Start Tomato Seeds From Scratch

Heirloom and organic tomatoes from the grocery store or farmer’s market are wonderful tomatoes, but can be pricey. Start your own seedlings indoors to enjoy a wonderful harvest through the growing season. You don’t need a professional greenhouse to start seeds early, a tabletop indoor greenhouse is sufficient for a successful heirloom tomato harvest.

Preparation

Plan ahead. Purchase healthy, viable seeds that were prepared for this season. Do not use old seeds.

Determine around when the last frost in your area will be. Tomato plants can be transplanted outside two weeks after the last frost. Start your seeds inside about a month before the anticipated last frost.

Supplies Needed

• Indoor greenhouse,
• Good quality potting soil,
• Tomato seeds,
• Spray bottle with water,
• Wooden or plastic bowl,
• Optional: Jiffy pots.

An indoor greenhouse is an inexpensive investment that, if well taken care of, will last for numerous growing seasons. It consists of a bottom tray, seedling cups, and a clear cover. Gardeners can opt to use biodegradable Jiffy pots that are put directly in the ground when the plant is ready to be outside. Whether using plastic cups or Jiffy pots, proper drainage is essential to success.

The Method

Use a seed starter mix or high quality potting soil. Seedling pots are very small. Three or four tomato seeds per tiny pot is sufficient.

1. Fill each tiny pot almost to the top with potting soil.
2. Gently press tomato seeds into the soil, and add another half inch of soil on top.
3. Water the soil well.
4. Place the seedling pots into the tabletop greenhouse tray, and fix the lid.
5. Spray with water every day.

The cover of the tabletop greenhouse is vital to successful germination. Condensation will form on the inside cover. This is natural and good, but it is still necessary to check the soil every day to make sure it is moist, and check to make sure the pots can drain. (Pour out excessive water on the bottom tray.) Many tabletop greenhouses work well placed on a warm kitchen shelf or windowsill. The optimum temperature for tomato seed germination is 70 to 80 degrees F.

Care for Seedlings

Little green leaves will burst forth from the soil in a less than two weeks. If it has been fourteen days, and nothing has emerged from soil, go over the steps and try a second planting.

Infant tomato plants love sun, so place them in a Southern window. The clear tabletop greenhouse cover will continue to keep them warm, tomato plant’s ideal temperature is 65 to 70 degrees F.

Continue to check the seedlings for appropriate moisture every day. When the plants are a week old, you may add a little liquid fertilizer to the water to feed them.

Harden and Transplant

Baby tomato plants will first grow two leaves. Their “true leaves” develop after this. True leaves are the next set of leaves that grow in between the first leaves. When true leaves have grown, transplant the tomato plants into larger pots. This will help make them strong and viable for later outdoor planting.

Set your pots of tomato plants outdoors for an hour one day, two hours the next day, and so on and so forth. This is called “hardening off” plants. It gets them used to the outdoor air so that being transplanted outside will be less of a shock.

Tomato plants can be transplanted in the garden when:

1. It is two weeks after the last frost, and
2. The plant has a strong trunk and a few stems with leaves.

Plant tomato plants in a very warm and sunny spot, and think about companion planting.