Recommended soil germination temp is 70-75 (80-85 for peppers) thus the recommendations for the use of heating mats or hot boxes, etc. Once germinated they are removed immediately to the cooler tem area of the GH. If interested you can find a detailed FAQ about this over on both the Growing from Seed and the Growing Tomatoes forums here. Will a heat mat effectively warm 4" of soil? No. That is why shallower containers are used for germination. You can use your 4" deep ones if you wish but only put 1 1/2 to 2" of soil in them. Then fill the pot as the plant grows. Better yet, germinate all of them in one shallow tray and transplant them to the individual containers once they develop true leaves. Dave

champagne The Late Blight that's caused the widespread problem with an early appearance is in the Northeast, not in the South. Before concluding your plants had Late Blight, make sure that's what it was. Early blight is a very common tomato plant disease and may be confused with Late Blight. Early Blight is not as rapidly lethal, and the symptoms are not the same. It can also be controlled with fungicides. If your plants had Late Blight they'd be dead in a week. Late blight lives in organic plant tissue and debris remaining on the soil but freezing kills it. Early blight is not killed by freezing. All that said, starting plants from seeds yourself is certainly a good idea, but Late Blight is wind- and rain-borne, so if you have healthy plants to begin with, that's no guarantee that Late Blight won't infect them if it's in your area. Fungicides may or may not be a control. The Tomato forum has excellent discussions about the differences in the two blights, where they're a problem, their identification and control. Go to that forum and search within that forum for "blight" to find the discussions.

I grew hydroponic tomatoes last year in DW and had very good success. To be honest with you tomatoes are easy to grow in DW, but there are some things that are extremely important to success. Space: Tomato plants use tons of space. I grew the Money Maker (4" red globe), Heirloom Organic Beefsteak, and Cherry Tomatoes. Each plant took up a 3 x 3 foot square on the floor and grew all the way to my 8' ceilings. Light: I found using both MH and HPS lights at the same time work well with tomatoes. The HPS light seems to spread, and penetrate the plants better, while the MH light keeps things nice a green. I had two 1KW lights going on at the same time. Ventilation: One of the keys is good air flow. If you see the plants leaves and flowers moving then you have enough air. The temp got up to 85 deg F every day in my grow room, and sometimes in the summer, I had to open up the windows. Bugs: Opening up a window, or bringing in plants from other gardens opens up your grow room to bugs, which can be very difficult to get rid of. Nutrients: I used the General Hydro Flora Nova Grow and Bloom nutrients with no Micro Nutrients except for a Calcium and Magnesium supplement. I started them out at 1.0 EC (by starting I mean they were 6" tall second set of leaves were out), and finished up with a strong 3.5 EC. I started with Grow until the plant was about 3' tall and started to bloom, then after blooming set in full I switched to the Bloom nutrients. DW: The most critical thing about tomatoes in DW is aeration of the water. I would strongly suggest you start your plants out in 2 gallon buckets, and then move them to 5 gallon buckets once they get about 3' tall. It is much harder to aerate the 5 gallons then the 2 gallons. You can tell when the plants roots are not getting enough air by the roots being brown, they should be white. I would also strongly recommend getting the General Hydro dual diaphragm 4-valve air pump, and using one 4" air stone to each pump when in the 5 gallon buckets, and two 4" air stones in 2 - 2 gallon buckets. You cannot give the plants too much air around the roots! Media: I started my plants out in rock wool, and finished them in rock wool. The secret to tomatoes is getting air to the roots during the entire growing stage. If you do not get enough air to the roots when they are young, they will never make it to adult plants. The problem with rock wool blocks and DW is that the air just goes around the block while it sits in the solution. You need to get air directly to the roots. To do this, I drill a hole through the center of the block, then use a plug (half the depth of the hole to hold the plant, while the roots hang below directly in the solution). Make sure your air stone is directly below the center of your basket and that your net pot or basket does not prevent air from entering the hole you drilled in the center of the rock wool block. In case the link part does not work: http://picasaweb.google.com/MEHargraves/Hydroponics# I hope this helps! Here is a link that might be useful: My home garden last year.

Well, I am quite thrilled to read these great responses! I live in Zone 7, but our Winter is still long. The zones just refer to the extremes in temperature, not how long it lasts. I have noticed volunteer tomatoes come out earlier than I would choose to plant out. So, I can watch for that as a sign. I do not have any trouble with legginess of my tomato seedlings. I have a picture window that faces full-South, and shelves there (for seedling starting in Winter) outfitted with shop-lights. I read somewhere that it is important to use fresh bulbs (fluorescent tubes) as the light diminishes over time. I do not get new ones every year, but if one seems to put out less (judging by the plants), I use that on my alpine strawberry seedlings or something else that doesn't mind. I want to start even earlier because I'd like to keep tomato strains true when I grow them out. I plan to grow out severl this year, and if one flowers first for a week, then they are in the clear, and I can mark those fruits, and then not really worry about the rest. I guess what I mean is that an early & staggered start will allow me to focus on each plant as it comes into bloom, selecting from that, and moving on to the next one. I do have some limitations (medically), so it would be easier to focus on them staggered rather then so many at one time. It may not work out the way I hope, but I figure it is a good experiment for this year. By choosing good varieties for this (my un-familiarity with varieties hurts my experiment here) I can better insure success. The funny thing is that I don't really eat tomatoes--except in spaghetti sauce. BUT, everyone else loves them, and I find there is a group involved with tomatoes that have a zeal for the plant like no other vegetable/fruit. A great deal of home-breeding is going on, and I find it the most fascinating thing. Tomatoes provide a great opportunity to study genetics at home, and to look very intensely at varietal development in plants. I guess I am hooked for a reason not common to most, but I am hooked. So, I will try my experiment this year, and see how it works for me. I am thankful at the varieties/categories I see mentioned. When mentioning "use determinate or dwarf" plants, how can I find out which is which? I have consulted some websites, but is there a thorough tomato base out there? Keep the posts coming! Happy Holidays, Robin