Growing tomatoes from seed

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Growing tomatoes from seed; Any advice?
Topic Started: Jan 14 2015, 09:21 AM (1,019 Views)
heatseeker	Jan 14 2015, 09:21 AM Post #1
Veteran Member Posts: 10,320 Group: Member Member #713 Joined: March 30, 2010	With the prospect, finally, of having a largish yard and no black walnut to poison things, I am planning to order some heritage tomato seeds and grow them under lights for transplant in may into raised beds. I know there are some experts here, including of course, Durgan. What are the does and don'ts? Sources? Thanks



Durgan	Jan 14 2015, 10:11 AM Post #2
Veteran Member Posts: 13,273 Group: Gardening Guru Member #720 Joined: March 31, 2010	heatseeker Jan 14 2015, 09:21 AM With the prospect, finally, of having a largish yard and no black walnut to poison things, I am planning to order some heritage tomato seeds and grow them under lights for transplant in may into raised beds. I know there are some experts here, including of course, Durgan. What are the does and don'ts? Sources? Thanks I will be starting about the middle of February. I never use artificial lights and consider them nonsense. I will delineate my proven simple procedure shortly. About a dozen plants will suffice. Heirlooms must be chosen carefully. Most are disaster as to quality an prolificy. The best all around are the dark types of tomato and one or two yellow and two dark cherry. I grow about 40, but juice them. For ten or twelve plants, quality cages will suffice for support. I use overhead strings. There is no ideal system, since all are a bit miserable to some degree. Outdoor soil should be light and well drained about a foot diameter around each plant. Mulched to keep moisture Tomatoes are fun to grow and are very weather dependent. Cool Summer means misery as does too much rain.



heatseeker	Jan 14 2015, 10:18 AM Post #3
Veteran Member Posts: 10,320 Group: Member Member #713 Joined: March 30, 2010	So where in the house do you start them? Don't they need light once they sprout?



Durgan	Jan 14 2015, 10:44 AM Post #4
Veteran Member Posts: 13,273 Group: Gardening Guru Member #720 Joined: March 31, 2010	heatseeker Jan 14 2015, 10:18 AM So where in the house do you start them? Don't they need light once they sprout? I have a bright window in my bedroom with a shelf under and a heating pad, a body pad from the drug store. This gives them a germination time of about six days. Then immediately I put them in bright sun either outside in the green house if warm enough or move them in and out as required. Light being the criteria and of course not freezing. I try to water from the bottom in a large pan. To me light is probably the most important factor. Also seeds don't need light to germinate, warm darkness is perfect. The top of an old frig was perfect but the modern ones are now cold. I also live only with one of my daughters alone so don't have a female yapping about how ugly the setup looks.



heatseeker	Jan 14 2015, 11:28 AM Post #5
Veteran Member Posts: 10,320 Group: Member Member #713 Joined: March 30, 2010	We have a shed extension at the back of the house with lots of windows, so that might work with heating pad. What do you do to keep fecking squirrels from eating your tomatoes? And how do you deal with slugs eating other plants?



Durgan	Jan 14 2015, 12:07 PM Post #6
Veteran Member Posts: 13,273 Group: Gardening Guru Member #720 Joined: March 31, 2010	Slugs I spread bait around the plant, which seems to work. Squirrels are a pain on most things usually corn in my case. I put nuts along the fence and spread some corn kernels around with some success. My squirrels don't attack the tomatoes.



FuzzyO	Jan 14 2015, 12:31 PM Post #7
Posts: 16,968 Group: Administration Member #710 Joined: March 30, 2010	http://www.saltspringseeds.com/



heatseeker	Jan 14 2015, 12:44 PM Post #8
Veteran Member Posts: 10,320 Group: Member Member #713 Joined: March 30, 2010	Thanks Durgan and Fuzzyo. Much appreciated. The salt spring site looks great.



Durgan	Jan 14 2015, 04:51 PM Post #9
Veteran Member Posts: 13,273 Group: Gardening Guru Member #720 Joined: March 31, 2010	Inform what you plan on growing before buying. Thee are a lot of poor choices out there.



heatseeker	Jan 15 2015, 02:26 AM Post #10
Veteran Member Posts: 10,320 Group: Member Member #713 Joined: March 30, 2010	I want to grow bountiful healthy plants, but gardening is a lot like cooking. The ingredients are cheap and if something doesn't work out, I will tweak or not do it again.



Trotsky	Jan 15 2015, 03:19 AM Post #11
Big City Boy Posts: 38,319 Group: Member Member #79 Joined: September 8, 2005	I swear by bright fluorescent lights and always had wonderful results with my African violets in Winter under shoplights. A couple big plusses with overheads are: 1. the plants grow up straight. 2. you can light them all night without risk of sunburn 3. Good temperature control so you don't have to worry about the effects of an icy cold February window at 3 AM. With tomato seeds I caution only that you have the soil fairly dry the first week of sprouting. Nothing is so painful as to go to sleep with a flourish of seedlings and waking to them all laying on their sides with the tiniest line of rot right at soil level (damping off.) Probably a sterile mixture is the way to start. A little bit of airflow, not a draft, across the new seedlings might be a plus. An old acquaintance had a bay window that she converted almost to a hothouse/conservatory and every February she started her heirlooms. Some she had going continuously from the 1950's, always saving the seeds from a couple of the most beautiful tomatoes. Gosh were they good. She died in the 1980's and they bulldozed the house, and probably her seeds. Why I was so stupid as to not ask her for some I'll never know...but never having a garden of my own once I went away to college might be a large part of the answer. Durgan, How long do tomato seeds last? I once read that Dill seeds will keep viable for 100 years. Edited by Trotsky, Jan 15 2015, 03:31 AM.



imjene	Jan 15 2015, 03:48 AM Post #12
Gold Star Member Posts: 3,960 Group: Member Member #745 Joined: April 4, 2010	Maybe it's a no-brainer, but I need to ask, what is the advantage of growing your own from seed? Is it the joy of seeing it grow, or is it healthier in some way? I like the advantage of buying a ready made plant and sticking it in the ground!



heatseeker	Jan 15 2015, 03:52 AM Post #13
Veteran Member Posts: 10,320 Group: Member Member #713 Joined: March 30, 2010	The only advantage for me is growing a few heritage varieties. Most of my garden will be stuff that's already started.



Durgan	Jan 15 2015, 04:09 AM Post #14
Veteran Member Posts: 13,273 Group: Gardening Guru Member #720 Joined: March 31, 2010	Growing from seed gives a larger choice. Plants are fine also. Seeds keep if properly dried for several years. I check for germination on a wet Kleenex before planting. Germination takes about five days. Many people consider growing to be tedious. I tend to find it enjoyable.



Durgan	Jan 15 2015, 04:11 AM Post #15
Veteran Member Posts: 13,273 Group: Gardening Guru Member #720 Joined: March 31, 2010	I have dill growing throughout the garden. It pops up year after year from dropped seed.



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