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Growing Tomatoes

When do you start your tomatoes in California?

13 years ago

We just recently moved to CA, and wanted to know when most of you start your Seedlings from Seed? We now live in Zone 8. Average temps during the day right now are around 55-65 night temps in the high 40's. When we were in MA, Zone 6 i started my seeds around late feb which was still early but i had nice big plants by the time they were ready to be planted outdoors.

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cymbidia

13 years ago

I start my seeds in late january, pot them up in the greenhouse and plant them out mid April, and, if Im lucky, start picking end of May/beginning of June. Im in sf bay area(east bay)

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Comments (11)

splitsec002
13 years ago
I'm in Zone 9 and I would start my seeds Jan 1st. They're ready to go out in late feb or early march.
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slo_garden
13 years ago
I start my seeds in mid-February and plant in the first week of April. I live on the Central Coast.
anilca
13 years ago
I start them on 1st Feb, so that they are in the ground by early April. Planting earlier than this date is a little risky. Two years ago I had planted in March but an exceptionally cold-night wiped out my 24 of my plants.
cymbidia
13 years ago
your local cooperative extesion office/master gardener help line can give you the last frost date for your area.
http://www.mastergardeners.org/
lovetogarden2008
13 years ago
I'm in Sonoma County. I plant my seeds on Valentine's Day and plant outside on April 15.

I hope this coming season is better than last - it was terrible.
Harry12
13 years ago
I plant my seeds in mid to late January in large plastic glasses, and I take them outside in the morning and bring them in at night, if I remember. One year I didn't plant my seeds until April, and they seemed to do just as well. Just experiment and find what works out best for you...
cal_mario
13 years ago
I live in the Central Valley and already started germinating some tomatoes,I use a heat mat, cold frame and supplement 4hours with florescent light until mid January.I also cover my plants with row cover protection.
sumith2008
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Everyone for the replies!

Cal mario - i also sowed some seeds indoors on Dec 11th. Does anyone know if its safe to plant Brocolli & Lettuce now? Anyone planting any cold crops around this time of year? Thanks!
cymbidia
13 years ago
cal_mario, when do you get ripe fruit? and what varieties do you start in december?
cal_mario
13 years ago
I started Big Beef,Bush Early Girl as it's a short plant,Roma and I have Health Kick seeds on back order.I sell starters so I don't keep these around very long I sold some the first week of January last year.I get so busy I have trouble doing my own garden early. I can't give accurate times of ripe fruit,there many factors, indoors in a coldframe you will get some quicker or using hotcaps outdoors ...

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