How to count maturity days?

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

Question - please settle this between me and my co-worker.

I've been gardening for decades. All this time, I've thought for vegs that are traditionally transplanted (e.g., tomatoes, peppers, eggplants), the maturity days on the seed packet is from date of transplant, by which time the plant could be almost 2 months "old" (50+ days). Co-worker says the days on the packet are the total days from germination. But if a tomato or pepper packet says 80 days, I've never gotten fruit a month after transplanting.

I think the "from germination" counting applies to direct sow vegs like squash, cuke, radish, peas, beans, etc.

For flowers, I agree with co-worker that the days to bloom noted on the pacekt are from germination.

I think co-worker's logic is because they never start seeds and transplant. So the concept of counting from transplanting is foreign. They direct sow everything once it's warm, even tomatoes. They also come from a tropical country, where it's summer year-round, so not sure if that affects how they think about planting a garden.

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Comments (3)

farmerdill
2 years ago
You are correct. Plants normally grown from transplants usually list DTM from transplant. while direct seeded plants DTM is usually from sowing, although some vendors list from emergence. A few vendors will list both DTM from sowing and from transplant.
daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I find DTM as a somewhat odd concept for harvest planning. Usually doesn't come close for me. Actually, time required to get harvestable vegetables is going to depend a LOT on temperature, amount of sunlight, and soil conditions. DTM is somewhat useful, however, in comparing varieties, and deciding which variety is faster or slower.
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DC 8a
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you. I agree there's a lot of variables and the number on the seed packet is not exact by any means.

This came up because we participated in a seed swap last week and co-worker took tomato seeds that had 87 days listed. We get first frost in early Nov so I said there's not enough time to get fruit but she said 87 days from now is mid-August and there's plenty of time. Every year they complain they don't get good harvests, that stuff is still not ripe in Oct and then the season is over for the warm-weather stuff. They always ask how come everyone else has tomatoes in Jul/Aug/Sep. I finally learned this year when we did the seed swap that they direct sow in May/June, because they've been thinking the days on the seed packet are from germination/emergence.