Tomatoes from Seed

I have paid $ 4 for one or two plants that were about half grown. Most of the time I buy them around 3 or 4 for a dollar that are 4 ot 6 inches high.

My wife grows heirloom tomatoes every year. She starts all of the plants from seeds and she uses warming pads and grow lights.

Some of the tomatoes come out pretty good, but my preference is Roma or Plum tomatoes and she sticks her nose in the air over such common fruit.

I'm no expert but have grown from seeds and this year I'm going to grow heirlooms from local tomato stand. If you use your own seed, make sure it is not a hybrid as you are not sure what you will get. My friend Oren was joking about planting a whole tomato. I harvest the seeds from ripe tomato at end of season by washing and rinsing on a screen, allowing to dry then store dry in a paper envelope. You could get dozens of seeds from one tomato. Price of small envelop of seeds is a rip off.

I put the seeds in a plastic food wrap covered tray in a warm spot. Light not needed to sprout. When sprouted I will transplant a couple each to pots to grow to starter plants only letting one grow per pot. I can grow in a window but on warm days will take outside to acclimate to sun a month before putting in the ground. If warm enough I can leave out all night. Not difficult but takes a little work.

I bought a pack of 100 seeds for trees. Not one will germinate. Next time I get saplings.

They are easy to start. Buy a small bag of seed starting soil. You can start the in old 2 liter plastic bottles. Cut off the top 2/3s of the container. Or a little gravel in the bottom for drainage. Put some loose charcoal on top of that the add the seed starting soil moistened. Firm it down, then poke done holes in the dirt with something like a pencil. Drop one seed in each hole and cover.

Use the top portion of the 2 liter bottle that you cut off as a terrarium type cover by tapping it on with clear packing tape. You can tie rope to the top and hang it in a window. As the seedlings come up rotate the container do light is evenly distributed.

If it gets dry you can add a little water from the top, but the terrarium to should prevent to much drying out.

The container should travel easy and you can divide the seedlings from that container.

I imagine the first thing you will figure out is northern varieties are not going to grow that great here.

We tried a new variety (to us) of cherry tomato this past summer called Rapunzel. It was crazy hardy, and 2 plants took over my entire cherry tomato bed. When My 2 sweet 100's died back from dinner great, those Rapunzel's didn't flinch! No disease, and they put out cherry tomatoes till the frost killed them.

I should see how they like the Florida sun

There are heirloom plum tomatoes. I don't grow from seed, but last year I grew Polish Linguisa and a few years back I used something labeled "San Marzano".

Cindy Hamilton

I tried San Marzanos last dummer , supposed to be a paste type tomato . I'm going back to Romas .

They just don't stop growing, so put them on a trellis like a grape arbor. I had to cut mine back so I could get down the path to my other raised beds.

The first stalks that had the cherry tomatoes on them had like 20 tomatoes on it. I've never seen a cherry tomato that produced like that, and had no disease issues, either. It slowed down blooming in the hottest part of the summer, but didn't stop producing. If I had put shade cloth over then, blooming wouldn't have slowed down either.

I looked at the web site and they do not have a zone number. We are zone 10 and that is brutal on things that can't handle the heat.

I don't think it matters. I planted 2 sweet 100s nerve to 2 Rapunzel's. They both grew alike in the spring putting out lots of fruit, but when the high 90s and 100's hit in summer, the sweet 100s died back and got a fungal disease. The Rapunzel's just kept growing, kept ripening fruit, and no disease. When temps dropped back to the low 90s it started blooming again right about the time I gathered a couple bowls full of fruit. By the time we are all of that, new fruit was ripening.

I may order a few packs of seeds and give it a shot

Cool... I took 2 cuttings after the frost killed it. The tips were still alive. Last I checked, one of the cuttings was growing.

Just one tip , seeds like warm earth . Consider getting a heat mat to help germination . My seed trays are set up on an old desk top that is put in a south facing window , and some seeds - peppers especially - like the extra warmth .

It is cruising in the low 80s here during the day. I think they will be fine.

I have heard that tomatoes are one fruit that it is not wise to eat from when the seeds are provided by providence. Tomatoes and deadly nightshade can interbreed, and offspring can have a mix of the chemicals found in the parent plants.

Before posting this, I did a bit of web research, and apparently the danger is not as great as I thought, partly because what we in NA call "deadly nightshade" is a related but much less toxic plant than what the Europeans call "deadly nightshade". Some people may be more sensitive to the toxin, so probably it would not hurt to be a bit moderate the first time sampling such tomatoes.