When do I start germinating my seeds?

luisito8m

12 years ago

Newbie here! :)

I live at Zone 9, TX.

The packets say to wait till April, do I really need to wait that long?

Comments (8)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years ago
Depends entirely on what you are growing! What is in those packets?
luisito8m
Original Author
12 years ago
Evergreen Bunching Onion
Tomato Super Boy 785 Hybrid
Moss Rose
Cilantro
Green Husk Tomatillo
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Hi marial1214, I'm in your same zone in PA, mid-north Montgomery County. I set out my tomatoes about May 1-15. I do everything a little early, so I'm risking frost. Last year, a late frost hit on May 19th, so I had to build tent cities with Xmas lights around my tomatoes. They were fine, but it was a lot of work. I find it to be worth it to plant them early. I set out my sweet and hot peppers based on night time temperatures, usually around June 1st. They and sweet potatoes are the only plants that I don't put in the ground earlier than recommended. For seed starting, I do the following: Hot Peppers: January 15th (but I will be starting the Habaneros next week) Sweet Peppers: February 15 Tomatoes: March 1 I have a VERY good light set up and my tomatoes grow thick, bushy and quickly. For all my plants, I pot up several times. For the tomatoes, I dig a deep (~12") hole, so even if they do get big, a fair amount of the stem is underground (they will put out roots from that stem). I've been doing some odd additions at planting time for the tomatoes: (bottom of hole) wool, crab compost, shrimp shells, Root Zone beneficial microbes, crushed calcium carbonate. I then water with Root Shield beneficial microbes (2T per gallon). The microbes/shrimp/crab compost is to prevent Verticillium wilt, but oddly, it also helped with late blight last year. The calcium carbonate is to prevent blossom end rot. Hope some of this helps. I've attached a link to my seed starting setup (can't find the one I posted on this forum) Good luck! Bellatrix Here is a link that might be useful: Bellatrix - seed starting light setup
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cal_mario
12 years ago
It depends,if you begin them indoors they would need some artificial light.If you start them now outside in a hoophouse and leave them overnight they would need frost protection.I started tomatoes since December in a hoophouse outside with heatmats some are 4 inches now.I just make sure they are well protected and I gave them 4 hours of supplemental light.It can be tricky but you can try a few early seeds and see how they do.
bejay9_10
12 years ago
The bunching onion and cilantro should be OK. Might be a bit cool for tomatoes and tomatillos. Even tho the last 2 could survive, they will have a long wait until they are warm and happy - which invites diseases, insects and problems.

bejay
avocado101
12 years ago
In Southern California, the last frost is over by beginning of March. In mid January, I have planted my tomatoes and peppers in little paper pots for germination. The temps here doesn't go down to freezing point too often, so I just keep my young ones outside but still somewhat protected using a cover.
Edymnion
12 years ago
See link below, it gives normal first and last frost dates for all over the US.

How early exactly you want to start out depends a lot on what you're seeding, but my general rule of thumb is 4-6 weeks before the last frost date.

For my area, last frost is April 3rd. It's suggestion of going 2 weeks earlier than that is generally a good one, so that would make it March 20th. 4-6 weeks prior to that would be 2/7-2/21.

I'm getting antsy though, so I've already started quite a few peppers. I'll wait until end of Feb to start my tomatoes and corn though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Frost Dates
dicot
12 years ago
If your soil isn't frozen, you can still get the root veggies in now - garlic, onion sets, seed potatoes, beets, ...
thisisme
12 years ago
I don't know about the rest of the country but last frost dates in the link posted above were way off for the cities I saw in my state.

I can't post a direct like to the site because its against Garden Web rules. However if you do a google search for "Last frost date by zip code" and go to the link at the top of the list you will get a more accurate last frost date.

I did the search for you. Just click below and go to whatever site is at the top of the list.

Here is a link that might be useful: Last frost date by zip code

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When do I start germinating my seeds?

Comments (8)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

luisito8m
Original Author

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cal_mario

bejay9_10

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When do I start germinating my seeds?

Comments (8)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

luisito8mOriginal Author

Related Discussions

cal_mario

bejay9_10

avocado101

Edymnion

dicot

thisisme

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

luisito8m
Original Author