Jo,

I don't winter sow tomatoes, so someone else will have to suggest how you deal with them now that they've sprouted.

No, your tomatoes are not confused---they are performing exactly as they are biologically designed to peform. Tomato seeds don't "know" when to sprout intellectually, but rather they simply sprout when the soil temperatures reach the right range, assuming they have enough moisture to induce germination along with the soil temp. Since it has warmed up early this year, the right temps for seed germination are a bit earlier than usual.

To the tomatoes, it doesn't really matter if the calendar says December or Febuary or April....they will germinate when the soil is warm enough, provided it is moist. (In very, very dry soil they either won't germinate or they'll germinate and die soon thereafter.)

If they were mine and I had them in vented containers, I'd leave the containers closed if the venting was cooling them off well enough. If I thought it was too hot and sunny, I'd open then up during the heat of the day and close them up a couple of hours before sunset so enough heat would build up inside to keep them warm all night long in case the temps border on being too cold. Remember that your containers are like little mini-greenhouses protecting the young seedlings.

If I had wintersown tomatoes that had sprouted this early, I wouldn't move them inside but I'd throw a heavy blanket over the containers on nights the temperatures are going to get down near freezing. Moving them inside would sort of negate one of the benefits of wintersown seeds---that the plants are well-adapted to outdoor temperatures and light levels. Once you start moving them inside, you lose that advantage.

I hope someone who actually does wintersows tomatoes can answer you questions about what to do with them because it is easy to say what I'd do with them, but since I don't wintersow them, it is a hypothetical answer to your question. I only wintersow a few flowers and herbs, generally only those that need cold stratification and, since they need cold stratification they don't germinate too early anyway or, if they do, they are pretty cold-hardy types by nature.

You might check the wintersown website to see what they suggest.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Wintersown.org

Dawn, thanks for the info. I started searching this morning and found a big thread about wintersowing tomatoes

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/wtrsow/msg1018151322875.html

it turns out that you can and people do, but I think those couple of days of really warm temps made mine come up too early.

I think your idea of covering them with a blanket on freezing nights is a good one. On hot days I will open the tops. Hopefully they will live. A couple of the ones I wintersowed were from seeds I saved last year, and I feel a special tenderness to my second-generation Jenks babies.

Jo

Jo,

I am sure it was the exceptionally warm temperatures. Y'all probably didn't get quite as warm as we did, but we were up between 78 and 82 for several days the week after the big blizzard hit NE OK. We went from snow and sleet on the ground to green cool-season grasses and weeds popping up everywhere literally overnight, and have several kinds of wildflowers in bloom already.

The February warming trend reminds me of the weather we had in the early 2000s when we had several warmish winters in a row and I was able to put tomatoes in the ground the first week in March and only had to cover them up on a small handful of cold nights. I am hoping that's the kind of spring we're about to have, even though you certainly couldn't say it has been a warm winter. Of course, when the weather service averages together the record-setting cold temperatures from earlier in the month with the record-setting and above-average high temps from the rest of the month, it will look just like a typical "average" month even though it wasn't.

If there's any doubt in your mind on a cold night, just put your wintersown Jenks babies in the warmest outdoor or semi-outdoor location you have, like inside the garage, but don't forget to move them back out the next day. Once they're acclimated to outdoor lights and temps, they can lose that acclimation really quickly if kept indoors several days.

Dawn

Broccoli and mesclun don't need bottom heat and, in fact, attempting to sprout their seed on a heat mat can interfere with germination by making the growing medium hotter than they need.

I only use the heat mat for pepper and eggplant seeds, and they would sprout fine without it, but I am an impatient gardener and like for them to sprout quickly so I use the mat with them.

Joellen I like the idea of winter sowing too but I have not been brave enough to winter sow tomatoes. Some people up north don't have the fluctuations in temperatures because their snow cover stays on or they live by the coast which helps to moderate temperature. The advantage of winter sowing is supposed to be tough plants, but tomatoes will freeze if it gets too low. I would watch the forecast. Dawn of coarse is right but you are in 6b where cold weather is still likely. It would be a good experiment if you have lots of seed. I have four plants I started indoors extra early and I planned to put them out super early in walls of water. I have become attached to my four potato leafed beauties and I am not sure I can make myself put them out for my experiment.

something I want to try this year is placing some of my starting trays into clear plastic trash can liners. It would be sort of like a very small greenhouse. I will have to open it up or slide the trays out to keep them from getting to hot.

I have tray made from plastic rain gutter that are very tough so it would be no problem moving them around. Some have wire loops on the end to hold up the plastic, or to suspend them under the grow lights. With the news paper tubes I use in them permits me to lift out one plant at a time.

Larry

Well this should be an interesting experiment at any rate. I have some seeds wintersown (tomatoes peas peppers beans)

I have the same exact seeds started in seed starting mix in my heated indoor mudroom/exercise room

and the same exact seeds started in seed starting mix in my unheated garage.

My biggest fear is that I will kill them all, My biggest hope is that all will survuve and I can compare their growth!

Jo

That is the way to learn. Please report your results. I have no doubt most will survive. Last year I planted 5 or 6 seeds of many different kinds of tomatoes hoping to get one or two of each kind. I ended up with lots of plants which I gave away to people. When I asked people if they wanted tomato plants they would say give me a couple. I left about a dozen on a neighbors step when she was gone. I made my sister take several at the family reunion and she only wanted a "couple". It was like giving away kittens. Of course I could have taken them to crosslines but I was kind of attached and wanted to give them to people I knew.