Topic: tomato seeds started

[plainleaf]

i started 32 tomato seeds for early plant out yesterday. the plant outside date is feb 15 2012.
i will post picture of this test as it go along.
first seed pop should be in day or two.

[goodlife]

What kind of temperatures do you get over there in February?..and how do you protect them if you do so?

[plainleaf]

weather ranges
the temps run between -12.22 C /10 F  to 4.44C/40 F
snow ranges from 0-26 inches per storm

protection used soil heating cables,double stacked wall o waters, and hoop house

[goodlife]

Well..that will be interesting test..I'm looking forward to hear how you get getting on with that. I've seen pictures of those wall o waters..but would double stacked wall let enought light come through with snow and frost on surface as well?
Brrr..I think I need heating cables how our weather is at the moment. ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

Nice to see your weather goes by Fahrenheit, Plainleaf. Accurate to 0.01 degree, no less!

[Digeroo]

But PL you are considerably further south than us, so even though it is cold the light values will be higher. 

For example on Thursday the shortest day in Baltimore will be 9hrs 24mins while I will only have 7 hrs 47 while those people living in Scotland have about an hour or more less than this.  It will be 6th February before we get 9hrs 24 of daylight.

Mind you we win after the equinox and getting over an hour extra digging time from 1st May onwards for about 14 weeks.

It would be most unusual for our February temperatures to be as low as yours.

Our forecast temperatures for the rest of this month are similar to yours though the slightly average minimum is higher for us.

[aj]

There's no point comparing growing in the UK to the USA - there's so many differences.

All 'advice' needs to be taken with a very large pinch of salt so one wonders what the point is.

[ceres]

A4A is international, we welcome members from all round the world.  For me, part of the fun and interest is reading about how it's done in other places with different conditions.  We may not be able to transplant methods and techniques directly, but there's always the possibility of picking up something we can use in our own conditions. 

I didn't see any advice being given in this thread so far but, I'm sure if there was, members would make up their own minds about its usefulness like they do for anything else posted on A4A.

[Digeroo]

I thought that the wall of water sounded like a good idea but was advised by an unknown source that they had tried to import them but they had not taken off in this country. 

I did mean to try and build something with plastic bottles full of water or perhaps a plastic mini green house with a water butt inside.  But last year was just so cold I did not bother and left the tomatoes on the windowsill with a radiator underneath rather longer.  I have had better success with growing on top of a strawbale with plastic bottle cloches on top.  Did wonders for courgettes and melons, I will give tomatoes a whirl next year.   Though actually the best melons were grown on the leaward side of the bales rather than on top. 

Another of our stateside members has experience of my dry gravelly soil type and has messaged me with a number of very useful suggestions. 

[Robert_Brenchley]

We really need to know where people are from so we can see whether advice is likely to apply to us. Could the wall o' water have failed here because of the low sunlight in winter, I wonder?

[Digeroo]

Actually I am feeling rather niggled with myself my daughter has just come back from two weeks staying with friends in the US I knew there was something I wanted. 

[plainleaf]

gardening methods in the used in USA should would fine in the uk
the issue is not method but timing. frost date being the most in important  not light levels. since later in season the uk day length dwarfs me by a large factor.
variety being a factor.
given correct variety and planning in usa watermelons over 100lbs have been grown from the south of USA FL and AZ to as far north as MN,AK
weather, light, are not deciding factor.
soil and planning are.
take the square foot garden method when used in correctly it works just about everywhere except
the most extreme desert   and coldest arctic areas.
 
  

FL= Florida
AZ=Arizona
MN=Minnesota
AK=Alaska

[Robert_Brenchley]

The world record watermelon is a little larger than 100 lb; it weighed 132kg (291.0lb), and was grown by Chris Kent in the United States (I don't know where), in 2010. The UK record weighed 75kg (165lb), and was grown by Ian Neale in 2005. So a 100 pounder is possible here, but the methods used by giant veg growers are a little extreme. It wouldn't be easy.

[shirlton]

I always start my toms around first week in Feb on the windowsill in an  unheated propagator but over a radiator.
This year they won't get started until first week in April cos we will be away. Will be interesting to see how much the early start affects the harvest.

[plainleaf]

Robert_Brenchley some of there method are extreme but others are very mundane and simple.
one of the simple technique the giant grower use that the average allotment holder can do is increase the organic matter in the plot and crack the subsoil. 
a simple way to do this is to plant
the really long varieties of daikon radish(mooli) , after adding little bit of organic matter you grow them 3 years in same spot and let them rot. great for clay spots.

[plainleaf]

shirlton the harvest has a lot more to do with other factors then earliness.
the early start is not about total season production but i can increase that to. the early started plants are there to produce just 1 tomato per plant some ripe in august some ripe last week end in October.
the early started plant are for biggest tomato contest.

this year i will be starting 20 plants for an early batch of sauce mid July.

i learned a secret of a great tomato grower few years back if go for bigger plant size before you get the first flowers you can increase production by 10  that grower produced plants that  could get over 60 lbs  tomato per plant compared to the common 6lbs per plant.

But his method brakes rules about how  you usaully fertilize  tomato plants.

[goodlife]

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weather, light, are not deciding factorHmm..I do not agree with your statement there... :-\ All those are the basics with plants capability produce growth.
You can do all the soil preparation you want but if you do not get adequate light for optimum growth..if the weather do not support it neither..your growing will be doomed.
Too much moisture and not enough  warmth and plants will just 'sit' and sulk.
We may get more light later on the year..but with some crops that it is too late..getting good light level earlier on the year to ensure strong early growth is essential with those plants that have long season habit...you don't get record breakers with spindly little plants.

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variety being a factor...that's correct..that's why in UK we generally need shorter season varieties that are able after 'late' planting manage to finish with their cropping.

[plainleaf]

goodlife you make me laugh since the temp and moisture level issues are so easy to prevent.  for temp help I suggest you speak to that English fellow Newton.
And the moisture issue is all matter of redirection. 

[Chrispy]

I would have thought indoors under artificial light was the way to go, I look forward to seeing the pics, oh deer, my side has just split.

[shirlton]

Sorry PL I thought you were planting early to get an early harvest.