Data for my book - how you can help! and - about my book!

[SunnyK]

I am in SW Coastal Connecticut, and up until this year zone 6b...now I may be considered 7a, but that wont change how I do things.

So,I sow my seeds into covered trays late in the second to early in the third week of March. I pot up when I get a set of true leaves so timing varies. Plant out can be anywhere between Mothers Day and Memorial Day depending on the weather of the season. It used to be I planted out on Mothers Day weekend without regards to the weather...now I am more cautious as growing from seed instead of store bought has made me bond with my seedlings.

[bughunter99]

Zone 5 a Chicago area

Crazy weather variability the last five years has me starting my "zone pushing" seeds in late February and "regular" seeds three weeks later.

Seeds are grown indoors under grown lights until potted up. Then they are transplanted up to first true leaves in deep four-6" pots and moved outdoors to the coldframe which receives supplemental heat with a lightbulb if nights are 35-50 degrees. When colder temps are predicted I will often move the whole herd indoors for the night. Lather, rinse repeat as often as necessary to keep them happy.

Plants are planted into the garden when soil temps reach 55 degrees at least six inches down and the ten day forecast says no frost. I ignore last frost date. Instead I use row cover if necessary if a cold night shows up.

Our weather is so highly variable, I never put them all out at once. The first ones out are the ones I love the least. Then the favorites, then the rest.

Typical first fruit appears the last week of June.
Season lasts until mid-October.

Biggest challenges are big wind storms.

-Stacy

[kurt]

Homestead Fl.Zone 10B
Lat: 25.48 Lon: -80.38 Elev: 10ft
Single seed in 36/hole 6 inch deep plug trays August 1st.
Same again each month on first day of month for three months.75%Cherrys,25% determinates per tray.
Each first day of month in ground/container(average 4 weeks tray growth).Three months.
Usually 2-2 1/2 months cherrys ripen bottom up.
Determinates 2-3 months (dependent on selections)medium globes/blacks fair the best for warm/humid conditions.
In March for us it heats up to 80s.Most harvests in month of March maybe some into April.
Lowest temps 2013 here during Aug-March 40F(4-5 times but not consecutive,had some highs 85F.
Last three years major whitefly(4 varieties)infestations.
No major diseases(outbreaks)but whiteflys becoming enough of a nuisance that municipalitys are importing biological controls(predator insects,etc).
Dade county has been on water restrictions for the last two years now

[tuk50]

20miles North of Tucson, Az. 3400ft in microclimate (deep valley below mountain range), zone 8b - I start seeds last week in Jan. in DE, aiming for a transplant into Pro-mix HP 10oz cups the last week of Feb. using 1/3 strength solution of liquid fish and kelp, for plant out into the garden by first week of April....then harvest in June, as long as the plants survive the heat. Unique situation here with very cold nights in early spring and above 100deg every day in June and humidity in single digits with no rain till July. Most varieties can't handle the extremes, of cold nights, extreme heat and very low humidity. Large vigorous varieties with good leaf cover and early maturity do best. RKN's are a problem here in our warm sandy soils, as well as most of our soils lack organic matter and are on the alkaline side lacking phosporus... so to remedy all we use massive amounts of composte and gypsum.

[tjg911]

northwestern ct zone 5b

i start my seeds around april 5-7, any earlier and the plants are ready too soon to be put out. i put multiple seed into single cells, separate the plants and pot up into 6 packs when they develop their 1st true leaves which is usually around the 3rd week in april. i grow under shop lights in the basement where it is about 55 degrees tho i keep them upstairs where it is warm until they are ready to go under the lights. i start to harden them off 8-10 days before memorial day by which time they are 15-18" tall with stalks as large as my small finger and beginning to get seriously root bound in 2 or 3 quart containers often showing signs of stress but they have to wait for memorial day to go out. on rare occasions i have planted out the week after memorial day due to excessive rain and or cold weather.

tom

[FarmerShawn]

Northern Vermont, border of zones 3 & 4.
Start seeds early to mid April in soil blocks, plant out Memorial Day, end of May, or early June.
Harvest begins late July, ends with frost any time after Labor Day, although in late years we've made it almost to October.

[rxkeith]

Michigans upper peninsula, up in the keweenaw peninsula
Zone 5ish
Start seeds first week of April
Pot up about 3 weeks later to 4 inch, pots or yogurt cups or something similar, and cheap. Yoopers are a thrifty lot.
Plant out around first week of June, and hope there isn't a late frost.
Harvest starts mid to late August, and ends early October usually, but sometimes mid September.

July is the only completely frost free month here. We actually had a mild frost in August 2000. Some of the lower leaves were a bit singed. No casualties.

Crazy, huh.


Keith

[nctomatoman]

This is really great, folks...keep the info coming! Thanks so much!

[ddsack]

I start my tomato seeds during the last week of March, which allows for the slowpokes that may take a couple of weeks to germinate. I plan for a set out date in late May to first week of June, weather depending. My plants will be 8-10 weeks old, and I have accepted that most of them will need to be potted up twice before set out. I don't enjoy the extra work, but I have found that keeping the root mass in balance with the top growth and setting out larger starts enables me to grow most long season tomatoes, which can be a challenge to ripen in my zone 3 area.

[guruofgardens]

Colorado, nestled east of the Rockies, zone 5a.
I used to start tomato seeds March1, but found them too leggy, so have settled on March 10-15 to plant seeds, usually 2 to a jiffy pellet on a heat mat.

Pot into Pro Mix BX or Happy Frog potting mix in 18 oz. cups, lately being the heavier McDonald's iced coffee cups (reduce, reuse, recycle) after the 2nd true leaves appear. Put into cooler basement under lights until May 1 and insert bamboo stick into cup for planting in ground. Add Velcro tie around plant and bamboo. Harden off for 7-10 days.

Plant in ground May 10-15 depending on weather - usually in Wall O Waters for 3-4 weeks as we normally get a couple of hailstorms up until June 15 or later. CRW for caging. Use 3' x 3' sunscreen 'hats' on tops of cages to help prevent sun scald on plants and fruit. Newspapers around plant to reduce disease and weeds.

[RobinB]

Reno, Nevada, theoretically zone 7a, according to the new 2012 USDA Zone Map, which is a joke. It's probably more like 6a to 5b.

Most years, I can't plant tomatoes and other warm-season crops outside without protection until mid-June. I try to get as many of these plants outside as I can WITH protection, but our overnight lows often remain in the 20s until late May. The NOAA Freeze/Frost Data charts say we still have a 50% chance of frost after May 20. The last two years, we have had snow in early June. It has snowed here, sometime in the past, every month of the year.

I start all my seeds in 36 cell trays with multiple seeds in each cell, the separate them and up pot them into Solo cups and let them grow 6-8 weeks total.

So, I am starting some seeds right now (early March), and I will pot them up in a few weeks. I plan to plant outside in Wall O'Waters in mid to late April. I only have 30 of the WOWs and no greenhouse. I get all the tomatoes that are longer than 70 days out in WOWs, plus a couple of early favorites. Until I started using the WOWs, I didn't get tomatoes until late July-early August. Now, I harvest tomatoes starting mid to late June.

in mid April, I will start the rest of my seeds to plant out 6 to 8 weeks later in early to mid-June, whenever it feels safe. Last year, it was June 20 before they were all in the ground. Our average first frost date is October 3.

The other challenge here is wind. Growing tomatoes here is like growing tomatoes in a wind tunnel. It is very challenging and there is often lots of rebar involved.

Robin

[John3]

Alabama zone 8
double harvest

Here we can have a double harvest and plant out 4th of July and is mainly done with determinate tomatoes and the reason for doing so is to can the tomatoes. There is some staging of planting tomatoes again with determinate tomatoes (not all grow indeterminate tomatoes). This is usually done every two to three weeks to around middle of September and not many do it.
I don't do either- except if I lose or get rid of some plants - then I'll usually plant some 4th of July to replace them.

[barkeater]

Craig,

I grow in Zone 3, Northern Vermont at 1400 foot elevation, 20 miles from the Canadian border.

-Tomatoes are sown in a seedling tray the 4th week in March.
-They are kept in the furnace room at 80 degrees a few days until sprouted, then moved to a room with 65-70 temperature and grown under flourescent lights on 16 hours per day with a small fan on them.
-The plants are separated and potted up into 48 cell trays the the 2nd week of April.
- From that point on, anytime the sun is shining and its over 50 degrees, the plants go out in the sun on protected porch until noon at first, then longer as the weather warms.
-The 2nd week of May, any plants getting too big are potted up further into 16 oz. solo cups.
-They are transplanted into the ground the last week of May.

Generally, March 24 is my target sowing date, and May 27 my transplanting date.

[robbins]

High tunnel tomatoes seeded first week in February for March 15th planting.
Field tomatoes seeded first week of March for mid-April to May 1 planting.
All seeds planted in 72 plug trays.
Zone 6, Missouri

Robbins

[Barbee]

SW Ohio, Zone 6b
Seeds are sown April 1 in 1020 multi cell packs.
Transplanted at 2 true leaf stage into 4 inch pots and sent to the greenhouse for hardening off.
Plant out date is 1st or 2nd week of May, depending on the weather.