Starting tomato seed

[Smokin Okie]

Would love to have that much room, I'm confined to a lot in a housing addition. I grow some cucumber and peppers, jalapeno and bells. Would love to have the room for sweet corn and purple hulled peas.

But tomatoes are my focus and they have the largest diff between store bought and home grown. There's just nothing like home grown tomato flavor. Even the local farmers' markets can't match home grown.

 

[SherryT]

Would love to have that much room, I'm confined to a lot in a housing addition. I grow some cucumber and peppers, jalapeno and bells. Would love to have the room for sweet corn and purple hulled peas.

But tomatoes are my focus and they have the largest diff between store bought and home grown. There's just nothing like home grown tomato flavor. Even the local farmers' markets can't match home grown.

I hear ya!

The ONLY toms I'm willing to buy at the grocery are the "grape" and cherry tomatoes...at least they have SOME flavor. I gave up on store-bought slicers a few years ago...they're usually almost as crisp as an apple, no juiciness AT ALL, and ZERO flavor.

 

[kelbro]

I've been spoiled and only eat tomatoes out of my garden. I just do without the rest of the year.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I've been spoiled and only eat tomatoes out of my garden. I just do without the rest of the year.

We do pretty much the same. We still buy grocery store cherries, but the others are a waste of money. Nothing to them, especially flavor.

I had a terrible tomato year last year, they did last long and we're really ready for this year.

 

[Fueling Around]

Its not gonna matter if I reduce the blight or not. First week of July, temps here get above 70 at night and 95 in the daytime and the plants are gonna shut down. And the plants go out of the garden by the end of July.
...
The reason I started the thread is I question whether starting seed later is gonna produce fruit later. My limited experience says it doesn't matter. I've done this for a lot of years am really hesitant to make any changes because my past results have been so good. But as I said above, I'm don't like dealing the tall leggy plants and every year I tell myself I'm not gonna do this again.

You got a couple first off answers to either delay or stagger the planting.

I thought you already answered your own question about fruit production interval.
I get limited harvest advantage between transplanting small starts versus taller and robust starts. I see no difference between small starts and leggy starts.

My garden is only 1,200 ft² with 1/4 of that in Raspberry production.
I raise tomato, potato, peppers, and eggplant all in the Solanaceae family. I have a heck of a time trying to rotate them in a limited plot. I also quit trying to supply the neighborhood and focused on us. I grow summer squash (which take up a huge footprint) and Armenian Cucumber for friends that are our egg suppliers. Green beans is a major summer love along with carrots, radishes, cucumber, and cabbage that tastes so much better than store bought along with raising pesticide free.
Corn is a waste of garden space. We only want 1 or 2 meals of ear corn and there is so many local truck farms that supply fresh pick.

 

[Smokin Okie]

You got a couple first off answers to either delay or stagger the planting.

I thought you already answered your own question about fruit production interval.
I get limited harvest advantage between transplanting small starts versus taller and robust starts. I see no difference between small starts and leggy starts.

My garden is only 1,200 ft² with 1/4 of that in Raspberry production.
I raise tomato, potato, peppers, and eggplant all in the Solanaceae family. I have a heck of a time trying to rotate them in a limited plot. I also quit trying to supply the neighborhood and focused on us. I grow summer squash (which take up a huge footprint) and Armenian Cucumber for friends that are our egg suppliers. Green beans is a major summer love along with carrots, radishes, cucumber, and cabbage that tastes so much better than store bought along with raising pesticide free.
Corn is a waste of garden space. We only want 1 or 2 meals of ear corn and there is so many local truck farms that supply fresh pick.

Yes, I did get good replys immediately. I appreciate those replies. But I want all the opinion, ideas, and replies I can get.

This is a major change for me and I'm proceeding cautiously. I'm an old guy and don't take to change like a young person.

Long story, but I got inspired to make changes in my tomato garden last season and listened to some Youtubers. I made a lot of changes and it was my worst tomato year , ever. Weather played a large role in that but the changes did not help and I made so many changes it confused the matter.

I'm going back to my tried and true ways. Except for starting my seeds.

 

[Brokenhandle]

I definitely don't have a green thumb but I think weather has alot to do with it. Last year our garden didn't do well. Tomatoes, carrots, summer squash, green beans, cucumbers mainly. I remember one year, think we got one or two summer squash... the next year, we had more summer squash in 1st picking than the whole previous year.

Ryan

 

[Smokin Okie]

I definitely don't have a green thumb but I think weather has alot to do with it. Last year our garden didn't do well. Tomatoes, carrots, summer squash, green beans, cucumbers mainly. I remember one year, think we got one or two summer squash... the next year, we had more summer squash in 1st picking than the whole previous year.

Ryan

Oh yeah, no doubt about that. Farmers are always complaining about the weather. That's been a fact of growing crops for centuries. Here in central Oklahoma, May and June weather have a large influence on tomatoes.

And last year was difficult. But I also got some hard lessons about listening to people on YT. I had a really good formula that came from years of experience, just did not know it till I tried something different.

My basic nature is to keep wanting to improve what I'm doing, but there's a lesson in learning when to leave well enough alone.

 

[SherryT]

Long story, but I got inspired to make changes in my tomato garden last season and listened to some Youtubers. I made a lot of changes and it was my worst tomato year , ever. Weather played a large role in that but the changes did not help and I made so many changes it confused the matter.

I've done the same thing! I do LOVE YT vids and have learned a LOT from them (soldering silver/copper, fixed my string trimmer, lawnmower, was finally able to wrap my mind around a framing square, etc), but I've learned over the years that not all of them actually "know" what they're doing and when they luck out, up goes a vid saying their method is the cat's meow!

I also COMPLETELY understand about making too many changes to something at once...and the temptation to do so is strong, especially when you consider making only one change at a time means possibly losing an entire growing season.

Your biggest concern seems to be whether to plant smaller/earlier or grow on and risk leggy plants and how it will effect getting your first ripe fruit...

You said you were basically happy with the method you've used for many years...I'd go with that for the majority of your plants, but start about 2 - 3 of those (or extra if you can spare the space) and plant earlier. The worst that can happen is you end up unhappy with the growth/performance of those 2-3 while still getting production from the others using your tried/true method.

Just a quick question...do you pinch out the tip of your starts after they get their 2nd - 3rd set of true leaves?

 

[radioguy]

I have a salsa garden. Tomatoes and peppers are the major crops. I always plant indeterminate type tomatoes, never determinate. Determinate type always ripen at the same time. Indeterminate tend to fruit all season long. Dig a $10 hole for your $1 plant. Plant them deep as they will develop roots along the stems. Plant with well rotted manure, compost. I rarely water because the plants develop deep roots.

RG

 

[Smokin Okie]

I've done the same thing! I do LOVE YT vids and have learned a LOT from them (soldering silver/copper, fixed my string trimmer, lawnmower, was finally able to wrap my mind around a framing square, etc), but I've learned over the years that not all of them actually "know" what they're doing and when they luck out, up goes a vid saying their method is the cat's meow!

I also COMPLETELY understand about making too many changes to something at once...and the temptation to do so is strong, especially when you consider making only one change at a time means possibly losing an entire growing season.

Your biggest concern seems to be whether to plant smaller/earlier or grow on and risk leggy plants and how it will effect getting your first ripe fruit...

You said you were basically happy with the method you've used for many years...I'd go with that for the majority of your plants, but start about 2 - 3 of those (or extra if you can spare the space) and plant earlier. The worst that can happen is you end up unhappy with the growth/performance of those 2-3 while still getting production from the others using your tried/true method.

Just a quick question...do you pinch out the tip of your starts after they get their 2nd - 3rd set of true leaves?

No, I've not done that. If I get what your saying , is to top them off ?

 

[SherryT]

No, I've not done that. If I get what your saying , is to top them off ?

Yes, you're pinching out just the growing tip just to the fork, but ONLY after their 2nd - 3rd set of "true" leaves. The first leaves are the "seed leaves" and need to be left alone. Wait until at LEAST the 2nd set of true leaves (I always wait on the 3rd set).

What that does is force stem and lateral growth, giving you a bushier, more robust plant. It's not a cure-all for legginess due to insufficient light, but it does help.

Again, as you've never done that before, do only one or two and see how it goes.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I have a salsa garden. Tomatoes and peppers are the major crops. I always plant indeterminate type tomatoes, never determinate. Determinate type always ripen at the same time. Indeterminate tend to fruit all season long. Dig a $10 hole for your $1 plant. Plant them deep as they will develop roots along the stems. Plant with well rotted manure, compost. I rarely water because the plants develop deep roots.

RG

It appears you do raised row gardening ? If that's what it is, I do the same, cept my rows are higher. I get some of the benefit of a raised bed, yet remain in the ground.

 

[SherryT]

I have my garden sectioned off in six 20x20 "plots" with 3' walkways between...in 4 of those, I use woven ground cover, and I leave one bare and one fallow (well, not exactly "fallow", but for cover crops).

In the bare plot, I'll plant summer squash because the dense canopy usually keeps the weed pressure low (I throw these rows/beds pretty high). In the fallow, I plant a succession of cover crops throughout the season, knock them down at the appropriate time, till them in. In the early spring, the cover is mustard/turnip/rape, in summer it's field peas (I simply buy bags of dry blackeyed peas at the store and use those), and then back to mustard/turnip/rape for the fall. The next season, I rotate the whole garden one bed clockwise and do it all over again.

I deliberately changed the layout of my garden in order to do this (it's a good bit of work, but I enjoy it). The smaller size of the plots are a manageable size for me using a tiller/hoe/rake and I can work them pretty quickly.

Everyone has to find a way that works best for them...available space, equipment, and age/physical condition all factor in.

 

[Smokin Okie]

My entire garden is 20 X 25, so its the size of one of your plots.

 

[SherryT]

My entire garden is 20 X 25, so its the size of one of your plots.

I won't have a garden this year due to reasons I've already stated, but, going forward, I'm going to take the two back plots out of rotation for a hoop house and a shade house and one for growing out ornamentals. It's only me now and I don't need that much garden space anymore.

Life happens, things change, and we have to move through it.