How late is too late to start tomato seeds?

[kylie77]

I have a bunch that I started about 6 weeks ago, but would like to start some more soon. My last frost date is May 1st, and first frost is the beginning of oct. So is it too late to start a second batch or can I still go for it?

[rainbowgardener]

Well if you plant your seeds now, you will likely get your first ripe tomatoes from that batch sometime in August, so you may only have 6-8 productive weeks from them. If that's ok with you then go for it.

[kylie77]

Great, thanks! 6-8 weeks seems ok to me.

I have a question though. Last year I started my seeds on march 20th, early may I bought a couple plants that were at least twice the size of the ones I started myself. I planted them all out at the same time though. What I found interesting was that all of that plants seemed to be producing around the same time give or take a couple weeks. Shouldn't the bigger plants have produces much earlier than my small ones? About a month after planting them out all the plants were the same size, and my seedlings ended up growing much bigger than the others in the end. They were all different varieties though so I put it down to this? But the ones I bought were meant to be early tomato plants. Does this sound right to you?

[GardenJester]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that tomato take their fruiting cues from the length of day, so plant size, age, have little to do with when it decides to start fruiting. I can't cite you the source or anything, it's been a long time since I read it. But from experience, it just seem the tomatoe all seem to come at once, doesn't seem to matter if it's determinate or non-determinate.

[kylie77]

Well that would make sense if it is indeed the case. I guess it'll be a good experiment to see how much slower my later tomatoes end up being then.

[tedln]

My climate in Texas is entirely different than yours. I planted some small beefsteak plants in July of last year after my spring planted tomatoes were about finished producing for the spring season. By early fall, they were loaded with large fruit, which seemed very reluctant to ripen on the vine. When we finally got some vine ripened fruit, we had only a couple of weeks until our typical first frost in mid to late November. I put a lot of large, green tomatoes in storage to save them from the frost and we were still eating ripe tomatoes at Christmas.

Ted

[Ozark Lady]

I finally picked all the tomatoes and put the garden to bed the day after Thanksgiving 2009. So, I am still starting seedlings, I just this morning started 2 trays of 48 seedlings in each.

Even if they start to bear in August I still will have September, October and November, so plenty of time to get lots of tomatoes.

[kylie77]

Ok well it definitely seems like it'll be worth it! Even if I get a month of tomatoes from the extra plants, I'll be happy enough! But, hopefully I'll get longer than that.

[Gary350]

You better get started. I have very good luck planting a whole tray of seeds then sliding the entire tray inside of a plastic trash bag to hold the moisture. Tie the bag shut with a twist tie. Set the tray where it is warm. When I was in school we sprouted some seeds in 24 hours by keeping them at 100 degrees F. Set your seed tray where it is warm. An electric heat pad or electric blanket works good. Open the bag and take a look every day. My tomatoe plants are usually up in 3 days. I move them outside during the day in direct sun light as long as it is not freezing and move them back in the house at night. After the plants grow about 1 week start watering them with miracle grow plant food. In 3 to 4 weeks they are ready to plant in the garden.