Well, we're in different zones, but I started my tomatoes on 3/10 and 3/20. The earlier ones are already up - no true leaves yet, though.

I'd start them now - snuggled up in their mini-greenhouses, they will handle any cold that comes along (fingers crossed that we are done with the cold!).

PV

Are you ws your tomatoes?

If you are sowing inside this is the time to start. I am going to start some inside tomorrow and ws a few varieties as well.

Our last frost date is May 15 as well though many hold off planting tomatoes and peppers until the end of May. I use Wall of Water and put mine in early.

I am WS ing sowing them,mini greenhouses,:0)

I was thinking of using the waxed drinking cups, with a sheet of plastic over all of them, tucked inside a big underbed storage container, with holes in the bottom.

I have never heard of a wall of water,what is it?

Sorry, I guess I should have said I was in zone 5,Illinois.
Thaks,cAROL

Hi Carol,

You can start your tomato seeds now or in the next week or so.

I don't think those waxed coated cups will stand up to a month or so of growing the seeds in outside and would be concerned about the wax melting in the heat and/or sun.

I use 12-16 oz styrofoam cups. with 1 seed in each cup. and I've used the same size plastic cups as well. just keep reusing the cups every year.

below is a link to a thread from last year on WS tomato seeds in cups. It should give you lots of answers to your questions. Within the link below is another link to check with the original thread.

Fran

Fran

Here is a link that might be useful: WS tomato seeds

Fran, that is so funny,I remember that now from last year.
I grew some lovely tomatoes last year,my biggest concern this year is getting them sown before my surgery,I was going to do them today, but got to busy with other things,so,tomorrow, I will sow them.
I wanted to use the wax cups, because of the recycle,I hate to use plastic,but I guess I can save them and use them again next year,ok, that is what I will do, first, make a trip to the $$ store.
Good, got that settled,thanks.

What is a Wall of Water?
cAROL

lets you plant earlier and harvest later ....

Wall O' Water

I've never quite figured out the harvest later part as the tomatoes outgrow the WAW and would freeze from the top down. Wonder if cutting them back would encourage tomatoes lower on the plant. I remove my WAW in the spring when the temps stay above freezing or when the tomatoes get taller than the tops.

Wow, that is really cool,I have seed these in shopping malls around trees,any way, I think they are the same ones.
I will be growing way to many tomatoes,so I could not afford that many Walls,but it look like it would work great.
Thanks pvick,
cAROL

If you don't want to buy Wall of Water, you can use water bottles, milk jugs, etc. I'm going to try this this year, if my tomatos ever sprout! I found the article below in WikiAnswers on line.

Protect Tomatoes from Frost

By Livai Matarirano, Zimbabawe

You can grow tomatoes even in cold weather. A farmer in Zimbabwe, Mr. Francis Handwa, uses cooking oil or milk bottles filled with water to keep tomato plants warm. This is a good alternative to covering tomatoes if used bottles are easy to get. Here is how he does it.

Francis fills cooking oil or milk bottles with water until they are three quarters full. While the plants are still young, he places the bottles upright on the ground among the tomatoes. He places one bottle beside every third plant in every other row. He makes sure that the neck of the bottle appears above the plants. When the plants get taller than the bottles he places stakes beside the tomato plants. He hangs a bottle on each stake with a string. The bottles hang 10 centimetres above the plants.

When the temperature drops below freezing the water in the bottles freezes. The tomatoes stay frost free even though the surrounding grass and shrubs are covered with frost.

Mr. P.R. Makaya, an expert on fruit and vegetable production in Zimbabwe, explains why the water in the bottles freezes while the tomatoes are not attacked by frost: "When water has things dissolved in it, it freezes at a lower temperature than when it is pure. The water in plant cells, tomato cells in this case, contains dissolved salts. But the water in the bottles is pure, or at least has much less dissolved matter. In frost conditions, pure water freezes earlier than water in plant cells. So in the morning you find the water in the bottles is frozen. When water freezes it releases a lot of heat. The heat released when the water in the bottles freezes keeps the air around the tomatoes warmer than the surrounding area".

Carol,

Waxed cups work just fine. They tend to get rotty/moldy by the end of the growing out stage, so it doesn't matter if you remove the bottom, the bottom and the side seam will peel away easily enough.

I use plastic drink cups, I can pick them up after a church dinner or collect them during the year & rinse them out & save them. I just pop a hole in them, and they are as good as nursery pots. Usually they are too brittle to reuse but sometimes I can get an extra use out of them.

I also use 1 liter soda bottles (I drink seltzer water), I cut the top off and toss it and put them all in a box either by themselves or with drink cups and cover with a clear garbage bag that I can pull back if the weather is too warm.

Today is a perfect day to start them...they will pop up in 5-8 days (depending on warmth) and depending on your recovery time, you may want to have someone else water them/plant them for you.

Good luck!