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South East

What date is everyone starting their seeds? Norm last cold weather here is end of Feb early March. It gets real hot here so would Mid Jan be a good starting point? In May we are already hitting near 90 degrees during the day. So trying to beat the heat to get them megablooms to set. :)

12/25/2010 2:41:36 PM

ExtremeVegetables.com

I would shoot for having the plant ready for transplant outdoors once the soil temps reach @55f preferably +55. You can have cables heating the soil to give you an extra start, in that case I would go for when the lows "air temp" stay above 45-50.


Merry Christmas !

12/25/2010 10:32:57 PM

Hamilton Nj

im starting mine in feb. and looking for outside planting to be may 1st.-15th. ,last year i froze all my plants by putting outside too early, i have one plant im gonna start in a couple days cause i want to clone a few pieces off it cause i only have 2 seeds !!!! pizza

12/26/2010 10:14:21 AM

Muddy Waters

You must be weighing before oct weigh-offs.How does this work??

12/26/2010 11:03:06 AM

Wv

same as the lope weigh off Handy.if you need seed let me know im sending you a bubble i can put some in there.tt

12/26/2010 12:27:36 PM

Muddy Waters

I have plenty of tom seeds, So we can start whenever we like,Bill E. said to start lopes end of May to shoot for GPC.date.Does GPC entry allow early weigh-ins for toms???

12/26/2010 1:06:58 PM

Hamilton Nj

yes if u want to time your fruit to be done for the gpc weighoff oct 18th. then put your plants in at a certian date!!!! but the tomato contest and lope contest u can grow at anytime !!! just have a pic on scale with weight in picture!!!! i plant my tomatos every 2 weeks just so i wont miss the oct deadline i let the tomato contest go till nov last year !!!!! goodluck pizza

12/26/2010 5:57:57 PM

Hamilton Nj

mark remember u can keep a tomato in the fridge for a few weeks before it rots u might loose a little weight but it helps if your tomato is ripe oct 5th. and u want to weigh it on oct 18th. pizza

12/26/2010 6:00:52 PM

Muddy Waters

whats with Oct 18th?? I thought GPC is the 5th??Sounds good every 2 weeks plan.

12/26/2010 6:56:19 PM

Hamilton Nj

everyones weigh off is a few days difference my local is the 18th. pizza

12/27/2010 9:58:23 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

I would not be in such a hurry to get started. The two 7 pound tomatoes were started very late in the season. If I am not mistaken, Phil Hunt started his tomato seeds around the first of June. I think this has to do with night temperatures at the time the biggest blossoms are on the vine and these are usually low on the plant. If you start too soon these blossoms will not get fertilized and will abort. Marv

12/27/2010 10:05:57 PM

South East

Well in June we are already in the upper 90's here in SC. So I need to start sooner then most. Was wondering when some Southerners start their seeds. All the responses I have gotten have been from up North where it is alot cooler. Like Duane said I guess I will shoot for when temps are 55+. Like this weekend coming up...LOL..Gonna be 66 degrees on Sat.. Thanks for all the responses so far....:)

12/27/2010 10:19:47 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Cook's, what will yer soil temps be like? Peace, Wayne

12/28/2010 1:35:38 AM

Hamilton Nj

it also depends on how big you want your plant to be before u put out side i like mine to be at least 1-2 foot tall before i put in ground , most of my megablooms did polinate early june last year when it was around 70 a few polinated in july and august on cool days !!! and alot were low to the ground i was suprised to see that but learned another thing about growing giant tomatos lol thanks marv good to hear from you !!!! pizza

12/28/2010 2:09:08 PM

South East

Wayne soil is too cold now, I will have to keep temps on the soil after Feb., all I know for now is June will be too hot to put plants out, so I am shooting for March/April. Last season on May 16th it was already 96 degrees. Yes Pete I do want my plants to be 1-2 ft by end of March so when do you think I should germ? Tina

12/28/2010 4:38:09 PM

Hamilton Nj

2 foot feb 1st. to the 15th, 1 ft. last week feb.

remember seeds germinate pretty quick, but the big zacs i had last year took 2 weeks at least to germ. i had one or two pop early but most took a while !!! pizza

12/28/2010 5:55:29 PM