Farmer's almanac

That gives Topeka KS as Apr 19.

Count back 8 weeks from that date for indoor starting. I've never w/s tomatoes or peppers.

I usually WS my tomatoes and peppers in mid to late-April. Hope this helps!

:)
Dee

Thank you, dee...it helps ME one zone north!

I am in zone 5,Illinois.

So, i am planning on WSing tomatoes this year,

8 weeks before our last frost date would be,

March 21st-

If i sow then,will this be enough time for them to get big enough to plant out, and produce fruit?
If you buy them from a nursery,they are usually big,aren't they?
I really want this to work,as i am hoping to do some canning this year.
Carol

WOW!!! thank for all the replies.... i think im going to do some weekend farming next week, and start them on friday of next week..... i guess they get a good start if its too early... THANKS ALL!!

Carol, they won't be as big as the store-bought plants, but they really do catch up pretty quickly, and trust me, they will produce fruit!

:)
Dee

That's good to hear I am nervous about my toms. I really want a good harvest one of these days. :)

very basic question. if i ws tomato seeds now, when will they start producing tomatos?

any early fruiting variety u know?

We always get our first ripe toms while we're away on vacation in late July. Doesn't matter if they're wintersown or nursery bought plants, I just know they'll ripen while we're out of town. Never ever fails.

Early girl is probably the most common early tomato around. It's small fruited, not the most flavorful IMO. I'm trying some Matina this year, also a short DTM.

tomatogrowers.com is a good seed source, lots of varieties to compare. Trudi also had a seed offer, not sure if it's still open though.

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: tomatoes

I'm Ks zone 6 in the very southeast corner of Kansas, last year I started mine the last of March through the middle of April. When we would have frost warnings for that night I would cover them with a blanket or set them inside the garage. After they went toppless we had one frost night that the blanket came off (?? dang dog I think ?? )) the ones without any cover were melted but the ones that had some cover were fine. I put one or 2 seeds in a 16 oz cup half full of dirt & as they grew I added more dirt as needed. when plantin time came the plants were still small so I panicked & brought a 6 pack from the local greenhouse, after eveybody was planted out with a couple weeks of growing time they were all the same size.
here is a link that might be helpful
winter sowing tomatoes

it never hurts to humble ourselves and buy a couple plants from the store, its just they never sell Mr. Stripey tomatoes..... which btw, are AWESOME!!!! they got a sweet flavor like you carmalized regual toms in a skillet, but they taste like that right off the vine......

only thing im really nervous about is caging... EVERY year so far i end up with this gian sprawling mess on the ground with little to no ripe toms...... DEFINATLEY not happening this year.... these babies are get staked up GOOD!!

thank for all you help everyone, like i said, ill start them next friday......

oh couple more questions.... what light do you recommend?? i got 2 48" strip lights, with 2 bulbs each.... total of 4 48" light... how far away from the seedling should i put them, and would your recommend those clip on spotlight looking lights that take a standard bulb???

any help is greatly appreciated...

God Bless Your Plants

gods gardener: Actually, we don't use lights. This is the wintersowing forum. We start our seeds outside. See the FAQs for better understanding of what we do.

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQs

GG,
Sounds like you might want to try the Growing Under Lights forum and the Tomato Growing forum. I suspect the folks at the Tomato Growing forum will suggest you have large sprawling plants with little fruit because there is too much nitrogen. Ask them.

Daisy, last year I tried a variety called Stupice, that is a very early producer (I think 60 days, give or take a few days.) Unfortunately, due to my less-than-stellar record-keeping, I have no idea how long they actually took to produce in my garden. They were, however, my earliest producers, and not bad-tasting. Of course, the first fresh tomato from the garden always tastes heavenly, doesn't it?

:)
Dee