Planting Tomato Seeds
Growing Tomatoes Indoors
Growing tomatoes indoors is something new I am trying out. Starting seeds indoors, sure, but actually growing the plants inside and harvesting the tomatoes? With my new location, it’s something I’m dying to try!
Tomatoes for Growing Indoors
I won’t be able to grow a full-sized tomato plant indoors, but I should be able to grow a mini tomato plant; something that is no more than about 12 inches tall. There are some where it’s claimed they can grow in a 4 inch container — but I want more tomatoes than something that small could give me. Some good tomato varieties that are in the 10 to 12 inch size range are Red Robin and Tiny Tim. Since I already have seeds for Red Robin, I think that’s what I’ll plant.
What’s Needed for Growing Tomatoes Indoors
Tomatoes need a place to live (a pot), light, water, soil and food (fertilizer).
- Light: Obviously, good light is necessary. While I do have a south-facing window, I don’t think it will be enough to support a good harvest. I’ll invest in some grow lights to supplement the light I do get.
- Pot/Container: My tomato plant needs a place to live, but I don’t have a ton of space. I’m going to go with a 1-gallon self-watering container (8 inch diameter).
- Water: Easy enough, especially with a self-watering container.
- Soil: I’ll need something that drains well, but also helps to hold moisture. In other words, I don’t want the water to just go through the pot before the roots can get the moisture — nor do I want the plants to have so much moisture that they have wet feet! A mix of potting soil, perlite and some sphagnum moss should give me what I need.
- Fertilizer: I think I can use the same fertilizer I use on my african violet and streptocarpus plants, which is a mixture of Miracle Gro for Orchids and Miracle Gro for Roses. I may be able to add some Sea Magic fertilizer, but because the plant will be indoors in closed room, fish emulsion is not an option. 😉 The fertilizer will be 1/2 strength, every other time I water.
What’s Missing?
Well, the tomato seedlings are missing! I’ve been itching to plant some tomato seeds, so this will be my chance to try out my new seed starting trays and heated seed germination mat.
Just for fun, I think I will also try to grow a Red Robin plant outside as well, and see what the difference is. Well, I’m sure it will grow better since it will be in a 3-gallon container, but the question is how much better?
Homegrown Tomatoes Planned for 2020
What homegrown tomatoes are in store for me in 2020? As I mentioned in my previous post of my new location, I’ve got a whole different growing style to get used to.
Looking forward to my first baby tomato!
Instead of two short growing seasons, I have one longer one. If I am lucky, I’ll be able to do a little succession planting. The humidity up here isn’t nearly as bad as S Florida, even though I still will get days in the 90s come August. My season starts in early April, so I’m lining up all my supplies now.
All that being said, what tomato varieties do I have planned for the 2020 gardening season? Here’s what I want to grow.
Tomato Varieties Planned for 2020
I’m going with all new (to me) varieties, with one exception. All are either heirloom or open-pollinated, so I can save seeds if I like. And for a change, I am planting some dwarf tomatoes! Here is the lineup:
- Dwarf Arctic Rose: Determinate, pink, early-season. Regular rugose leaves. Fruits average 2 to 5 ounces.
- BrandyFred: Indeterminate (dwarf), purple, mid-season. Potato rugose leaves. Fruits average around 10 ounces.
- Dwarf Pink Passion: Indeterminate, pink, mid-season. Regular rugose leaves. Fruits average 8 ounces.
- Dwarf Bendigo Blush: Indeterminate, pink, mid-season. Potato rugose leaves. Fruits average 1 to 2 ounces.
- Red Robin: Determinate, red, early-season. Regular rugose leaves. Fruits average 1 ounce. Not a dwarf so much as a tiny micro-determinate — tiny as in maybe 10 inches tall. This is the one variety I have grown in the past, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it grows up here.
- Tennessee Yellow Cherry: Indeterminate, yellow, early-season. Regular leaves. Fruits average 1 ounce per tomato – supposed to be very prolific. And since I now live in Tennessee, it seemed appropriate. 😉
- Vorlon: Indeterminate, purple, mid-season. Potato leaves. Fruits average 6 to 8 ounces. I get a kick out of the show “Babylon 5”, and this was supposedly named after a character on the show. I just couldn’t resist, and purple tomatoes are generally pretty flavorful.
Three unusual varieties I’ll be growing are:
- Blue Beauty: Indeterminate, blue, early- to mid-season. Regular leaves. Unknown average size. I’ve not grown a blue tomato as yet, so this will be my first. The “blue” is due to anthocyanin, which is more of an indigo-purple color.
- Alice’s Dream: Indeterminate, blue/striped, mid-season. Regular leaves. Unknown average size. I have to admit, this one intrigues me. More anthocyanin, so it’s a “blue” tomato, but ripens to what looks like a striped tomato. It’s supposed to be beautiful and tasty!
- Girl Girl’s Weird Thing: Indeterminate, striped red/green, mid- to late-season. Regular leaves. Unknown average size, but appear to be medium. The name drew me in, and the striped red and green was fascinating. Supposed to be very tasty.
Although Blue Beauty, Alice’s Dream and Girl Girl’s Weird Thing have unknown average sizes, from the photos I’ve seen I guess that between 6 and 10 ounces seems reasonable. I know that “tasty” can vary from person to person, so when I eventually review these varieties, I’ll have to compare them against some well-known varieties for comparison.
I’m really excited to be growing in this new location, and with these new-to-me tomato seeds. I look forward to sharing my progress and photos of the garden and tomatoes.
Germinating Old Tomato Seeds, Reloaded
Have you ever found a pack of tomato seeds from a year or two ago and wondered if you could germinate those seeds and get them to grow? If you’ve ever had this happen, the answer is definitely try it!
Yesterday, I uncovered some seeds that I thought were lost to time. One was a tomato I had been breeding myself; another was a commercial packet that contained seeds that did not match the variety. It was from a highly respected seed firm, so the tomatoes were either 1) a mis-labeled pack or 2) crossed seeds. I’ve had crossed seeds before from a commercial pack, and it’s always exciting to see what might grow out.
How old are these seeds? They’ve been patiently waiting for 5 years!
How Long Do Tomato Seeds Last?
I’ve had this happen in the past, and I’ve successfully germinated seeds that I had for 10 years (see a previous post on seed germination) . So, I’m thinking that because the seeds were in a cool, low-humidity location, my 5-year-old seeds should germinate OK.
I don’t expect a 90% rate — probably more like 70 to 75%. But hey, I planted 8 seeds of each of the two packets, so even if I get just one or two good, sturdy plants from each, I will be thrilled. 🙂 (More is better, though, so I can select the healthiest plants to work with.)
Germinating Old Tomato Seeds
Because I want the seeds to have the best possible chance, I got together the following:
- 3-ounce paper cups
- Seed-starting soil
- Liquid kelp, diluted to 1/3 strength
- Windowsill greenhouse
- Seed germination heat pad
- Pair of scissors
- Plant labels
With the scissors, I cut slits in the bottom of the paper cups (for water drainage). I filled them to the top with the seed-starting soil and placed each cup in the windowsill greenhouse. When all the cups were filled, I took my liquid kelp mixture and soaked the soil, letting the water run out the bottom.
I let the cups stand for a few minutes, then lightly pushed the soil down. When I was satisfied that the top of the soil was moist, I put on the soil surface 4 seeds per cup. (Normally I’d only plant 2 per cup.)
I put a layer (maybe 3/8 inch thick) of the seed starting soil on top of the seeds and once again, lightly pressed down.
I added labels to the cups with the name of the tomato, and filled the windowsill greenhouse with enough water to come up 1/8 inch up the sides of the cups. That would provide enough water to make the seed-starting soil moist all the way through the cup, to the top.
Put the top on the greenhouse (to keep the humidity up) and set the whole kit and caboodle on the seed germination heating pad, which would gently warm the bottom of the greenhouse, and by extension, the soil and seeds.
How Long Will it Take?
Good question! Normally it takes anywhere from 3 to 10 days to germinate tomato seeds, with about 5 days being average. Given that these are older seeds, I don’t expect to see signs of germination for 5 days at the earliest, 7 days on average. Therefore, I wait impatiently. 😉
Tomato Plants or Seeds?
Should you buy tomato plants or grow from seeds? There are some good arguments both ways, and I sometimes do both. Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Buying Tomato Plants
There are two main things you need to be concerned with, when buying tomato plants for your garden.
- First, how do the plants look? Are they rangy and tall, shorter and bushier or somewhere in between? The taller rangy plants are not as desirable as the stockier plants. The taller plants may have been fed a bunch of fertilizer, or haven’t been given enough sunlight, producing the rangy growth.
- Can you see any roots showing at the bottom or sides of the pot? If so, the plant is very likely root-bound and will have trouble getting started in your garden.
Also be careful of the following when buying tomato plants:
- Do not, no matter how tempting, buy plants that already have open blossoms or tomatoes. These plants will be shocked moving into your garden and very likely will have setbacks (take it from someone who knows).
- If the plants come with little removable plant labels, you may (or may not) get the variety that you’re expecting. Charles Wilber tells a story about thinking he was buying Better Boy plants (beefsteak tomatoes) and ended up with cherry tomatoes — someone had either mislabeled or switched labels. (However, with those cherry tomatoes, he captured a Guinness world record for the largest tomato plant, so all ended well.)
The main advantage to buying tomato plants is that the early work is already done. If you decide late in the season that you want to grow tomatoes, there may not be time to start from seeds — and the plants fill in nicely. Also, some people don’t want to be bothered with starting seeds. These are cases where buying tomato plants works well.
Tomato Seedlings
Planting Tomato Seeds
Planting tomato seeds gives you the most variety and control over your tomatoes. In general, tomato plants are available in maybe a dozen varieties. Tomato seeds, on the other hand, have thousands of varieties from which to choose!
Sometimes you’ll find heirloom tomatoes as plants (I found Tigerella at the local Home Depot garden shop), but most plants available are hybrids.
If you want a wide range from which to choose, you can try Amazon (of all places) . Yes, I do buy some of mine there, thus far with great success.
The biggest disadvantage of planting your own tomato seeds is that you have to do it well before the time you need to put them out in the garden — in general, 4 to 6 weeks ahead. Also, you need to have a warm dark place to germinate the seeds, then some place to put them where they will get adequate light after they’ve germinated.
I tend to germinate far more seeds than I do buy tomato plants, partly because there isn’t enough of a variety available locally for the plants. I also like to grow organically as possible, and it’s highly likely that store-bought tomato plants will have been fertilized chemically. On the other hand…sometimes a plant just calls out to me and begs to be taken home!
Tomato Plant Updates
Here are some tomato plant updates for the week (as well as tomato seed updates). Sorry I haven’t been around much this week — I’ve been busy with my tomatoes (not to mention with my other veggies).
Supersweet 100
I mentioned in my first tomato update post that I had three SuperSweet 100 plants, and I was going to run an experiment with them. One I kept inside in a south-facing window. Another I took outside to a protected area with strong indirect sunlight (as well as a couple hours of direct sun). The third I went and planted in its final container outside. Three weeks later, how did they fare?
It’s been rather cool here lately, so the plant I kept inside in a south-facing window is by far the tallest and has the most leaves. However, it’s verging on leggy. I’m keeping it inside for the time being, seeing as the forecast is for temps in the upper 30’s next week — if I sent it outside now, I’m afraid it would have a severe setback.
The one I planted in its final container in the garden is the next most developed; it has medium-sized new growth — not as much as the one I left inside, but it’s stockier — not leggy at all. It has a nice, dark green color.
The third that I left outside in a protected location is the smallest. I decided to go ahead and plant it in its final container out in the garden area, so it could get some more growth. Dark green leaves, though, so that’s good.
Brandywine
All my started to grow quite well by about the 10th, when I potted them up twice since then. I was thinking I had the red version of Brandywine, but they all ended up potato leaf style, so I either have red Brandywine with potato leaves or pink Brandywine. Hmmm. I’ll have to wait and see the color of the fruit.
Pineapple Tomato
These are for the Great Tomato Experiment, and they are doing very nicely. I transferred them to the next size container, and am keeping them inside for now, given that lower temperatures are forecast during the week. All my Pineapple seeds germinated nicely, so I have four plants to choose from — the three strongest will take part in the experiment.
White Bush
I originally said that one of my White Bush seedlings had been going for the sky. Well, it had, then a short while later it looked like it was going to keel over. So I brought it inside and hoped for the best. It hasn’t been until the last few days that it’s started looking healthy — now it’s growing fine again.
The Rest of the Tomato Plants
I have Juliet, Tomatoberry, Big Rainbow, Kellogg’s Breakfast
all repotted up. I brought one Kellogg’s Breakfast inside, and everything else I left outside. Yellow Cherry is also outside, but I’m not sure how it will fare. I probably should bring it inside.
New Tomato Seeds Germinated
I tried for some of my legacy seeds, and so far, Green Grape and Loxahatchee are the only two up. I had also planted newer seeds for Tumbling Tom, and they both came up. For the legacy seeds, still waiting on Black Krim.
Loxahatchee is a strain I am developing. I originally saved the seed from an unknown globe-shaped tomato that tasted wonderful, and hoped that the resulting plant would also have great-tasting tomatoes. I didn’t know if the tomato was hybrid or open pollinated, so I wasn’t sure what I’d get. At any rate, I’ve selected plants for three generations whose tomatoes tasted the best.
Whoops! For some reason I was down to just 6 seeds — not sure where the rest ran off to. So I carefully planted 3 of the seeds. Two have germinated so far, and hopefully the third as well.
For these, I want to do two things. First is still select the largest of the great-tasting red globes — that will be two of the plants. The third plant I want to use as the female cross with another tomato variety. Not sure which I want to use for the male parent of the cross. I’m debating using Pineapple, Kellogg’s Breakfast or maybe Druzba. I’ll have to see how this generation fares, first.
Yesterday’s Seeds
Finally, I planted two new varieties yesterday — the heirloom tomato and the hybrid Fabulous. (If you plan on planting seeds and need some guidance, check out the germinating tomato seeds post.)
With Tomatoes and Flowers
Almost forgot, I have tomatoes on Patio, Celebrity and Husky Red (a cherry-type). I have more blossoms on all these, plus also with Mr. Stripey (Tigerella) and Park’s Whopper. It’s been a cooler winter than normal, so everything is growing slower than usual; I should have already had at least some almost-ripe tomatoes by now. I’ve still got a ways to wait, though.