Marcella, tobacco and tomatoes are two plants that allow you to break the rule: keep it at the same planting depth when you transplant. If your plants are spindly, like from overcrowding or not enough sun, then you can bury them up to the bud and they will love you forever. As long as you leave some green above the soil level, then your plant will make roots on top of its old roots. Any other plants will keel over, but tobacco and tomato have the ability to sprout roots from the stem if buried deeper than original level. The plants will be sturdier and healthier. This works for field or container grown.
Another trick, when you move your tomato plant to its final destination, squeeze flat and bruise the bottom leaves. This releases a tomato pheremone that makes it less appealing to bugs. Not to worry. Tomato plants are very very forgiving.
I made that mistake last year - didn't plant enough of the stalk and they “had” gotten spindly before I planted them so I screwed up two ways - letting them get spindly and not planting deep enough.
I won't let these get spindly. My grow lamp is adjustable, so I have it just above the plants - if I had it higher, they would get spindly reaching for the light. I will bury them deeply this time along with they won't be spindly to start with.
I broke my stay in the house until flu is over rule today, as I went to the Walmart outside garden stuff and got 20 plastic pots 5 inches across and 4 inches deep with the water collector in the bottom, so I could transplant into those for a while before plants go into the final large containers. They were 69 cents a piece and much better than the black thin ones with holes in the bottom. I didn't have any pots between 5 ounce cup size (2 1/2 inches across and 3 inches deep) and large containers. I also got more bags of potting soil mix.
I was the ONLY person in the outdoor garden section so I wasn't around anyone, just the one clerk that checked me out and when I got home I washed my hands very well.