Growing tomatoes from seed. Any hints?

[WriterDom]

I plan to start them inside to transplant later. Yeah, much easier to buy plants but if it works it will be a heck of a lot cheaper.

 

[sexymom]

I've had pretty good luck with it. You can get those little peat planter things at Dom Depot or Wal- Mart, so transplanting is easy.

 

[deecee53]

Yeah, and they already have fertilizer & nutrients in them. Of course, it'd help if you a had a small greenhouse. A friend of mine has a commercial nursery & he's had his started for a few weeks. Try chocolate cherries if you like smaller tomatoes. They're really tasty.

 

[deeteeZA]

Just make damn sure you plant the seeds right way up!!!

 

[WriterDom]

I've had pretty good luck with it. You can get those little peat planter things at Dom Depot or Wal- Mart, so transplanting is easy.

Ah, an excuse to go to Dom Depot!

 

[RedHeadedGlory]

Maybe I had a bad batch, but I wasn't a fan of the peet planters. I seem to remember a lot of iffy growth and yellow leaves.

I've stuck to plastic flats and Miracle Grow (tomato formula) the past couple of years, works great as long as you've got a window with good sunlight/warmth to start them out in (here in Mich that's a bitch in early spring, but you're in the south right ? Should be fine).

 

[WriterDom]

Maybe I had a bad batch, but I wasn't a fan of the peet planters. I seem to remember a lot of iffy growth and yellow leaves.

I've stuck to plastic flats and Miracle Grow (tomato formula) the past couple of years, works great as long as you've got a window with good sunlight/warmth to start them out in (here in Mich that's a bitch in early spring, but you're in the south right ? Should be fine).

Yeah, it will be 73 Saturday. I got an aluminum roasting pan I thought I'd start them off in. Separate them once they start growing.

 

[Dirk1958]

If one wishes to save seed from harvest to planting the next spring, it needs to be an open polinated variety, not a hybrid. For tomatoes Rutgers is an excellent old variety that is suitable.

 

[RedHeadedGlory]

Yeah, it will be 73 Saturday. I got an aluminum roasting pan I thought I'd start them off in. Separate them once they start growing.

If you do that one thing to be careful about is too much water.

When seeds are in their early stages they get flooded pretty easily if they're in a planter that doesn't drain out (found out the hard way when I tried to start kitchen herb garden in ceramic pots).

If it's a solid pan you might want to drill some small holes in the bottom and put an old cookie sheet or something underneath.

 

[Blase]

General guidelines for a seed-starting container: sturdy, at least two inches deep, has drainage holes. The sturdiness requirement really eliminates containers like old milk cartons that have been cut in half - They're more trouble than they're worth! The minimum two-inch soil depth helps to ensure that the containers (and your seedlings) won't dry out too quickly. The drainage holes, of course, are to keep them from staying soaking wet or even flooded - both bad ideas for almost any terrestrial plant, especially in the seedling stage.

By the way, ceramic pots should be ok for herbs as long as they have drainage holes. Pots that don't are called cachepots, and they are most often used essentially as pot covers, disguising the less attractive pots that plants are actually growing in.

 

[RedHeadedGlory]

By the way, ceramic pots should be ok for herbs as long as they have drainage holes. Pots that don't are called cachepots

Good point, I should have been more specific.

they are most often used essentially as pot covers, disguising the less attractive pots that plants are actually growing in

I have used them pretty successfully on occasion even without an inner pot, but only with a mature plant. The starter stage is just too fragile.

 

[Blase]

Good point, I should have been more specific.



I have used them pretty successfully on occasion even without an inner pot, but only with a mature plant. The starter stage is just too fragile.

I agree. I often drill holes in ceramic cachepots when I find attractive ones. You need a masonry bit but it isn't too difficult, in general.

 

[WriterDom]

It will be easy enough to poke holes in the foil. Then get another one that the Holy one can fit inside. Support it up an inch or two. And remember to save it for next year. Now I have to figure out how to hide it from the cats. Or it will turn into a litter box.

 

[In Anticipation]

I use individual pots, 3" is about right. Plant 2 or 3 seeds in each, when they have grown a little then eliminate the smaller ones. I have square pots that fit in a tray, 15 or so to a tray. Probably where you are you can grow them to about 6" tall and plant them straight outside.

It's a bit tougher here, today it's 4C which is about 40F I guess. You can use the pots and trays over again, often plant nurseries will give the trays away, that's what their plants arrive in.