What do you do if you start your tomato seedlings inside too early?
albert_135 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
8 years ago
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Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years agoRelated Discussions
What are you doing to your tomatoes!
Comments (22)pug, great looking healthy plants! Willy, ;-D Susannah, Everglades does the same thing for me too. I can never get it to 'hatch' where I want it to, and never at all until it's good and hot out. And you're making me want to try ferline and domito, see how that works! LOL Denise, thank you a million. As luck would have it, I ordered seed yesterday and ordered Stupice in that batch. See, I've already decided that I need to grow some from seed after all. But starting now, I have time to get them up and ready for spring. I will take you up on some of that Galina Hazera in the future when you have some seed you can spare. ;-) "Are you sure Al said to mix Floiage Pro + Proteck? I thought they should be separately applied at different times. I may be wrong but thought mixing was not good. LMK." LOL I thought the same thing. It was JaG that mixed them. He was trying to mix a concentrated solution so he could just measure one time. He about glued himself to his garage floor. They mix fine in water at the rate we use them. I mixed them together today. "Whitefly: I guess it took out 10 plants at various sizes. Really annoying when it's a full-grown plant about to fruit. Grrr." This is what I do to knock them down, I have a lot of citrus that gets them too. First, a good soaking in Pantene clarifying shampoo. Late in the afternoon, wait 30 mins and rinse off. That gets WF and a lots of other things you might not see. When it gets a little warmer and drier, I hit them with Pyganic. That takes them out immediately. No need to rinse off. Later in the season, we start getting rain and heat and bugs. That's when I switch to Serenade and Spinosad. Goose Creek is the most over rated waste of good potting soil I've ever tried, and I tried it three years in a row. I have grown better commercial fruit than that thing. At least the commercials actually bothered to put out some fruit! (LOL feel better? ;-) Tom (and Cath), I meant to tell you. Much later in the year, when the sun starts getting my pots too hot, I just wrap them in bubble wrap with Al foil on the outside. That's about the same time I put up the shade cloth too. Let me know how Brandy Boy does for you, ok? It's on my list of hybrids for next year. thank guys, Corrie...See MoreHow large do you grow your seedlings inside before hardening them
Comments (3)I started in October :) But then indoor gardening is one of my favorite hobbies...just like outdoor gardening, I guess... I invariably end up killing plants because winter is when I test my new theories and experiment and learn. This winter, I taught myself the organic method. I always did poorly in soil/soilless mix relative to my hydroponic skills. When it comes time to sow seed for the upcoming outdoor season, I start the habs around february 25-march 1 for setout may 30. I usually get to set plants out closer to the 15th, but my goal is generally to have the entire garden in the ground memorial day weekend. My last-frost date is generally the 15th. I let them grow slightly larger than what I would buy as a transplant at big orange box. bigger plants yield more :) I figure 4-6 weeks from germination [which means you kind of have to know how long your seed will take to germ, fresh seed for me usually takes about a week] to first transplant out of the 4" pots I sow in. I use an indoor grow lamp, but there's lots of people here who have really successful setups with baker's racks and regular 4' fluorescent lights....See Morestarting tomato seeds early-best types for a 'too early' start
Comments (21)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...See MoreAack! Started tomatoes (and peppers) too early. What can I do?
Comments (21)"Thanks, Dave. For future reference, how much more than 16 hours of light should I be giving my plants? Until just this week, that's what they were getting. The lights were as close to the plants as I could safely put them." It isn't more hours wissaboo but more intensity, more lumens of light, and as close as possible. For those that use fluorescent shop fixtures that means no more than 1 to 1.5" above the top of the plant. . Don't know what type of lights/bulbs you were using but the needed intensity wasn't there. "there are conditions when plants need to be rehardened after a prolonged period of overcast weather or they can be severely sunburned once exposed to strong sun." I agree completely but we were talking about hardening them off in shade, not overcast. Cloudy overcast conditions block a different light spectrum than just shade on a sunny day will. But yes, once planted in the garden under heavy overcast conditions sudden exposure to full sun days later can do some damage. It is one of those things you have to choose between - risking some minor sun burn vs, delaying planting even longer. Or you plant them and rig some temporary shading of some sort. Dave...See More
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agomnwsgal
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agofireduck
8 years agoSeysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years agoUser
8 years agofireduck
8 years ago
disneynut1977 ~ Melissa
8 years agoalbert_135 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoSeysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
8 years ago
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