starting tomato seeds

I have tried to start tomatos from seeds in the past with no success. how do I do it right? Do I need a light?

Starting tomatoes: Cover the seed with 1/4 inch medium (seed starting mix) in cell pack or flat. Seeds will germinate in about 7 days at 75-80F. After seedlings emerge keep temperature no higher than 70F. Feed once a week with diluted fish emulsion. Transplant to 4-inch pot when first true leaves appear. Set your light (a grow light or fluorescent light) 2 or 3 inches away from the growing medium. Raise the light as the seedlings grow. Light, warmth, and moisture (keep the medium moist not wet) are key ingredients for starting most seeds.

just wondering if exposure to light makes any difference - should the tray be covered (cells are in darkness) until the seedlings emerge, or left uncovered and exposed to normal daylight conditions?

or keep covered with a transparent cover until seedlings emerge?

Check out Carolyn's seed-starting tips at:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/490323/

Frank

Can you start tomatoes from seed without grow lights? As in, outdoors?

Tomato plants require supplemental light. Unless you have a VERY sunny windowsill, they will not tolerate partial shade.

Moving the plants inside and out every day seems like a lot of work. And seedlings will not tolerate the cold weather and/or frosts we are getting. Even 45 degrees or below can stunt young tomato plants.

Buy a $25 fluorescent light kit at Home Depot. The one with the chains, and hang it from a shelf, rack, or the ceiling in the garage (if it's not too cold out there). Now get your Ferry Morse seed starting trays with clear dome lids and a bag of Sterile Seed Starting Mix (I do not recommend Peat Pots or Plugs).

Moisten the seed starting mix in a bowl, fill the trays with moist but not sopping wet mix, and sow the seeds just barely under the surface. You can even use a toothpick to just barely shove the seeds under. You could also lay the seeds on top and scatter more seed starting mix on top.

Put the clear dome on and keep in a WARM place for a couple of days until they start to sprout. Now remove the dome and put those plants right up under the lights, like ONE INCH AWAY. Fluorescent light brightness falls of dramatically just a couple of inches away. If you need to, use books and CD cases to prop up your plants to reach the lights. Every few days you'll need to lower the plants away from the light. It is perfectly OK if a seedling leaf touches the lights. Fluorescent lights do not burn plants.

After about 3 weeks the plants will be ready to pot up into 4" pots or 6 pack trays if that is what you have. Trim off the bottom leaves of the plant and drop it into the bottom of the 4" pot. Fill the pot with soil and you should have just the top leaves/branches sticking out of the pot, with a bunch of the stem buried. If the plant is not tall enough, you can put a little bit of soil in the bottom, but you want to bury as much of the stem as possible. The stem will grow roots, making a stronger plant.

You also want to use some very light fertilizer at this point. 1 tsp Maxicrop liquid seaweed in a clean, sterilized spray bottle with misting nozzle for example.

In Houston, we are really past the deadline to sow seeds. Start them today!!

This message was edited Jan 16, 2009 7:42 AM

How long before I plan to set the transplants out in the garden do I need to start them indoors? I tried looking up my last frost date, and it varies a lot depending on which website I look at. I'm between Cincinnati & Dayton, and one site said Cincinnati: May 12, Dayton May 19. Another site said Cincinnati: April 29, Dayton: April 27. I think I found yet another set of numbers at another site.

6-8 weeks prior to your last frost date.

I am finding mostly April 13-14. Victory Seeds is very conservative and says April 29th.

So maybe February 21st to start tomatoes and Febuary 14th to start peppers?

Where are you finding May 12th?

Hastur,
This is a really simple light shelf system I made all by myself last growing season. You can put it in a spare bedroom, or hallway, or anywhere you have at least 48" of horizontal space (the length of a standard flourescent light bulb). I bought the boards at HD and they cut them for me. I made mine a different length than the instructions, to fit along a wall in our spare bedroom. It wasn't hard at all, and the shelves and cement blocks can be painted to match your room decor. And, you can dismantle the whole thing and put it away for the "off" season.

So far, it's the easiest and most space effective system I've run across in the DG forums. The two shelves accommodate 4 standard seedling trays, and the chains allow you to keep the lights at least 1-2" from your seedlings (a must for your tomatoes to get "fat" and not "spindly")

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/48/

Linda

It was here: http://www.usagardener.com/breaking_ground/frost_dates_usa.php (scroll down to Ohio)

This message was edited Jan 16, 2009 7:56 PM

gardening_momma,

Alright thanks. I just looked and a lot of the dates on that list look 1-2 weeks late based on what I have seen on other websites.

Note that there is a difference between 90% frost chance, 10% frost chance, and 0% frost chance. Maybe their calendar is set to 0%. But if you wait that long in Houston, you will get very few tomatoes. You have to plant tomatoes while there is still a risk of frost and be willing to protect them if there is a frost expected.

Unlike up north, in Houston the soil temperature doesn't drop quite so much, so the root system of your plants will start growing quickly, even if the above ground growth looks like it is not changing much. Then as soon as you get warm weather, the plants will take off like a rocket.

Gymgirl: I love that setup and will have to put it in the garage in the future. This year, however, there is a moratorium on building anything in the house or Garage. Long story, but the rules are that we have to get stuff finished being unpacked and then empty the storage shed before I am allowed to put grow lights inside. I am definitely going to use it for next year though, after we get everything finished.

Looks like this is the year to get tomato plants from the Farmer's Market when they are brought out.

Wabash Antiques in the Houston Heights has the best selection of tomato varieties by far.

The various Houston Plants & Garden World locations carry Chef Jeff's which are some good vars.

I may even have some extra plants if you are interested. And of course I hope you make it to SETTFest. :)

Wabash seems to be the greatest in the world for a ton of garden related stuff, so I'm not surprised that it's a good place to find tomatoes. I've found nearly everything else there, when I've gone (including one of my cats, but that was an accident - I swear it was - but she was so insistent on sitting on MY shoulder). Thank you for the reminder.

SETTFest - I very much want to go. It looks completely fascinating and like an amazing time.