Everyone is talking about growing tomatoes this year. With the bad weather they had in Florida, the prices of tomatoes has gone sky high. At Lowe’s building supply the price for one tomato plant today in my region was 5.98. Can you believe that? For one, tomato plant? I checked at another place, in a small country town and they also were selling their basic plants starting at 3.75 for a tomato plant but if you bought 10 or more, it brought the price down to 3.00 each. The larger tomato plants were still about 4.78 for one. So we better get going with starting from seed.
Decide on potting mix and how many plants you’re going to need first. Do you want to have the earliest tomatoes possible? Then you’ll want to go with a type of Early Bird Seed. The homesteads, German Johnsons, and Beefsteaks will take a little longer. Be sure to think about some cherry tomatoes, roma’s and maybe an heirloom type also. With heirlooms, you’ll be able to save some of your seeds from this years crop, to plant again next year.
Tomato seeds should germinate in about 7 to 10 days if under the right conditions and with fresh up to date seed. We usually start ours indoors. Start the seeds about 6-7 weeks before the last frost.
Try to get some advice from local growers, as to how they feel about when the last frost will happen. You will plant one tomato seed to one cell, or container hole. Tomato seeds do not need to be under light at this point. Some people believe that, but ours come up great without light during germination and we plant at least 15 500-yd rows of tomato plants each year. Heat is more important, they enjoy 65 degrees. Try to keep them under 70-80 degree temperatures if at all possible. I actually had a blanket over mine for a few days, in a spare room. Don’t bury them too deep. Barely put any soil over top. If you are planting one, to a cell, you can place one on top, and then just poke it barely under the soil with tweezers, or a pencil eraser. If you plan on planting tons, and tons of tomatoes, some people gently sprinkle several seeds, over each cell, but realize that you would need to go back and thin them out and replant again later. This would be for a large greenhouse operation, or if you have a small amount of space for seed starting but you want to give tomato plants to your friends to start in their garden. Two of our local greenhouse operations do theirs that way, and they usually have alot more plants than us, in a quicker amount of time. We spend less time, separating all of them, and replanting in larger cells, multiple times.
As soon as the seedlings start to emerge, then you can start to think about giving them more light. You will need a south facing window, or some grow lights or fluorescent lights. Tomato seedlings grow best at about 65 degrees with lots of light and good air circulation. Another reason for having them under lights, is it provides warmth, which the tomato plants like. Once they get a couple of leaves on them, you want to move them up to the next container size. You’ll want to water well and then leave them alone until the soil is almost dry again.
Full size tomato plants can be had in 6-8 weeks, so you must time your growth accordingly. Try to get some advice from local growers, as to how they feel about when the last frost will happen. Do not move your plants outside until the soil reaches at least 60 degrees.
Don’t let your tomato seedlings get leggy. This usually happens because of insufficient light, too much heat, or too much fertilizer. If they start to get “leggy” then repot in a larger container, and plant the seedling deep to shorten it’s height, and develop a strong root system.
If you want to put your plants under florescent lights, then the bulb needs to be about two inches from the plant for about 16-18 hours a day. No more than 18 hours a day. This will cost about 8.00 per month but you won’t be keeping them under this kind of light for very long. Remember, don’t put the lights under them, until after they have already sprouted and two leaves have come up.
Remember, you can’t just take them from indoors and plant immediately outside in the soil. You’ll need to “harden them off” first. Let them get used to the outdoors a little more each day, and again, wait until the last frost is over before you plant in the ground.
Growing tomatoes is fun. Your friends will be bugging you so they can have a tomato sandwich, which they will say, reminds them of the old days. Enjoy your tomato garden.
