One of the best ways to ensure you have incredibly healthy and productive tomato plants growing in your garden each and every year is to start your own tomato transplants from seed indoors in late winter or early spring.
Not only is the process of growing your own plants from seed fun and extremely rewarding, it can lead to stronger plants and far better results than when using store bought transplants. And contrary to what many may think – the process can be quite economical and easy.
But even more, growing from seed lets you have control of your plants right from the start! You have the opportunity to give your plants exactly what they need all along the way – and make sure they get the exact care they need before they go in the ground on planting day.
Although you can usually find plenty of tomato plants for sale at local stores in the spring, how they were grown and cared for can be a mystery. What type of soil are they growing in? Is it organic? Have they been fertilized or sprayed for pests? And if so, what was used on them?
In addition to those important questions, there is also the question of how the plants have been cared for at the store. Have they been watered regularly? Have they been left outside on cold nights when frost and cold temperatures can stunt and injure future growth?
Early Tomato Plant Care – How To Start Tomato Plants Indoors From Seed
Unfortunately, the care a tomato plant receives as a young seedling greatly impact its future performance. If it doesn’t get the proper water, nutrients, warmth and lighting, it can lead to a plant that never fully develops and matures.
That is exactly why growing your own can be so beneficial. By providing your plants with perfect care from the moment you plant the seed, you can set the stage for big success. And the advantages don’t end there.
In addition to giving your plants great care, growing your own tomato plants from seed also allows you the opportunity to grow any tomato variety you want. All too often, local stores only carry just a few of the more popular varieties – leaving you unable to grow all of the incredible heirloom choices that can fill your garden and kitchen with amazing tomato flavor.
More Advantages To Grow Your Own Plants From Seed…
Even better – growing your own plants from seed can help save big on a gardening budget. Let’s face it, tomato plants can be expensive to purchase each and every spring. But seeds are far less expensive. Especially when you save them for multiple years.
When stored properly, you can use seeds from the same pack for multiple years with outstanding results. And, with heirloom varieties, once you harvest, you can save seeds from your best tomatoes to have fresh new seeds year after year – all for free!
But here is the best news of all – growing tomatoes from seed couldn’t be easier. As you will see below, it doesn’t require fancy lights or equipment. Nor does it have to be time consuming. In fact, by following the three simple secrets below, anyone can start and grow amazing tomato transplants in their home with ease!
How To Start Tomato Plants Indoors – 3 Simple Secrets To Success!
#1 – The Importance Of Great Seed Starting Soil
Just like tomato plants, tomato seeds need great soil to grow healthy and strong. If you plant your seeds in less than ideal soil, you are going to get less than ideal results.
Instead of starting seeds in garden soil, top soil or basic potting soil, it’s important to use soil specifically created for starting seeds. A good seed starting soil is light, airy, well draining and full of the nutrients seeds need.
Listen In Below To Our Podcast On How To Start Seeds Indoors Like A Pro!
Seed starting soil allows seeds to germinate quickly and easily. More importantly, the loose soil allows roots to expand freely and quickly. That same looseness also allows excess water to flow through and not rot out tender young seedlings. Affiliate Product Link: Espoma Organic Seed Starter Premium Potting Soil Mix
Heavier soil can make root growth difficult. It also simply doesn’t have enough nutrients in it to help seeds take off quickly. Without a doubt, great transplants really do start by planting your seeds in a quality seed starting soil.
Last but not least, while on the subject of starting seeds in soil – it’s best to use larger seed cells to grow your plants in. Small cells may hold a lot of plants – but it will severely restrict early growth.
Using larger 2 to 3 inch wide and deep seed starting cells instead of smaller 1 inch versions can pay off with far better results . Larger cells allow for more root growth. Even better, they prevent you from having to transplant seedlings more than once – which can temporarily slow growth. Affiliate Link: Seed Starter Trays 300 DEEP Extra Large Cells
#2 – Give Young Plants The “Right” Light – How To Start Tomato Plants Indoors From Seed
Plain and simple – you can’t grow good tomato transplants in a sunny windowsill! The plants will certainly sprout, but they will grow long and skinny. And the result will be a “leggy” plant that eventually struggle to grow outdoors.
The key to growing strong and healthy transplants is to let them grow low and slow. And the only way to do that is with artificial lighting. Unfortunately, when tomato plants grow in a sunny windowsill, they reach for the sun. And because it’s far away, they develop weak and skinny long stems that bend and lean.
The good news? It doesn’t take fancy or expensive lights to grow tomato plants. Vegetable plants do not require special grow lights to develop. In fact, an ordinary fluorescent or LED shop light is perfect for giving young plants everything they need to develop. See our article: How To Use Inexpensive LED Shop Lights To Start Seeds Indoors
Simply place these lights directly over top of your seedlings once they sprout. Keep the bulbs about 1 to 1.5 inches above the tops of your plants and leave on for 12 to 14 hours each day. The cool, bright light will allow the plants to grow with ease. Even better, because it is right over top, they will develop strong, slow growth.
#3 – Fertilizing & Watering For Success – How To Start Tomato Plants Indoors From Seed
Finally, growing great plants from seed means giving your plants the water and nutrients they need to power strong, early growth.
If there is one mistake gardeners make more than any other when growing their own plants from seed, it’s failing to fertilize plants when they are young. Fertilizing young seedlings with a light dose of liquid fertilizer every few weeks is crucial to developing strong, healthy plants.
Once plants have sprouted and have been up for about 14 days, it’s time to start fertilizing. But the key here is to lightly fertilize. A simple watering every 10 days or so with compost tea or worm casting tea is perfect. The nutrients in either tea will not burn fragile seedlings but instead give them just enough energy to really develop.
You can also use an all purpose organic liquid fertilizer, but you will need to use it at about a 1/4 of its recommended strength for seedlings. This will keep from burning young plants with too many nutrients at once.
Whatever you do – give your plants a regular feeding every ten to fourteen days until planting day. The extra nutrients will go a long way to helping give you transplants that are sizable, healthy, and most importantly, ready for planting day outdoors!
Water Smart – How To Start Tomato Plants Indoors From Seed
Last but not least, be careful not to over or under water your young tomato plants. When growing indoors, plants will usually need to be watered every day or two. The real key to success is to never let the soil get too dry – or stay too wet.
Allowing plants to dry out too much between waterings will lead to poor root and stem development. When roots dry out, they shrivel. And when they shrivel, they are unable to take in nutrients from the soil. Infrequent watering also causes stress on the plant that can stunt future growth as well.
On the other side, when the soil stays too wet, the tender roots of plants swell up. And when they do this, it also leaves the roots unable to take in needed nutrients from the soil. This can often lead to the tomato plant’s leaves turning yellow and even falling off the plant.
All in all, with good seed starting soil, proper light and a bit of fertilizer and regular water, your plants will reward you with amazing growth. Here is to growing your own tomato plants from seed this year. And, to having your biggest tomato harvest ever!
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