these, in hindsight.  how many would you keep back, I can give the others away.  I thought about 3 as I have just started another variety.  Only two of us and two young boys.  These will soon need to be transplanted into another pot, then their final pot hopefully!  It must sound so silly and obvious , I wont ask again once I understand?  I have never done seeds before. 

Amanda

[DD.]

Sounds like they may actually be a little on the leggy side. When you transplant, put them as deep in the pot as possible.

Where have you kept them, where do you intend putting them and have you used the aluminium foil trick? (So many questions - sorry).

You may need more than three plants once you've had your first taste of your own home grown ones.

[sunshineband]

It does depend on two things

1. How much space do you have to grow them? Work this out with greenhouse/plot/growbags at home etc, and make sure you give them enough space

2. Are you going to only eat the tomatoes in salad or do you have space to freeze some, or cook them into sauce to freeze, or bottle some sauce?

and then you 'll know whether to give some plants to a new home  

[Spana]

What variety are they Amanda.  3 may be enough if they are something like Sungold and if you have another batch of seeds of a different variety coming on you dont want to fill your space with the first ones.

Theres only me and OH here and i grew 4 Shirley last year and it wasn't enough.

[Plottered]

as said earlier depends on how much space you have really but theres no better feeling thqn giving away your surplus tommies to friends and rellies thats if you dont decide to use them for salsa's and chutneys or turn them into tomato based pasta sauces for freezing. Loads of things to do with them so I always grow more than i think I may need.
 I see your in Audenshaw just down the road from me, do you have a plot somewhere?

[sowitgrowit]

On a tin-foil related note; I was geeking out and found the following which may be useful.

• Foil is reasonably reflective, directing up to half of the light back to the seedlings.
• A product called "Mylar" is quite a lot more reflective - this is found in insulation or in those emergency silver blankets (which can be obtained from a pound shop first aid section).
• The surface that bounces the most natural light back is a flat white surface (maybe a painted piece of thin board?).

For those of us with a few seedlings on a windowsill I'm sure a bit of folded foil is fine; but if you have dozens of seedlings in a large bay window, maybe one of the blankets or a flat white piece of board would be preferable as a semi-permanent fixture?

Obviously I haven't tested this myself, but folks who grow indoors under lights seem to follow the above information where obviously they need to replicate the intense light of daylight as well as possible with as little wastage as they can.

[DD.]

I've used foil for possibly 40 years or more and it's always been effective enough for my use. You can just tuck it under the pots and bend it upwards as it's self-supporting.

Other reflectors mentioned would need a bit more work to support them.

[sowitgrowit]

I've used foil for possibly 40 years or more and it's always been effective enough for my use. You can just tuck it under the pots and bend it upwards as it's self-supporting.

Other reflectors mentioned would need a bit more work to support them.

Agreed - I won't be using them as I haven't the space, but wasn't sure if the info would be useful for those who want a more permanent setup.  I do have a sunny shed window which would possibly benefit from this kind of arrangement, but I will stick to what I've got I think for the time being. 

Foil is certainly enough for me (in my limited experience), but no doubt there are those who will want the very best for their seedlings if they're getting an early start - no bad thing, but a bit of a faff!

[Ivor Backache]

To me 12 plants is a minimum. I have 8 plants of 5 types all about 4" high.
3 will go in the conservatory and will be stopped at 3 trusses, and I should have fruit from June onwards. The others will stay on south facing windows and 3 will go in  the greesnhouse and the rest outside. Continuity is the key word.
In April I will sow some more for planting in the allotment and hanging baskets after the frosts which for me is mid May. I always get a better crop from the allotment than from pots.
In the beginning you will be picking single fruits from all the plants.  Put them with the bananas to fully ripen. Later you have a bowlful and so on. Then you get the recipe books out for soup and chutney. Enjoy.

[mumofstig]

Rather than planting another lot of seeds, why don't you just root the side shoots you nip off, they root very quickly.
Unless of course you want to grow different varieties 

[DD.]

I always do that.

Ended up with 99 plants last year. 

[mumofstig]

It's easily done  :blink: 

[Ivor Backache]

Ended up with 99 plants last year. 

Once (and only once)I had several bags of humus/grit  from a sewage plant and mixed it in the soil. I had 9,999 tomato plants!!
Removing tomato weeds is a whole new experience.

[JayG]

Mylar is more reflective than either white paint or aluminium foil (and the shiny side of the foil is 8% more reflective than the dull side.  )

There's not a huge difference between them in practical terms, especially when compared with using nothing at all! 

I try to only raise the exact number and types of plants I need, partly because I don't have unlimited "nursery" space for them and all the other young plants at that time of year, and partly because I feel really bad about chucking perfectly good plants on the compost heap. 

[sowitgrowit]

Mylar is more reflective than either white paint or aluminium foil

I knew I must've got something muddled somewhere!  Thanks for the correction.

That'll teach me, no one likes a smart a*se!