Pics of my 2013 Gardening Season in NJ.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by nnjjohn

I know it is too early to start seedlings but, was at HD today and bought an 8 qt bag of seed starter mix miracle grow for my trays. Suppose to fortified with all the essential minerals and fertilizers as well as a good ph for starting seeds.. I had no idea potting soil in the seed trays was a mistake until after witnessing poor germination results and the low percentage survival rate ( thin stems)of the last seasons seedings that did struggle to grow big enough for transplant. This time , I am prepared to follow specific instructions using the starter kits I purchased. I want to sample test these smaller dome trays /heat mat and little led grow bulbs and the food packet that came with the kit. I can seed some herbs and see how well the grow led bulbs work in advance of my tomato seeds which i will probably start in early-mid April.

The MG seed starter mix is what I use. ( it is the only MG product I use) it worked very well for me. But my seed starting is very different than most because I have to start them in the heat. Usually with the MG though, germination is 2-3 days and they seem to be strong.
Marsha

[efisakov]

nnjjohn, the Old Farmer's Almanac is recommending to start tomato seeds earlier for the northern NJ than what you have planned.

for example the Vernon Township, New Jersey:
Mar 14-16
http://www.almanac.com/gardening/pla.../zipcode/07462

[kath]

Originally Posted by efisakov

nnjjohn, the Old Farmer's Almanac is recommending to start tomato seeds earlier for the northern NJ than what you have planned.

for example the Vernon Township, New Jersey:
Mar 14-16
http://www.almanac.com/gardening/pla.../zipcode/07462

It depends on how old you'd like your plants to be at plant out time and how long you want to babysit the seedlings. If sown mid-March and plant out is the end of May (smart choice most years for northern NJ), the plants will be 11 wks. old. If you want smaller transplants, your early April plan is a good one, John.

kath

[efisakov]

When do you start yours, Kath? My sister-in-law has a house in PA, I am starting few tom seeds for her.
thanks

[kath]

Originally Posted by efisakov

When do you start yours, Kath? My sister-in-law has a house in PA, I am starting few tom seeds for her.
thanks

The short story is that it's never been the same, I haven't been doing this very long, and I don't have a set date for sowing seeds. The LONG story is that it's been a different starting date each year, sometimes multiple starting dates in the same year, depending on what's going on in my life and what seedling/plant disasters have occurred.

To continue the long story, I've started as early as early February and as late as mid-May (one year when many of my seedlings were killed by frost). The earliest and latest sown plants all produced, but I've found that I don't like caring for hundreds of large transplants. I've had success planting 5 week old plants and 15 week old plants. However, I do like to have a couple early ones, complete with flowers, to put out asap (or earlier) because so far I've always had great luck with early fruit set. Honestly, I think the perfect time would be about April 1- but it's really hard to wait that long.

This year I think I'll plant my Sungold and maybe Hays' Tomato tomorrow for my earlies. I'm undecided about the rest because we're going away the week after Easter and I don't have any local green thumbs to tend plants. Not sure what age they'd best be able to take care of themselves indoors and under lights, but when I figure that out, that will determine when I plant them. Previously at that time of year, the seedlings are in the sun all day and come in at night, so this year will be very different because I don't want anyone hardening them off for me!

The recommended plant-out dates for my area vary widely depending on the source and most are ridiculously early- usually the earlier part of May. We always seem to get a hard frost around the 14th-16th, so anything I can't protect is very vulnerable until then. The ground is usually still pretty chilly, too.

Janie, owner of Chileplants.com never sets her tomatoes/peppers out until June, and her place is just across the Delaware R. from me. She claims she has little trouble with leaf disease because the plants stay unstressed from the early cold. I've never been able to hold out that long with peppers or tomatoes, though, to test her theory.

PA has lots of zones so I think it all depends on where she lives and how large a transplant she'd prefer.

kath

[efisakov]

Thank you, Kath. I am as well all over the map with my planting time. Last year I planted my tomatoes on 20th of April. But that was an un-usually warm Spring. Mid May is more likely time for me. This year it may be later than that. Good luck to all with your timing and growing.

I planted my seed around December 1 with hopes of plant out around March 1. My plants are now well over twenty four inches tall and very healthy. We were in the eighties yesterday but Sunday night will drop to around eighteen degrees so I will miss the early March plant out. They did spend the night outside yesterday but will be moved back inside for a few days this evening. I purposely grew them tall this year so they will bloom quickly and set fruit before our spring heat arrives.

I harvested a lot of really nice compost from my compost pile yesterday. It is similar to holding handfuls of moist grain in texture and appears to be very rich. I'm curious if anyone uses high quality compost as a seed starting medium. I up potted a couple of Lime Green Salad tomato plants into quart sized containers filled with compost yesterday. I kept four of the same tomato plants in their original sized containers and soil to use as a control. If the compost grown tomatoes exhibit any problems, I won't use the compost as a starter soil next year.

Ted

[Alfredo]

Hello fellow tomatovillians, nice to start seeing all the other gardeners getting everything ready for the new season.

nnjohn, like Kath and Efisakov, I also change my seed starting date from year to year. In 2012 I started my seeds on March 12th, and the tomato plants ended up being quite large by the time I hardened and transplanted them.

Last year, I started them a bit later, started them on March 29th, and another batch on April 8th. They were definitely much easier to tend to during the hardening off and transplanting time.

This year I'll probably start them again somewhere between the last week of March and the first week of April as I like the size they were at last year when I finally transplanted them out. The only seeds that I could see some benefit to starting earlier than this might be some of the later maturing types of tomatoes (a variety like Aunt Gertie's Gold which is in the 75-80 DTM range).

Another type of seed I would recommend starting early (Mid-March to end of March) for Northern NJ would have to be the hotter pepper varieties (like Habaneros, which are in the 100 DTM range), they just tend to take their time to germinate and to grow to a decent size before the weather finally warms up.

[Alfredo]

Originally Posted by tedln

I planted my seed around December 1 with hopes of plant out around March 1. My plants are now well over twenty four inches tall and very healthy. We were in the eighties yesterday but Sunday night will drop to around eighteen degrees so I will miss the early March plant out.
Ted

Man I wish I could plant out tomatoes around March 1st!

Also, I've never tried using compost to start seeds, am curious to see what you're results will be...

[kath]

Originally Posted by Alfredo

Hello fellow tomatovillians, nice to start seeing all the other gardeners getting everything ready for the new season.

nnjohn, like Kath and Efisakov, I also change my seed starting date from year to year. In 2012 I started my seeds on March 12th, and the tomato plants ended up being quite large by the time I hardened and transplanted them.

Last year, I started them a bit later, started them on March 29th, and another batch on April 8th. They were definitely much easier to tend to during the hardening off and transplanting time.

This year I'll probably start them again somewhere between the last week of March and the first week of April as I like the size they were at last year when I finally transplanted them out. The only seeds that I could see some benefit to starting earlier than this might be some of the later maturing types of tomatoes (a variety like Aunt Gertie's Gold which is in the 75-80 DTM range).

Another type of seed I would recommend starting early (Mid-March to end of March) for Northern NJ would have to be the hotter pepper varieties (like Habaneros, which are in the 100 DTM range), they just tend to take their time to germinate and to grow to a decent size before the weather finally warms up.

Hi, Alfredo~

Thanks for sharing your experiences with different starting dates. I did start 2 tomato plants the other day, so I'll hopefully have at least some tomatoes asap and I started all the peppers, too, because they're aren't that many and they tend to grow more slowly. But for the bulk of the tomatoes I think I'll wait until nearly the end of March. I'd like them to be big enough to be in larger containers by the time we leave for vacation on April 21st because a neighbor will be in charge of watering them.I'm thinking the less often that needs to happen, the better.

It is hard to wait, though-

kath

[Alfredo]

Originally Posted by kath

Hi, Alfredo~

Thanks for sharing your experiences with different starting dates. I did start 2 tomato plants the other day, so I'll hopefully have at least some tomatoes asap and I started all the peppers, too, because they're aren't that many and they tend to grow more slowly. But for the bulk of the tomatoes I think I'll wait until nearly the end of March. I'd like them to be big enough to be in larger containers by the time we leave for vacation on April 21st because a neighbor will be in charge of watering them.I'm thinking the less often that needs to happen, the better.

It is hard to wait, though-

kath

Hey Good Morning Kath,

Looks like we're starting our tomato seeds around the same general time frame. Looks like it'll be a bit safer to wait to sow the tomato seeds anyway this year, especially with the rough winter we're going through. I do have 6 tomato plants already growing, but these are the very compact tomato varieties Anmore Dewdrop and Mohamed that I'm trying my hand at indoors over the winter season. They're growing well. I have some pics, just have to post them (maybe in another new thread).

[nnjjohn]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

The MG seed starter mix is what I use. ( it is the only MG product I use) it worked very well for me. But my seed starting is very different than most because I have to start them in the heat. Usually with the MG though, germination is 2-3 days and they seem to be strong.
Marsha

Marsha I picked up an 8 qt bag of MG seed starting potting mix formulated with micromax or whatever .. hope this is the same you use. Anyway it reads on the bag it is for starting seeds so we'll soon see.. Alfredo Kath and Ella, I and greatful for the tips... I am hoping to start them as early as possible but not too early and having to deal with potting too many big plants. I will likely have about two three dozen tomatoe of about four variety to manage before getting them in the ground. Here is wishing for warm sunny spring gardens it sure is fun growing from seed,, worst case scenerio is having to buy plants for my fun gardens