(that first post was from my dad Larry) Don't wait to add the mycorrhizae, it takes a long time for it to become established in non-oxygen-infused grows. Add it in when you first mix up your grow medium so that its well entrenched before you get it outside. If you wait to add it until the transplant its benefits will not come into effect until 4-6 weeks later. It will protect your plant from in-ground pests and pathogens as well as ease the transplant process by advancing into the new soil along with the roots. I would encourage aggressive supercropping to keep the plant at a manageable size and to get it as stout as possible. If you do this the fan won't help much and would also prematurely pollinate any flowers that slip by you. I'm not sure potting up would help much since a good mycorrhizae colony will rapidly take over the surrounding soil once you get it outside, but I can't see it hurting anything either. You are correct about heavy nitrogen to delay fruiting and to encourage heavy vine growth. Its tricky to get this kind of fert without using a nitrogen-only fertilizer, which you DON'T want to do. The plant needs some, albeit relatively small amounts, phosphorus potassium sulfur magnesium and so fourth which you usually only get from a general purpose fertilizer which contains more potassium and phosphates than you would like. The solution is to use an organic fertilizer that I swear by called Fish Emulsion. It is a 5-1-1, the perfect ratio for vegging out a tomato plant. It also contains just about every trace mineral under the sun and then some. I would recommend fertilizing with it and fast-acting lime for a calcium boost so that your plants can load up on it preemptively. Fast-acting lime does raise the PH of your soil so you may want to counter-act it with some garden sulfur as well. Calcium is very important for forming the cell walls of the tomato fruit and a deficiency in it is the cause of blossom end rot. Better to prevent this than have to treat it down the road and if you succeed in getting a massive flush of fruit from an over-sized transplant then you will have abnormally high calcium and potassium uptakes. I'm going back and fourth on what I think of your flower-pinching idea. On one hand it will indeed prevent the plant from producing fruit which it won't be prepared to do with its low potassium and phosphate levels. On the other I see having flowers on the plant on the day of the transplant as a way of getting a head-start on your yields. Personally, I think since you are in an indoor setting lacking the insects and steady breeze (if you ditch your fan) that normally pollinate the flowers you should leave as many of them on as possible. I would only pinch off flowering locations that inadvertently became pollinated and started to swell at the base indicating the early formation of a tomato. Leave the rest. When you take the plant outside the flowers should rapidly pollinate from wind, insects and all of the jostling about that will surely occur when you transplant. Other than that I think your theory is very solid and should get you sun-belt yields in a short-summer climate. Good luck and happy gardening! -Zach

I would wait until after the last frost for your area before putting tomatoes out, a few weeks after that for peppers and eggplant. Beans can go out now, but you should get them in before the rain.

If the choice is between plants getting stunted and pouting in their pots vs. sulking in soil that's a little colder than they like for optimum growth, plant them out, IMO (after hardening off of course). I'm very familiar with weather around Westchester, and if I were you, I'd plant out. The mid-Atlantic/NE coast is not like the PNW. There's no stretch of moderate weather between seasons. One day it's winter, then we have some weeks of wild swings back and forth between unseasonably cold and unseasonably hot with a surprisingly small percentage of days that actually are the average temp for spring, then suddenly it's hot. I wish we had that extended moderate period in spring and fall that you get in some parts of the country, honestly, because even though it can make you impatient to put tomatoes in the ground, it would make it easier to grow crops that like moderate temps. heroes1967: Thanks everyone. Tough for me to harden the plants as I'm away from the house weekdays. I'll get them all outside for a while both days this weekend. Use shade cloth. Several layers. Every couple of days, remove a layer. I have a bunch of old window screens I use. I stack three of them. Then remove them one by one. Plants harden off easily that way without needing a lot of fuss and monitoring. The only thing you really need to worry about is setting up something to act as a wind break if a dry windy day is forecast, especially if temps are cool AND windy. In my experience, cool temps + dry wind will burn plants pretty catastrophically and much worse than sun.

No I buy them from Steele Plant Co. I like to know what variety I'm planting and choose one that is said to be most adaptable to my area. There are other companies that sell them, I usually Google for a source. But I think it's ok to use one from the store. This year, there must have been some roots left in the garden beds, because I have about 3 or 4 plants growing, so not ordering new for this year.