Starting seeds in a container...

I know that it's really late in the season for starting new tomato plants but someone please just humor me for a sec, lol.
If I wanted to grow some container tomatoes, do I still have to start the seeds inside and transplant or can they be grown right from the container, outside?
In fact, would the answer apply to all veggies? Or even flowers? Or herbs?
Thanks so much!

(If you read my new post in the Landscaping sections under ANTS!...you'll know why I'm asking!)

I hope everyone has a superfluous weekend and a very safe and happy 4th!

Ping

Ping,
Post your question in the Tomatoes Forum. You'll get a quick reqply!

Thanks gymgirl but I'd like to know about herbs, flowers and other veggies, as well as tomatoes.

I started a variety of veggie seed in small plastic cup with a sandwich bag of each one, inside. I had germination and about 2 inches of seedling within 8 days!!!! Now they are outside without the baggies and doing fine. We'll be setting up our garden beds this weekend and I'll be transplanting them soon. We've got some bigtime rain heading this way so I don't want to plant until after that is over.
I also have had patio tomatoes and jalapenos in contains for about 2 months not. They are slowing down but not done yet. I feed them every other week. I added a picture of the planter bos that my husband built. In the lower part there are 2 large storage bins that we drilled holes in and planted the tomatoes and pappers.
~~Teri~~

Hi Teri...great idea with the storage bins used as your planters!

Maybe I'm phrasing my question wrong. Let me try again, using tomatoes as the example.
I want to start some more tomato plants from seed. But instead of transplanting them into the garden, I want to grow them in a container. If this were February or March (in zone 7), I would be germinating my seeds inside (it's cold outside), keeping them under grow lights for approx. 4-6 weeks. Then for the next 2 weeks or so I would be acclimating them to the outdoors, getting them ready to transplant to the garden. But now it's June, and it's not cold outside. So, can I just put the seeds in a container, on my deck, and let 'em grow? Or, do I need to start them indoors, grow them for (x) amount of weeks indoors, then transplant them to the container?

Comments and advice are accepted with alacrity (my fav. word...lol)!!

My only worry would be the the seeding might get burned but other than that go for it!
~~Teri~~

Ping, yes...you can start your seed directly in the containers if you like. Just keep the same conditions as you would if started indoors (consistent warmth, moisture). As the seeds "declare" make sure they don't dry out. Also, you could easily start quite a few tomato seeds in one container then once they have their true leaves you can pull out all but the one you want to leave. The ones you pull out can be easily transplanted.

You've got at least 90 to 120 more days before you have a cold spell so if you choose to grow some tomato varieties that have a maturity date of roughly 55-75 days then you'll have plenty of time. However, I'd go ahead and start them now as the shorter days of late Summer/Fall will also come into play.

On the other hand, you can speed things up by removing suckers from the plants you are already growing and root them. That will give you a tremendous headstart for your late crop of tomatoes.

Hope all is well your way! Happy Gardening!

Shoe

Thanks, Shoe....
As always....YOU ROCK!
Ping

Hey Shoe!

Long time no talk to. How're things going in your neck of the weeds? I got a pretty nice crop of maters this season, as a newbie grower. I had 7 varieties in 5 EBs and got a fair number of maters considering all the rainy weather we had in Houston this spring!

I'm about to try that rooting technique on some of my shoots. But here's where I need your help. I don't know which ones will have the shortest growing dates. Here're the varieties I'd like to root. Please let me know If I have enough time before about November 1. We don't get really freezing cold here until the end of December, January, so I'm counting probably days until right up to about Thanksgiving Day.

I have Eva Purple Balls, Pruden's Purples, Black Krim, Cherokee PUrple, Ark Traveles (which is just now putting out hardy size tomatoes), and Stupice. the Stupice are really cranking em out still and had new blooms and large marble-size tomatoes coming on. Thanks for any suggestions, in advance!

Pruden's Purple is 75 days
Cherokee Purple is 80 days
Eva Purple Balls is mid season
Stupice is early to early mid season

Not sure of the others.

Howdy GG...

You're growing some mighty nice varieties. Glad to hear you are having great success! If it were me I'd go ahead and start rooting those suckers now; with ya'll not having extremely cold weather for quite a while I bet you'll end up with a decent second crop. Even if you figure ten days for the suckers to root good you'll still have more than 90+ days to grow them out.

I'm not familiar with your weather/heat, etc in Texas but I imagine it'll be pretty hot during end of July and August so that will come into play regarding whether your flowers will have viable pollen. If you have some cooler night temperatures that will certainly increase the chances of pollination. (Among the varieties you have I'd definitely try the Arkansas Travelers though as they are known to do great in high heat and humid areas.)

Hoping everyone has a great day in the Gardens!
Shoe

Pinger42 and Horseshoe!

Thanks for the timeline. I've narrowed my varieties down to the Pruden's Purple (which is my NEW favorite, over the Black Krim), the Cherokee Purple and the Eva Purples. Hmmmmmmmmm. Seems to be a purple theme going on here. I'd love to do more Krims, but they took a full 150 days from my seed to the first fruit I picked ripe from the vine! Not enough days, but will count backwards for next Spring, that's for sure!

Will keep you posted on my progress.

Gymgirl, how productive are the Black Krim? Mine are just beginning to set fruit, about 5 weeks after plant out (but they were huge). If they produce well, I'll leave them, but if they're a bit stingy, I'll root some cuttings for later.....
Margo

Margo,
I'm amazed your's are setting fruit after just 5 weeks of plant out! You mean the plants were huge when you planted them out, right? Yep, those fruits get really, really big. And, from my observation, the shoulders usually remain a little green. I kept waiting for the entire tomato to turn an even color deep purplish black, but the shoulders don't seem to, which the bottom gets ripe so go ahead and pick em. I even put them on the windowsill expecting them to finish turning, but none ever did. See mine next to the yellow persimmon? The shoulders stay sort of greenish...

I started all my maters from seeds. I picked my first Krim 150 days after I had planted the seed! Growing from seed? agonizingly slow. The wait?: PRICELESS - TOTALLY WORTH IT!

It has a phenomenal taste (IMHO), and if it didn't take so long, I'd root more for my fall planting, but I'm not sure I'd have enough time before our first frost. Oh, I might just do it anyway and see what happens. Good part is I'm going to take root cuttings from what I already have so I can bypass the seedling stage and go straight to "teenager?"

Thanks for reminding me!

Oh, productivity. I didn't get nearly as many Black Krims as I would have liked, but the ones I did get were huge and meaty. Actually, the Houston area growers didn't get the production they're used to -- we think it was all the rain we've had here. I describe The Black Krim as being like a slice of watermelon. It has a density and doesn't drip, but the juice bursts in your mouth when you bite down! Totally surprising.

This message was edited Jul 3, 2007 2:32 PM

This message was edited Jul 3, 2007 2:36 PM

*grin*. That's all I need to hear! I'll be rooting cuttings ASAP. These plants were from a grower having an end of season sale, very cheap ($1.00 a plant), and huge. I really thought they might be too big to make it. I lost one Nyagous, but everything else did spectacularly. BTW, I drooled at your picture, and I'm realy happy that that is a Black Krim. Always nice to see "real" pictures.Thanks!

Margo
p.s. These are the plants the day I got them....

This message was edited Jul 4, 2007 10:38 AM

I enjoyed reading about your tomatoes. We do not have those varities here. I do love tomatoes and have some that I just started. This time of the year, I start all my plants outside and they grow quickly.