Dr. said:

Ah... another question. I read that you should sow tomato seeds 6-8 weeks
early when starting them indoors. At the 6th week, the plants were gigantic,
and it was still too cold to plant. They weren't leggy.. just HUGE, with the
roots growing through the sides of the 3" diameter peat pots.

Don't start them any earlier than 6 weeks before...unless you have a
greenhouse and plans to pot them up into bigger containers.

I think I may know what I did wrong. I started them in my basement, which is
kinda cool.. as basements tend to be. I left them on the heat mat the entire
time. I'm thinking those seedlings may have grooved a little too much on all
that heat. The light was always withing a couple inches of the top of the
seedlings. They just got happy.

Next year, should I remove the heat mat right after they germinate?

Yes. And run a fan (or fans) on them to give them a little movement. Toughens
the stems.

Planning for potting them up bigger at least once might also be in order.

I've been picking SunSugar and 4th of July for a couple of weeks. Also Ruby
(which I like to dry).

Also had my first hornworm in years. YUCK! It was bigger than my index finger
and I have pretty big hands.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)