Seed Starting Tips for Tomatoes, Peppers

Every summer, I make the same promise to myself: "Next year, fewer tomato and pepper plants!" And every winter around this time, I try to start small. But somehow, things get out of control...

Late January through February is the ideal time here in Northern California for starting tomato and pepper seeds indoors. And while you're at it, why not start a few others, such as more cool season leaf crops and summer annual flowers from seed. Those leaf crops (lettuce, spinach, chard) can be transplanted outdoors after about three weeks worth of growth indoors (take a few days to gradually introduce them to the outdoors, perhaps bringing them and their containers back in at night).

Those tomato and pepper plants, along with the summer flowers you started from seed? Keep them protected, indoors, until mid-April. Then, gradually acclimate them to the outdoors as well.

The main problem with outdoor planting of tomato and pepper plants this time of year? Soil temperature. Those summer vegetables do not start actively growing until soil temps reach the mid-60's, and don't really take off with food production until soil temperatures are above 70. Right now? Soil temperatures are hovering around 50 degrees here in the Sacramento area.

Another good reason to delay outdoor planting of those young vegetables until late April-early May: the wind. March is a very windy month in the Central Valley, with northerly winds hitting 20-30 miles per hour, for several days.

What you need to start your seeds:

• A sunny, indoor window or greenhouse.

• Small pots or flats with good drainage. Clean thoroughly.

• An easy draining, pathogen-free soil mix, preferably soilless.

• No greenhouse? Use good quality light fixtures.

• Air movement.

• Small amounts of fertilizer.

• Seed heating mat (optional).

If you are starting your seeds indoors, you would benefit from an extra lighting system, such as fluorescent bulbs hung a few inches above the plants. If the light source is too far away, the plants will get leggy.

I like to use 3"- 4" azalea pots for starting seeds of tomatoes and peppers. I will plant three or four seeds per pot. When they come up and put on two sets of leaves (about three weeks after germination), I'll transplant them to their own pot.

(NOTE: this is how a small number of plants becomes wayyyyy too many, in a hurry!).

Those old six packs and partitioned flats are ideal for starting green, leafy crops. Thin out the seedlings so that there is only one remaining in each cell.

The real key to seed starting success? The soil. More exactly, the soilless mix. Using soil from your garden to start seeds is filled with threats to seed survival: competition from weed seeds, soil-borne diseases, and too heavy a soil. Damping off, a common malady of new seedlings, is due to cool, wet, heavy soil, a perfect environment for pathogens, especially pythium.

Using a soilless mix to start seeds helps avoid introduction of those pathogens. You can purchase bags of "Seed Starting Mix" at your favorite nursery. 


Or, make your own. The recipe I use:

4 parts well aged compost

2 parts peat moss or coir (be sure to thoroughly moisten the peat moss first)

1 part perlite (aids drainage)

If you are worried that the mix you are using is too heavy, you can help your seeds get off to a good start with bottom heat, via a seed heating mat. These are especially useful for germinating pepper seeds, which need higher temperatures to germinate.

Put the seed starting mix in each pot or flat, and then thoroughly soak it. Although it isn't necessary for starting seeds, you can add a diluted liquid fertilizer at this time. I tend to use fish emulsion (5-1-1 NPK) and a sea kelp product, which promotes root production. Generally, there is no need to fertilize until the seed has produced two sets of true leaves. 

"True Leaves" look like the finished product. The first two leaves that emerge from a seed are usually oval shaped cotyledons, which are embryonic leaves.

The seeds are planted just below the soil surface in each pot, no more than a half inch deep.

Once the seeds are up and growing, introduce some air movement into the room, such as a house fan. This helps the new plants avoid diseases. And, air movement can help strengthen tomato stems, according to Debbie Flower, professor of horticulture at American River College, where they use fans in their greenhouses, for up to 16 hours a day.

Coming in March: those containers of tomato and pepper starts will easily become many more containers of tomato and pepper plants, after separating out the three or four starts per container.

Yep, another year of too much.

Starting Tomatoes From Seed

 Back in January, I offered up some basic tomato and pepper seed planting tips.

Here are a few more suggestions for tomato planting:
 

Choose suitable varieties. California's Central Valley and low foothills weather is most noted for its hot, dry summers. 

Lemon Boy

Good choices for this climate include Ace, Ace 55, Better Boy, Burpee VF Hybrid, Lemon Boy and Early Girl (all main season tomatoes). Celebrity used to be part of this list, but after two years of underperformance (and two different batches of seeds from two different seed companies), Celebrity will be on the bench in 2011.

Beefmaster

Try Beefmaster, Big Beef, Supersteak and Whopper (big-fruit varieties).

Viva Italia

Juliet, Roma VF, Viva Italia and San Marzano (paste tomatoes).

Sun Gold

 Patio Hybrid, Sweet 100, Sweet Million, Sun Gold and Sun Sugar (small-fruit varieties). 

All of these varieties were taste test favorites, in trials conducted by the Master Gardeners of Sacramento County and here at Hoffman Gardens. 

Heirloom tomatoes, varieties that were around before the 1950's, are gaining popularity. Although they may not have the built in disease resistance or high production of modern hybrid varieties, they make up for it...with outstanding taste! 

Among the heirloom varieties you might want to try: Brandywine, Old Brooks, Arkansas Traveler, Dad's Mug, Anna Russian, Aunt Ginny's Purple, Dr. Lyle, Dr. Neal, German, German Johnson, Mortgage Lifter, Pruden's Purple and 1884.

Among my favorite heirloom tomato varieties:

Kellogg's Breakfast

Dr. Wyche

Costaluto Genovese

Marianna's Peace

Zapotec Pleated

Bloody Butcher

 

Catalog seed sources include the Tomato Growers Supply Company  and Totally Tomatoes.

Tomatoes we will be growing here this year (most started from seed on 2/12):

Planted 2/12/11:

Heirloom:
Dr. Wyche's Yellow
Abraham Lincoln
Burbank
Bloody Butcher
Old German
Chianti Rose
Garden Peach
Marianna's Peace
Djena Lee's Golden Girl (2/14-new seed)

Hybrid:
Better Boy
Napa Grape
Early Girl
Super Bush
Pomodoro Canestrino
Sweet Gold
Heatwave II Hybrid
Sungold
Early Wonder
Oregon Spring V
Lemon Boy (and 2/14-new seed)
Beefmaster
Big Beef
Sweet Million (2/19/11)
Sweet Treats (2/19/11)
Sweet Hearts (2/19/11)
Solid Gold (2/19/11)
Burpee Sweet Seedless (2/19/11)
Terenzo (2/26/11)
Lizzano (2/26/11)

Using home-saved tomato seeds. If you want to save seeds of a particular tomato variety, remember that many varieties are hybrids; chances are they will not come back with the same traits as the tomato you enjoyed last season. Open pollinated or heirloom tomato seeds are fine for saving, as long as they are grown at least 30 feet away from any other varieties.  

For best results: save the seeds from tomatoes that are overly ripe; rinse off as much of the flesh and protective gelatinous coating from the seeds as is possible. Then, soak the seeds in a jar of water for a couple of days to remove the rest of the coating. The seeds will sink to the bottom, the gel will float. Discard the gel, remove the seeds and let dry on a paper towel. Then, store in an airtight container in a cool, dry location.

Start seeds early. January and February are the best months for starting tomato seeds; March is OK. This will allow 8-12 weeks for the plant to get off to a good start in a warm, sunny place, such as a south or west facing window (or a greenhouse, ideally). It usually takes 7-14 days to germinate tomato seeds. But don't panic after two weeks. Sometimes unusually cold weather can slow germination.  This year, it took some of my seeds nearly two and a half weeks to germinate. Yes, it has been unusually cold here.

To test for viable seed that you've been saving: moisten a coffee filter, and place a few seeds in the filter, with space between the seeds. Place the filter in an old yogurt container, cover it, and place in an area out of direct heat. Check every few days to see if seeds have sprouted.

Give seeds a healthy start. Use a light, quick-draining potting mix. Commercial seed-starting potting mixes are available; or, mix your own, using 4 parts compost, 2 parts peat moss, and 1 part each of vermiculite and perlite. Any small container with drainage is OK for starting tomato seeds. Fill containers about 3/4 to the top with the potting mix. Water, let drain. Plant seeds shallow, no deeper than 1/4 of an inch. To hasten germination, use a heating pad designed for seeds, such as a propagation mat. This will warm the soil to 70-75 degrees, which tomatoes need to germinate. Keep the soil mix moist. To prevent emerging seedlings from bending too much toward the sunny window, rotate the pots a quarter turn each day. If you are using grow lights, position the seedlings less than 6 inches from the light source; keep the lights on 15-18 hours a day.

Movin' on up. When two or three sets of true leaves develop on the tomato seedling, you can transplant it to a bigger pot. This is especially helpful if you started your seeds in a flat or in a small peat pot, or the young stems are bending toward the light at a sharp angle. When transplanting to a bigger pot (preferably a 4-6 inch pot), prepare the new pot the same as before. However, don't fill the pot as full. Place the tomato seedling, with as much of the original soil as possible to avoid disturbing the roots, into a 1/3 to 1/2 filled pot. 

If you have the new pots ready to go, you could even try untangling a mess of seedling roots by washing off all the soil from the roots with tepid water and then immediately planting. I've done it both ways, with equal success. Just be quick about it.

Then, add moistened soil mix all along the stem, up to the bottom set of leaves. If you are growing tomato seedlings in a flat, thin them out so that there are six inches between plants. This will lessen the chance of root entanglement and damping off, a fungus disease that kills young seedlings.

A trick for increasing stem girth: use a small circulating fan in the room, gently blowing on the young plants, for up to 18 hours a day.

Timing is everything. Acclimate any indoor-grown tomato seedlings slowly to their new outdoor home; this lessens the shock to the plant, allowing it to grow at a quicker pace. About 10 days before setting out into its permanent garden home, place out during the day in a shady or semi-shady location; bring plants in at night. 

Wall O' Water

Mid-Spring is Tomato Planting Time. Plant tomato transplants when the soil has warmed enough to keep the plant actively growing. In most of California, late April or early May is the optimum time to set tomato plants outdoors, unprotected, in a garden area that gets full sun. If you can't wait that long, protect those tender young plants with hot caps, row covers or "Walls of Water" - plastic, cone shaped enclosures that are filled with water which collect heat during the day, slowly releasing the heat at night.

Plant deeply. Place the tomato deep into the soil, clipping off the lower leaves and leaving only the top leaves and branches exposed. This will cause more roots to develop along the stem, speeding development.

Mulch? Yep! Surrounding your tomato plants with three inches of an organic mulch beneath the plants helps moderate soil temperature, reduces water evaporation, controls weeds and helps to feed the soil as it breaks down. Some gardeners use red plastic mulch beneath their tomato plants. A couple of university studies have shown that this can produce an earlier, bigger crop of tomatoes. Other studies indicate that the reduction of light spectrum that results with the use of red plastic mulch may stress the plant into producing most of its fruit earlier in the season, with reduced production in the late season. Your call.

Stake, stake, stake. Supported tomato plants produce more fruit and are subject to fewer problems. One of the best tomato support systems that can be used repeatedly for a number of years include "cages" made from concrete reinforcement wire. A  50-foot roll of this six-inch mesh, five feet-high wire can be cut to make about a half dozen tomato cages, each with a diameter of two to three feet. The six inch mesh allows for easy access at picking time. Stake and tie the cages to the ground, with one stake on either side of the cage.

Water carefully. Tomato plants like water on a regular basis, deeply, once or twice a week. Soaker hoses or drip irrigation work best. Regularly scheduled deep watering reduces plant stress, one of the causes for that mushy, black or brown discoloration on the bottom of tomatoes, called blossom end rot.

Fertilize regularly, but sparingly. Lightly feed the plants every other week with a balanced fertilizer (10-10-10 or less, for example). Use half the recommended dosage.

Pick, pick, pick. Don't let the fruit overripe on the vine; pick when fully firm and red. Hand picking is also the most potent control for mature tomato worms. If using chemical products, make sure the label states that hornworms are controlled by the product. Also available for hornworm control: a bacterial insecticide containing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). If you spot a tomato horn worm with a patch of white on its back, let it be. Those patches of white are the eggs of the parasitic trichogramma wasp that eventually will do the dirty work, eating away at the host tomato worm.

The Tomato Dictionary.

Determinate: Tomato plants whose vines make little or no growth once fruit is set. Most of the fruit develops at the same time. A desirable trait for those wishing to can or process their crop. 

Indeterminate: Vines keep producing new shoots, blossoms and fruit throughout the growing season. 

V: A tomato variety with this letter listed after the name is resistant or tolerant to verticillium wilt. 

F: Tolerance to fusarium wilt. 

N: Nematode resistance.

T: resistance to tobacco mosaic virus. 

Tomato and Pepper Seed Saving Tips

  

Have you fallen in love yet this summer...with a backyard heirloom tomato or pepper variety that you are growing for the first time?

There are hundreds of heirloom tomato and pepper varieties available as seeds, from specialty catalogs and better nurseries. Different shapes, different colors, different flavors. And when you find the ones you like the most, it's easy to save those seeds for future planting seasons.

  

TOMATOES

    Tomato flowers are both wind and insect pollinated. Although the tomato that forms on the plant you purchased or started from seed will be as advertised (we hope), the seeds inside that tomato you grew may be carrying the genetic makeup of whatever happened to originally pollinate that tomato flower. So, those Brandywines, Bloody Butchers and other heirloom tomatoes will contain seeds, if germinated, that might more resemble the tomato plant that resided next door to your favorite heirloom. 


     Yes, even tomato plants covet their neighbor's wife...with a little help from that devil of a bee.

     And forget about replicating this year's tomato garden next year if you are growing hybrid tomatoes. A hybrid tomato is made by crossing several different parent varieties. Even if grown in isolation, second generation hybrid tomato (and pepper) seeds usually do not come back as the same variety. You'll have to buy fresh seed next year to duplicate that exact hybrid tomato experience.

Plus, hybrid varieties of tomatoes offered for the home gardener have been bred for many of the same characteristics as the varieties grown by large agricultural interests: higher yields, disease resistance and broader climate adaptibility. As one study from the University of Texas suggests, the formation of nutrients in hybrid tomatoes for the home market may also be the sacrificial lamb in order for that plant to pump out a greater number of tomatoes.

     If you want to grow the same heirloom tomato variety year after year without purchasing new seed, here's how to save your heirloom tomato seeds, for planting next year: 

     

Isolate your favorite heirloom tomato plant from other varieties to avoid possible cross pollination. Plant them by themselves about 30 feet away from other tomatoes. Not enough room? Surround the heirloom tomato plant with other tall growing vegetables, such as corn or pole beans.

     If you already have your tomato plants crowded together, there is one trick you can try this year to get a crop of heirloom tomato seeds that are true to their parent: Put a small paper bag around any new blossom before it opens; after the tomato forms, remove the bag. This will keep the other varieties of tomato plant that might happen to be flowering at the same time from pollinating your favorite heirloom.

     To save the seeds, pick the most luscious looking, ripe tomato. Cut it in half with a serrated knife at the equator and squeeze the pulp into a clean container. Place the filled container, with a lid loosely attached, in a warm location out of direct sunlight to promote fermentation, which helps dissolve the gel coating on the seed. Don't leave those seeds in the container for more than three days; they might germinate! Be sure the lid is loosely attached, allowing some air to escape. Fermentation could blow a secured lid off that sucker, creating quite a mess.


     Stir it once or twice a day for a day or two, and then pour or scoop off the scum at the top of the container. This floating material will contain tomato chunks and the bad seeds. 

    Then, add more water to the container and pour it through a screen or strainer. You may need to do this more than once or twice. It's just like panning for gold. Your treasure? Those nice, plump, healthy tomato seeds that will remain behind.

     Wipe the bottom of the strainer with a towel and pour the seeds out onto a hard surface like a paper plate or a coffee filter.  Don't lay them on a paper towel because the paper fibers will stick to the seeds.

     The seeds will need to dry for a couple of days, up to a week. Keep the seeds out of the sun in a cool, dry place. You should also move around the individual seeds a couple times a day to prevent them from sticking to each other. This will help them dry evenly too.

     Once they are completely dry, seal them in an airtight container. A glass jar  is perfect for this. Adding a dessicant can help keep the moisture level down. Make sure to label them so you'll know what you're planting next spring and then store them in a cool, dry place, such as under your bed.

      And now, you'll have your favorite heirloom tomato seeds, ready to plant for the next five to seven years, producing the most luscious, tastiest tomatoes that you'll ever savor. Nothing compares to the flavor of a homegrown tomato…especially if it's a nutritious heirloom tomato!

     Seed saving organizations, specialty seed companies and home gardeners are the ones who have kept heirloom tomato varieties alive for generations. Pass some of your saved seeds on to your children, too. 


Here's a video of how to save tomato seeds:

California Heartland - Homegrown: Preserving Heirloom Tomatoes

PEPPER SEEDS

One of the best sources for heirloom seed saving information is The International Seed Saving Institute. They offer this information on saving pepper seeds:

"Most home gardeners will get satisfactory results if different varieties are separated by 50 feet and another tall, flowering crop. There are two methods, dry and wet, to process pepper seeds. The dry method is adequate for small amounts. Cut the bottom off the fruit and carefully reach in to strip the seeds surrounding the central cone. In many cases, seeds need no further cleaning. To process the seed from large amounts of peppers, cut off the tops just under the stem, fill a blender with peppers and water and carefully blend until good seeds are separated and sink to bottom. Pepper debris and immature seeds will float to the top where they can be rinsed away. Spread clean seeds on paper towel and dry in cool location until seed is dry enough to break when folded."

Store peppers seeds just like tomato seeds.

It's Seed Planting Time (indoors)

Every summer, I make the same promise to myself: "Next year, fewer tomato and pepper plants!" And every winter around this time, I try to start small. But somehow, things get out of control...

Late January and early February is the ideal time here in Northern California for starting tomato and pepper seeds indoors. And while you're at it, why not start a few others, such as more cool season leaf crops and summer annual flowers from seed. Those leaf crops (lettuce, spinach, chard) can be transplanted outdoors after about three weeks worth of growth indoors (take a few days to gradually introduce them to the outdoors, perhaps bringing them and their containers back in at night).

Those tomato and pepper plants, along with the summer flowers you started from seed? Keep them protected, indoors, until mid-April. Then, gradually acclimate them to the outdoors as well.

The main problem with outdoor planting of tomato and pepper plants this time of year? Soil temperature. Those summer vegetables do not start actively growing until soil temps reach the mid-60's, and don't really take off with food production until soil temperatures are above 70. Right now? Soil temperatures are hovering around 50 degrees here in the Sacramento area.

Another good reason to delay outdoor planting of those young vegetables until late April-early May: the wind. March is a very windy month in the Central Valley, with northerly winds hitting 20-30 miles per hour, for several days.

What you need to start your seeds:

• A sunny, indoor window or greenhouse.

• Small pots or flats with good drainage.

• An easy draining, pathogen-free soil mix, preferably soilless.

• Light.

• Air movement.

• Small amounts of fertilizer.

• Seed heating mat (optional).

If you are starting your seeds indoors, you would benefit from an extra lighting system, such as fluorescent bulbs hung a few inches above the plants. If the light source is too far away, the plants will get leggy.

I like to use 3"-4" azalea pots for starting seeds of tomatoes and peppers. I will plant three or four seeds per pot. When they come up and put on two sets of leaves (about three weeks after germination), I'll transplant them to their own pot. (NOTE: this is how a small number of plants becomes wayyyyy too many, in a hurry!).

Those old six packs and partitioned flats are ideal for starting green, leafy crops. Thin out the seedlings so that there is only one remaining in each cell.

The real key to seed starting success? The soil. More exactly, the soilless mix. Using soil from your garden to start seeds is filled with threats to seed survival: competition from weed seeds, soil-borne diseases, and too heavy a soil. Damping off, a common malady of new seedlings, is due to cool, wet, heavy soil, a perfect environment for pathogens, especially pythium.

Using a soilless mix to start seeds helps avoid introduction of those pathogens. You can purchase bags of "Seed Starting Mix" at your favorite nursery. Or, make your own. The recipe I use:

4 parts well aged compost

2 parts peat moss (be sure to thoroughly moisten the peat moss first)

1 part perlite (aids drainage)

If you are worried that the mix you are using is too heavy, you can help your seeds get off to a good start with bottom heat, via a seed heating mat. These are especially useful for germinating pepper seeds, which need higher temperatures to germinate.

Put the seed starting mix in each pot or flat, and then thoroughly soak it. Although it isn't necessary for starting seeds, you can add a diluted liquid fertilizer at this time. Generally, there is no need to fertilize until the seed has produced two sets of true leaves. "True Leaves" look like the finished product. The first two leaves that emerge from a seed are usually oval shaped cotyledons, which are embryonic leaves.

The seeds are planted just below the soil surface in each pot, no more than a half inch deep.

Once the seeds are up and growing, introduce some air movement into the room, such as a house fan. This helps the new plants avoid diseases. And, air movement can help strengthen tomato stems, according to Debbie Flower, professor of horticulture at American River College.

So, what got planted? 18 tomato varieties and 11 sweet pepper varieties (in the azalea pots).

The partitioned flats and six packs got planted with swiss chard, five different lettuce varieties, spinach, cosmos and African marigolds. Also planted: four different kinds of basil; three different kinds of parsley.

Coming in March: those 29 containers of tomato and pepper starts will easily become over 80 containers of tomato and pepper plants, after separating out the three or four starts per container.

Yep, another year of too much.

This year's tomato and pepper starts from seed include a mix of heirlooms and hybrids:

Tomatoes: Viva Italia, First Prize, Bloody Butcher, Beefmaster, Early Girl, Sweet Gold (two different packets), Marianna's Peace, Big Beef, Lemon Boy, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Celebrity, Early Wonder, Djena Lee's Golden Girl, and some mysterious tomato seeds brought back from Italy by my daughter last year: Poti Cuote Bue (A), Poti Cuote Bue (B), Pomodoro Canestrino and Pomodoro Canestrino 'Claudia'.

Peppers this year include: Chocolate Beauty, Purple Beauty, Lilac, Anaheim, Tequila, Flamingo, Corno di Toro, Jimmy Nardello, Bull Nose, Quadrato D' Asti, Gypsy. 

Details about those varieties will follow.