Starting tomato seed's in 6 pack's or cup's

Farmer Matt · February 26, 2011

Good morning everyone, I was wondering what is the best way to start my tomato seed's. For the last 2 year's I started them in six pack's, it worked ok but this year I was thinking of starting them in 6 pack's then transplant them in plastic cup's. Or should I just start them in in the cup's.
What is the best method, I have plenty of room in my hoophouse that I just finished 12x32.

Thank's Matt

Thank's Matt

newatthiskat · February 26, 2011

I use a version of dense planting and when time for plant up I use styrofoam cups. I can write on them with a pen and it stays pretty well so no labels to lose. Check out the dense planting thread here on TV.
Kat
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...dense+planting

organichris · February 26, 2011

I don't use the 6-packs because I think plants become root-bound too fast, but I do use some 4-packs as well as some single square starter pots. Styrofoam works great, but I like the square pots because they're better for utilitizing limited space.

kath · February 26, 2011

I read that the multiple transplanting method helps the tomato plant to develop a better root system rather than starting the seed in a large pot. Maybe someone can help with the details.

organichris · February 26, 2011

I plant all mine fairly densely in trays and move them to the pots before or slightly after the first true leaves appear.

erlyberd · February 27, 2011

It really depends on what you like. It also depends on how much seed you have, how much room (indoors for starting) and how plants you plan on growing.

I always used 6-8 packs because it uses less seed starting mix. That said, I tried something different on a few plants. I cut-down 18oz plastic cups to 2 1/2" in height and filled 3/4 (or so) of the way with compost and topped the rest off with the sterile seed starter mix. These plants were just seeded on Wed so I'm not sure if disease will be a factor or not. So far so good. If it works I'll likely plant the rest in the same manner.

Now for 6 packs and repotting...my extra, early plants are showing the following.A 38 day comparison between 6-packs and three inch pots. Extreme Bush seeded and grown six packs are 4" tall. The same variety (EB) that were transplanted to (3" wide by 3 1/2" deep pots) at the 2 week mark are now exactly 8" tall! One cell in the six pack has two plants which are only a tiny bit smaller than the rest.

For Dwarf's, my Tiny Tim's remained in an eight pack for 30 days and when I repotted them the root ball still had plenty of room.

I like the idea of dense planting for planting vast amounts for sure. I'll have to try it with my next batch.

February 26, 2011	#1
Farmer Matt Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Tracy, California Posts: 63	Starting tomato seed's in 6 pack's or cup's Good morning everyone, I was wondering what is the best way to start my tomato seed's. For the last 2 year's I started them in six pack's, it worked ok but this year I was thinking of starting them in 6 pack's then transplant them in plastic cup's. Or should I just start them in in the cup's. What is the best method, I have plenty of room in my hoophouse that I just finished 12x32. Thank's Matt Thank's Matt

February 26, 2011	#2
newatthiskat Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: texas Posts: 1,451	reply I use a version of dense planting and when time for plant up I use styrofoam cups. I can write on them with a pen and it stays pretty well so no labels to lose. Check out the dense planting thread here on TV. Kat http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...dense+planting Last edited by newatthiskat; February 26, 2011 at 01:34 PM. Reason: adding link

February 26, 2011	#3
organichris Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Tulsa, OK Posts: 630	I don't use the 6-packs because I think plants become root-bound too fast, but I do use some 4-packs as well as some single square starter pots. Styrofoam works great, but I like the square pots because they're better for utilitizing limited space.

February 26, 2011	#4
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	I read that the multiple transplanting method helps the tomato plant to develop a better root system rather than starting the seed in a large pot. Maybe someone can help with the details.

February 27, 2011	#6
erlyberd Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: CT Zone 5 Posts: 186	It really depends on what you like. It also depends on how much seed you have, how much room (indoors for starting) and how plants you plan on growing. I always used 6-8 packs because it uses less seed starting mix. That said, I tried something different on a few plants. I cut-down 18oz plastic cups to 2 1/2" in height and filled 3/4 (or so) of the way with compost and topped the rest off with the sterile seed starter mix. These plants were just seeded on Wed so I'm not sure if disease will be a factor or not. So far so good. If it works I'll likely plant the rest in the same manner. Now for 6 packs and repotting...my extra, early plants are showing the following.A 38 day comparison between 6-packs and three inch pots. Extreme Bush seeded and grown six packs are 4" tall. The same variety (EB) that were transplanted to (3" wide by 3 1/2" deep pots) at the 2 week mark are now exactly 8" tall! One cell in the six pack has two plants which are only a tiny bit smaller than the rest. For Dwarf's, my Tiny Tim's remained in an eight pack for 30 days and when I repotted them the root ball still had plenty of room. I like the idea of dense planting for planting vast amounts for sure. I'll have to try it with my next batch.