Indoor start

Christian1971 · Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:02 pm

our last frost is between may 12-may 20. Is it still too early to start indoors now on tomatoes, peppers. live in minnesota.

JayPoc · Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:39 pm

nope....now is the time. Our last frost is right in the same range, and I started a bunch today. They'll be very well started when it's time to set out.

NJ Bob · Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:48 pm

Hi! I'm in NJ, zone 7. I started my peppers on March 1 and put the tomatoes down today. Life is good!

rainbowgardener · Sun Mar 15, 2015 8:49 am

Agreed. My last frost is a almost a month earlier than yours and I started tomatoes almost a month ago. Peppers I start earlier than tomatoes, so definitely you are good to go. If you haven't started them from seed before, do check out the seed starting basics thread in the seed starting section.

jal_ut · Mon Mar 16, 2015 1:50 am

Ten weeks before planting out time works out well for me. I planted a week ago. They are not up yet.
I usually plant out about June 1.

Bobberman · Wed Mar 18, 2015 12:14 am

Start the seeds in a warm place 70 or above to get a good start to get them up a few inches fast. After that take your time. Even if the plants are only 6 inches high like tomatoes they will catch up with even foot plants fast. Sometimes I think I would rather plant a 9 inch tomato rather than a larger one because the hot days seem to let the smaller plant spring up faster. If the small plant has its roots more intact than a large plant they seem to catch better. Have you ever noticed how the seeds that grow in the garden from last year seem to catch up with the trans planted ones! Also up planting in larger pots seem to make them stronger. Keep the potassium high for the first few weeks to develop good roots not the nitrogen!

jal_ut · Wed Mar 18, 2015 1:42 am

Note about tomato roots: When you plant tomatoes, always plant them deeper than they were. If planting out leggy plants make a trench and lay the plant down in it with the top leaves out. Cover up the long stem. The reason for this is that the plant will send out roots all along the buried stem adding a lot of root structure to the plant.

Check this out:
https://www.soilanhtmldhealth.org/01agli ... 010137ch26.

Christian1971 · Wed Mar 18, 2015 2:13 am

Planting seeds today.