It’s January, the high yesterday was just at freezing, but it’s time to start planning for this year’s garden. Today I’m going to focus on starting tomato seeds in my zone, 5.
The first thing you have to watch out for, which I also suffered from, is starting too early. Since it’s January, this month you’ll want to go through your catalogs, order the ones you want and come up with a plan. Resist the urge to actually plant them!
When to start? The USDA says the last average frost date for zone 5 is somewhere around May 25th, personally, I shoot for a “ready date” of May 15th. Tomatoes take around 8 weeks to be ready for transplant so back up 8 weeks from May 15th and start around March 15th. A good general plan is start around St. Patrick’s Day for transplant around Mother’s Day.
The first thing you need is a spot in the house that’s decently warm and receives a good amount of sun, that is, when there actually IS sun in the winter. A south facing window is a good spot since the sun is quite low in the southern sky this time of year. If you don’t get enough natural sunlight, fluorescent lamps work quite well for supplemental lighting.
What you start the seeds in can be as elaborate or as simple as you want. I’ve seen all the way from an old strawberry containers to elaborate indoor greenhouse systems. It’s completely up to you. Personally, I like moderately simple, a 1020 flat, some inserts and seed starting mix under fluorescent lamps.
The part I can’t stress enough is seed starting soil: buy it new. Don’t use garden soil or potting soil, buy a quality seed starting mix. Seedlings are extremely susceptible to pathogens that result in what’s called “damping off”. Good quality seed starting mix has been sterilized which greatly reduces these problems. I say this having lost MANY seedlings to damping off diseases.
Perhaps one of the most common questions people ask me is “why are my tomato seedlings stretching out and are so leggy”? This is usually a combination of two things: high temperature and low light. Lower the ambient temperature and increase the light levels and you’ll find that you get shorter, stockier plants for transplant.
The second most common question is “what should I feed my tomato seedlings”? I always recommend fish emulsion at 1/2 the rate recommended on the bottle. Feed with that mixture once or twice a week until transplant.
Now, these are of course just my recommendations based on what has worked for me. If you have a system that works for you, by all means let me know!
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