when to start tomatoes

[billyboyd]

OK now my tomatoes are about 8" high in their starter trays.. I have to leave for two weeks starting this thursday and am a bit worried about them getting to big when I am gone... should I put them in bigger pots for the next two weeks or what???

peppers are also started pretty good!!

[KEN W]

If they aren't in individual containers at 8 inches high.....you should transplant them into individual containers.Don't worry about them getting to high if you transplant them.Just bury the stem up to the top leasves.The stem will send out roots and you should have short stocky plants.

[croixflats]

bump

[solbes]

Last year I tried burying the stems when outplanting, and it worked really well. Took about a week to get established in the garden and then it just took off. It was kind of a cool summer, so I would guess they would do even better in a normal summer.

[croixflats]

Sure does help with the root ball size.

I'm trying to get everything together for starting my own seeds right know. With the prices of Tomato plants last year I best try this.

[croixflats]

Not pertaining to seed starting but Steve Foss posted a link about blossom end rot. I talk about this because it explains the cause and preventative measures. A few steps to take before we plant or tomato's like add calcium and what nots.

And thanks for the link Steve

I'll resubmit it here.

http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/horticulture/blossom-rot.html

[croixflats]

Going to try something different this year for mulch.

Tomatoes like warm soil. From the research Ive done clear plastic warms the soil faster than black or red. I thought green would be but it looks like the clear allows the suns radiation to penetrate the soil while the plastic retains the heat. The problem with clear plastic is it lets weeds grow under it, this can be a good thing as this will coax the weeds to germinate than when it gets cold at night the seeds that germinated die off essentially sterilizing the soil. A Study I read showed earlier tomatoes with a higher yield. The study also tested different colors like black and red. The colored poly showed no significant differences aside from preventing weed growth.

The study concluded poly warms the soil thus helping the plant grow faster.

The draw back of poly is watering, drip irrigation is recommended. The poly does help the soil retain moisture. And aids in prevention of soil born fungis and diseas being splashed on to the plant.

Should point out some red poly studies show significant in higher yeilds and earlier tomato's

May give this a try for my tomatos and peppers this year.

[Nainoa]

Actually I've found the easier solition is to just shovel the snow off your garden during this time of year and expose the black soil to the sun... Which will warm it up a solid 5-7 degrees warmer than the seasonal average if you were just to let it melt off like usual.

For weedblock I just put down a layer of straw, and then re-mulch with grass clippings from the lawn.

One of the potential problems with using poly for artificial heating is that you risk sterlizing the top layer of the soil, which kills the beneficial bacteria that live there, which are helping the plants.

And there is a risk with some species of tomatoes of getting the soil too hot during say a hot july etc...

As for the various albido of different colors... The thing with Red is that Red reflects a modest spectrum of light that berry bearing plants like. It's especially helpful with strawberries. But I think with Tomatoes the distance between the productive light absorbing leaves and the ground is too high for this red reflection to help.

[croixflats]

Thanks Nainoa, you confirmed my suspicions on using poly. I have to move my tomatoes to a different location this year and I think I will do slight mounded rows and use straw like you mention. The rows will make it easier to run my in line drip irrigation and being mounded I can control the watering a bit better to reduce the cracking and blossom end rot, I'm thinking..

[Nainoa]

Something else to consider... When you move the Toms to the new location... Plant Snap peas or Soybeans in their old location... (Clover is also good but will take hold for the next year.)

Soy Beans and peas pull the lion share of their nitrogen from the air instead of the soil, and thus they replenish soil nutrients as a rotation crop.

Without this technique ^^^^ Western civilization would have never escaped the Middle Ages!

*******

When it comes to the nutrients of the location you're planting...

What I do...

I ferment my own organic fish mulch from one year over to the next... But you can use whatever fert you are comfortable with.

I go out the day before I intend to plant. Mark where I want my plants to be in the already tilled soil. Then I dig a large hole in that spot a couple of inches deeper than I intend to plant at.

Then I put a cup of my Fertilizer into that soil, and I cover it with 2-3 inches of soil.

I've learned that plants follow a cycle just like a human growing up... Where they hit that adolescent mark and they just start to feed like crazy as they explode into a growth spurt.

So when my plants (Averaging 14" tall for Indeterminate Toms) hit the soil, they just about to hit that adolescent growth spurt... So just as their lower roots (Which are the hardest to get your top spread fertilizers down to) reach down... They hit that fertilizer pocket I left them... And BOOM!

Also nice because this is happening at the same time that I'm fishing like crazy, so it's one less fertilizing step for me to worry about for a couple of weeks after they first go in the ground.

I'm 6'6" and my tallest plant was at eye level the week after the fourth of july last year!

[croixflats]

This is the first time I'm groing from seed. This is fun ,I cant keep from checking how the plants are doing. I transplanted my seedlings last sunday and I was a bit scared as they drooped over on me but they came back with only losing a couple.

Couple is fine as ordered 10 verieties and germanated all the seeds. Some didnt germanate but I'm covered. Looks like I'll end up with over 250 tomato plants and only room for 25.

Thats alright lots of freinds are going to get tomato plants along with some of my clients.

[Rip_Some_Lip]

What do you use for food? I just had mine come up the last couple of days and need to get some nutrients going real soon.

[KEN W]

Just be sure to bury the stem each time you transplant them.Pick off all the leaves up to the top 2.

As for fertilizer......I use Miracle Grow tomato food at 1/2 strength.In other words 1/2 tbs per gallon of room temperature water.

[croixflats]

I have not been fertilizing, though I did use the Miracle grow seed starter soil witch has what looks like osmacote slow release fertilzer in it.

What I do for watering the transplants is I use the seed starter trays and put a half inch of sand in the bottom of it then add enough water to cover the sand set the tray where I want to grow them under the light and jiggle, it the water spreads the sand out flat and even then I set the trans plants on the sand water them ounce after that and now they stay moist watering from below . Adding water to the sand periodicly.

Oh! for cheap pots I use 3oz dixie cups 200 for $2.30. Next transplant thinking of transplanting to a 18oz plastic cups 150 for $2.50

Thank you to all for this thread! I am having a blast!