Nope not to worry about your beautiful little babies, LA's USDA Zone 10b, perfect for winter growing of tomatoes. You just need to get them good southern exposure to the Sun since in the winter it is weak, and the sun is the source of the energy that makes the sugars in your tomatoes. Nothing wrong with a September start where you are. I'm in FL just across the Georgia line and started some plants in September and they are on their first cluster now. I don't do anything to protect the plants unless the temperature goes under 40 F. If it is just going to be 38 F for two or three hours, nothing. When there is a high chill factor or reason to expect frost, then I cover them as best I can.

Best luck!
PC

This post was edited by PupillaCharites on Tue, Nov 25, 14 at 14:54

Awesome thanks! So, will they also have fruit through summer? How does germination time affect a tomato plants fruiting schedule?

What affects a tomato plants fruiting schedule is weather. If you are growing during cold weather, and low light conditions typical of Winter, the plants are slower to produce fruit. If however you are growing when nights are in the sixties and days no more that eighties with strong sunny conditions they will set and ripen fruit like crazy.

Different varieties take differing amounts of time to produce fruits "early tomatos" like Early Girl or Bloody Butcher may list DOM (days to maturity) as 58 or 62. But that is from setting the plants out, not from seedling, which would typically add another 45 to 60 days. Big beefsteak tomatoes like Brandywine may be 85 DOM.

Theoretically indeterminates in the right climate can live and produce for a long time, but blight and pests often take them down before the end of the summer season. But, if you like the taste of either variety, you can root a pruned sucker or two, from a healthy plant, and have another crop later in the year.

Jan