Can't answer that, but I'm hoping someone else does because I have the same question about fruiting times, etc.

I've got seeds starting inside and winter sown and will compare -- if the inside plants make it. Mine are leggy, too, so I just transplanted a few and covered them almost up to the leaves (saw that on GW somewhere I think). But I have dozens more to go -- almost every seed germinated.

Caryl

Last year was my first time WS'ing tomatoes, so I'm no expert -
I sowed 8 seeds using the paper cup method at the end of Feb or beginning of March.

4 germinated.
Sometime in
April I moved them to the garden.
I didn't write down when they fruited, but my recall is that they fruited generally around the same time as tomatoes do in my area - probably July?

I did get a lot of tomatoes, and I got large healthy plants.

I hope someone w/more experience chimes in.

Have you checked this website?

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing Tomatoes

For me, the wintersown tomatoes were right on track with the ones started indoors. I still do a few indoors every year, mainly out of paranoia, but the wintersown ones always catch up.

Plus, they are already hardened off, so no need to worry about that annoying process. I've never had any of my wintersown ones die in the seedling stage either...unlike my luck with the ones indoors.

Karen

I'm having issues with my tomatoes this year too. I started 23 kinds inside in late February. They're still at the first leaf stage with no apparent growth. That is, those that are still alive. I kept enough seed from most to resow them if I need to. Mine were started last year on Feb 8, I had ripe tomatoes in mid June. The wintersown plants were planted out in late April and fruited a little in July, but really took off in August when it cooled down a bit, which is unusual for us. I'm thinking I might just need to wintersow mine this week again and scrap the indoor ones.

I hope Trudi chimes in here... if so, Trudi, I'm probably only three miles or so away from you... in Rockville Centre..

Token, did you transplant your wintersown in late April? Or did you sow (in containers) in late April?

ELLEN... do you remember WHEN the seeds germinated? Maybe around April 1st? I sowed mine Mar. 1st and have nothing yet.

karen...
can you elaborate approx when you wintersow outdoors, and then approx when they first sprout, and approx when you transplant the indoor ones... thanks... im really trying hard to avoid having to start them indoors, as you can see, simply because its not working for me.

deci,
I didn't note the date of germination, but I just found a note that I planted them in the ground on May 16.

So I suspect they germinated maybe a month earlier?

hope this helps

I posted this comparison last year.

ws/light comparison

I had multiple ws plantings and most of the later crops with a warm August and September were green. I would have had good production if I got them picked before they froze.

This year I planted 20 plants (multiple drop) under lights and ws 48 plants (multiple drop). Some of the ws seeds are from my first attempt at seed saving and I don't have a lot of faith in them.

It isn't too late to get some tom seed into my jugs?

You can still WS toms, most certainly. I have more to get outside this weekend too.

I usually WS mine in the last month of Winter, then by mid Spring I'm seeling lots of transplant which I usually get into the ground by the third or fourth week of May.

T

Trudi, are your WS tomatoes fruiting the same time as the store-bought transplants, around mid-July, or in August?

Yes, maybe a few days later, but not noticeably.

Keep in mind that DTM does plays a factor. An 85 DTM Beefsteak tomato is going to ripen about three to four weeks weeks later than a 62 DTM Early Girl. It's the DTM that matters in determining when they mature.

If you want to beat the heat and go for early fruits then you need to look for early types to WS. Any of the ones from Siberia, or that have names that include Early or similar. Definitely WS toms with 70 DTM or less.

TGS has a nice listing of early types, good for learning.

Here is a link that might be useful: TGS Early Varieties.

I haven't WSown mine yet. I'll do them within the next week.

Karen

Great posting, glad I found it :) Just as often as I browse the forums to find answers to questions I already have, I stumble upon posts with helpful answers to questions I didn't *know* I had.

For what it's worth, I'm a first-time WSer and I have yet to sow my tomato seeds. That's a project for this weekend, as well. We are blessed with a long season here in DC, and I got a couple tomatoes one year despite not transplanting until June or July (poor thing had been sitting in a container for weeks if not months), so I say "have faith!" My sprouts on other types of seeds so far have given me just that, which I utterly lacked before discovering winter sowing. Thank you, Trudi.

Ironically, I may now be late to botany class because I'm sitting here reading gardenweb posts!