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How to Start Tomatoes From Seed
How to Start Tomatoes From Seed. Start your tomato plants from seed and transplant the seedlings to a traditional outdoor garden or a container garden. By starting your tomato plants from seed, you may reduce the risk of bringing in pests or disease to your garden via seedlings purchased from retail outlets. Select a variety of seeds and start...
Start your tomato plants from seed and transplant the seedlings to a traditional outdoor garden or a container garden. By starting your tomato plants from seed, you may reduce the risk of bringing in pests or disease to your garden via seedlings purchased from retail outlets. Select a variety of seeds and start several groups at varying intervals. This is succession planting, and may increase your yield and extend your harvest.
Things You'll Need
Seed tray or containers
Growing mix
Seeds
Grow light
Pots for first transplant
Select an area in your home for starting the seeds. Choose an area that receives approximately six to eight hours of sunlight every day.
Use a table or other type of raised surface for the seed trays or containers.
Gather the seed trays or containers you wish to use for your tomato seeds. Seed trays are plastic trays with rows of connected cutouts designed to hold small amounts of growing mix. Other options for starting seeds include yogurt cups or egg shell cartons with small holes punched in the bottom. You also can use small, individual plastic pots.
Place a drainage tray or trays on the table top. These will protect the table when you water your seedlings.
Mix a growing medium made up of perlite, peat moss or coir (made from coconut husks) and vermiculite, or use a commercial growing medium designed for starting seeds. Do not use a mix containing fertilizer as this may burn seedlings as they emerge.
Add the growing medium to each of the containers and moisten slightly. Place three seeds on the surface of the mix in each container and gently push them down into the mix approximately 1/4 of an inch and cover with the mix.
Add seeds to as many containers as you wish for the first planting. Mist the surface with water from a spray bottle. Use a spray bottle or other gentle watering device to avoid dislodging the seeds as they start to sprout.
Continue watering the seed trays or containers, keeping the soil moist but not wet. The seeds should sprout and break through the surface in approximately 2 weeks.
Start the second planting when the first group develops its second set of leaves. These are called true leaves. Continue watering all the containers to keep the soil moist. If the sprouted seeds appear weak and droopy, move them to a sunnier location or add a grow light to the area. The new plants may require additional light.
Transfer seedlings to a larger container when they reach an approximate height of 4 to 6 inches. Use the same mix used when starting the seeds. Begin hardening off the seeds by placing them outdoors during the warmest part of the day for one or two hours to start, gradually increasing the time. Transplant the seedlings to the garden or container when weather permits.
