Germination date vs. plant date vs. ripening

enchant · July 25, 2014

Last year was the first year I planted from seed. Due to a health emergency, I was unable to plant when I wanted, and didn't get the seeds started till May 2. On May 7, I had germination on most, including my sun cherry plants. I planted them outside in the garden on May 20. On July 31, the first sun cherry started turning orange.

This year, I planted the seeds on March 22. Into the garden on May 12. Yesterday, the first sun cherry tomato started turning orange.

So it appears that planting the seeds five weeks earlier had almost no effect on anything, and it was just the week earlier in the garden that was reflected on the ripening date.

This leads me to wonder if there's any reason for me to get my seeds planted early, and maybe I should just plant them at the end of April.

**carolyn137** · July 25, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by enchant

Last year was the first year I planted from seed. Due to a health emergency, I was unable to plant when I wanted, and didn't get the seeds started till May 2. On May 7, I had germination on most, including my sun cherry plants. I planted them outside in the garden on May 20. On July 31, the first sun cherry started turning orange.

This year, I planted the seeds on March 22. Into the garden on May 12. Yesterday, the first sun cherry tomato started turning orange.

So it appears that planting the seeds five weeks earlier had almost no effect on anything, and it was just the week earlier in the garden that was reflected on the ripening date.

This leads me to wonder if there's any reason for me to get my seeds planted early, and maybe I should just plant them at the end of April.

I don't know your gardening zone, possibly a 7 near Boston, but yes, sowing seeds to early and setting out seedlings too early isn't the best thing to do b'c soils are colder, weather more irregular, etc.

In my zone 5 I didn't sow seeds until the first week in April, left a week for hardening them off and they were usually set out the first part of June, weather permitting.

So I know exactly what you are referring to, been there, done that and changed my seed sowing time to better reflect reality.

Carolyn

b54red · July 26, 2014

I was late getting my plants out due to late freezes. I planted one bed on the 8th of March and another on the 25th of March. There was very little difference in the time I started getting ripe fruit from both beds. In fact the first two varieties to produce ripe fruit came from the bed planted 3 weeks later but the earlier bed had more plants producing ripe fruit on average a week earlier. The real benefit of having some plants in the ground early is if the weather heats up unusually quickly. If that happens the plants set out earlier have a real advantage over the ones set out later. That is why I like to stagger my planting.

Bill

July 25, 2014	#1
enchant Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 142	Germination date vs. plant date vs. ripening Last year was the first year I planted from seed. Due to a health emergency, I was unable to plant when I wanted, and didn't get the seeds started till May 2. On May 7, I had germination on most, including my sun cherry plants. I planted them outside in the garden on May 20. On July 31, the first sun cherry started turning orange. This year, I planted the seeds on March 22. Into the garden on May 12. Yesterday, the first sun cherry tomato started turning orange. So it appears that planting the seeds five weeks earlier had almost no effect on anything, and it was just the week earlier in the garden that was reflected on the ripening date. This leads me to wonder if there's any reason for me to get my seeds planted early, and maybe I should just plant them at the end of April.

July 26, 2014	#3
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I was late getting my plants out due to late freezes. I planted one bed on the 8th of March and another on the 25th of March. There was very little difference in the time I started getting ripe fruit from both beds. In fact the first two varieties to produce ripe fruit came from the bed planted 3 weeks later but the earlier bed had more plants producing ripe fruit on average a week earlier. The real benefit of having some plants in the ground early is if the weather heats up unusually quickly. If that happens the plants set out earlier have a real advantage over the ones set out later. That is why I like to stagger my planting. Bill