Too late to start tomato seedlings?

15 years ago

I would like to try the 'Black Cherry' cherry tomato but cannot locate seedlings locally. Do you think it is too late to order seed and start a plant? I live in middle Arkansas and we have long, hot summers here.

I've no idea how long it would take to get from germination to set out size as I've always purchased seedlings.

Mary

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Comments (10)

jll0306
15 years ago
Go for it. At the very worst case, you'll have left over seeds in time to start early next year.

But you probably have at least 5 months left in your season, so I'm betting you can still get a harvest in from this planting.

jan
sillius
15 years ago
My entire season is about 5 months, and i once planted in July and got great tomatoes. I think that you can definitely go for it. Another option is to order plants online from someplace like Hirt's Gardens. I did that this year and, out of 5 plants, only one seems stressed at all from the mail, and it is coming back.
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It totally depends on what you want to grow. Way too late for Peas. Probably too late for Lettuce, because they taste bitter and bolt when the summer heat heats up. Fine to plant carrots and radishes. Fine to plant Zucchinni, Melons, or Cucumbers very soon. Potatoes can be planted now, very easy to grow in a big plot. You really need to buy small plants of Peppers and Tomatoes. You can get small plants in sets cheap. Too late to plant seeds because it takes too long for them to mature and get actual food. Broccoli and Cabbages you can buy small plants. Way too late to plant seeds for spring. You could plant for a fall crop, but the summer heat get be a problem, so it can be hit or miss depending.
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Not at all. I usually start some each month from April-July. That way I have a continuous source of great, healthy tomatoes until frost (or even after that, since I plant to harvest green tomatoes that will ripen for Christmas!)
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if i was you, i'd do both. The seeds could be for a late crop in the fall. Most of the time it's a gamble if they will set fruit during the hot part of the summer so they will ripen before frost comes. It also depends on what the mature day is on the variety.
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"Oh ya, all the stores still have plenty here. Seedling purchase won't be issue. Was more curious if was better variety to go for, vs maybe ones that would take too long." If you are buying transplants rather than growing your own from seed then your choices will be severely limited anyway. Do you have a list of what is available? If so then you can look each up by name to see what its DTM is and look for one around 60-70 days, no longer. Otherwise we could list all sorts of varieties of the thousands that fall into that maturity range but the odds are very slim you could find them as a nursery transplant. Nurseries and the big box stores tend to limit themselves to 20-30 varieties only. Dave
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timmy1
15 years ago
I seed every 2 weeks from March 5th till June 1st.
mmacys1
15 years ago
Funny you say that i just bought 4 cherokee purple plants from Hirts Garden off of Ebay. they were cheaper then any other nursury aeound here in NJ if they even had the cherokees.. I didn't receive them yet cause i ordered last night...Check Ebay there are a bunch of blk cherrys on there. and these nursuries on ebay seem to get great feedback
Mary Leek
Original Author
15 years ago
My thanks to all for all the helpful information and encouragement. I will give it a try.

Mary
woodcutter2008
15 years ago
No. I live in Zone 5, and I start my last tomatoes from seed on June 1st. I see that "Black Cherry" is listed at 65 days, so I'd say you have no problem, assuming that you can get the seeds from your seller in a reasonably timely manner.
-WC
tn_veggie_gardner
15 years ago
Cherry tomatoes generally take less time to produce than other varieties. Go for it.
Bets
15 years ago
Mary, If you will click on my user name at the top of this post, you can send me an email from my profile page, if you will send me your address, I will send you a few seeds so you can try them since I do have a few left and I have all the plants I need to go in the garden and will be saving fresh seeds. I can drop them in the mail on the way to work the day after I get your email.

Bets
chuck60
15 years ago
Last year my black cherries were still cranking out fruit when the frost got them. You should have plenty of time.

Chuck
hanselmanfarms
15 years ago
My Black Cherries were almost as bad as the Yellow Pears. Both over-produced and continued til frost. I did not have enough energy to pick all of them.

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Too late to start tomato seedlings?

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