When to start and transplant tomatoes?

[Anonymous]

I'm in NW DC and trying to figure out when I should start my tomatoes from seed to have them ready for transplant.

Ideally I would keep them inside for 6 weeks only.

I've heard around here that Mother's Day weekend is the time to transplant, but I would like to get them going sooner, if possible. A lot of the online planting calendars are saying tomatoes can be transplanted April 16 (weather permitting) in this area.

Have others transplanted as early as mid-April?

If odds are good I can transplant in mid-April, I would start the seeds March 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in NW DC and trying to figure out when I should start my tomatoes from seed to have them ready for transplant.

Ideally I would keep them inside for 6 weeks only.

I've heard around here that Mother's Day weekend is the time to transplant, but I would like to get them going sooner, if possible. A lot of the online planting calendars are saying tomatoes can be transplanted April 16 (weather permitting) in this area.

Have others transplanted as early as mid-April?

If odds are good I can transplant in mid-April, I would start the seeds March 1.

I've always heard after mother's day, because of the frost date.

[Anonymous]

I start summer seeds indoors on st. Patrick’s day. Move outdoors Mother’s Day.

[Anonymous]

Mother’s Day is a safe bet. Mid-April is way too early to plant tomato seedlings outdoors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I start summer seeds indoors on st. Patrick’s day. Move outdoors Mother’s Day.

I have started pushing my seed starting later to avoid having my seedlings get too large in their indoor containers. My tomatoes and cucurbit family seedlings get too large, so I've pushed it to the end of March. The herbs take longer so I start those in mid-March.

[Anonymous]

Do you have warming lights in your home or do you use a space near a window?

We do not have an ideal window situation, so I've wondered where I could place these plants inside...

[Anonymous]

Given the warm weather, are people transplanting their tomatoes and peppers now or still waiting for Mothers' Day weekend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Given the warm weather, are people transplanting their tomatoes and peppers now or still waiting for Mothers' Day weekend?

I just put my tomatoes, cucumber and pepper plants in last weekend (but bought them at the garden store as plants--didn't start them from seeds). The weather and frost forecast looked promising.

[Anonymous]

Putting mine in this week.

[Anonymous]

The most success with tomatoes I’ve had by leaps and bounds is ordering plants in the mail. I use Burpee. After they come I transplant them once into bigger plastic pots (just leftovers), buying deep, then harden them off over a week or so. Then I plant them where they’ll stay, deep again, around Mother’s Day or May 1 if the 10 day forecast is solid.

If you’re planting indeterminate varieties in full sun, you should look for varieties popular in the Deep South because I just think it’s too hot here for varieties that maybe did fine 20 or 30 years ago. My fave are Cherokee Purples.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The most success with tomatoes I’ve had by leaps and bounds is ordering plants in the mail. I use Burpee. After they come I transplant them once into bigger plastic pots (just leftovers), buying deep, then harden them off over a week or so. Then I plant them where they’ll stay, deep again, around Mother’s Day or May 1 if the 10 day forecast is solid.

If you’re planting indeterminate varieties in full sun, you should look for varieties popular in the Deep South because I just think it’s too hot here for varieties that maybe did fine 20 or 30 years ago. My fave are Cherokee Purples.

I meant to add that the reason I think mail order is better is that plants sold locally get put out too early and end up stunted from the cold. Maybe if you have a really responsible garden center it would be fine. But the mail ones have all done great.

[Anonymous]

Around "last frost". Can cover sooner on cold nights.
Really it doesn't matter, as you can plant more plants in mid summer and still get plenty of tomatoes by fall.

[Anonymous]

I started my seeds end of March and just moved the tomato seedlings outside today. I moved half my butternut squash and cucumbers outside last week and kept half inside to hedge my bets and the ones that have been outside this week are already much larger

[Anonymous]

Last frost date for where I am in April 20 so I waited a week after that. You can look up your last frost date by zip code.