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I think I gave you the wrong email to the last question I sent so just in case I did I'll submit it again.I live near Wshington DC. I started seeds indoors for large tomatos on March 1 and bell and banana peppers on the 9th.Is that too late or early for this area where they usually go in the ground the middle of May? What is the approximate hours a day the lights should be on? I have had them on 14 hours but a person at a local gardening center that is very big said that too much light will cause the plants to be spindly.He suggested 8 hours.ALso I accidentally knocked over one of the tomatos today and ruined it.I started another seed and want that to grow as rapidly and healthy as possibe because it is 2 and a half weeks behind the others,What can I do?
Answer -
Hi Peter,
Thanx for your question. I do not recall getting your e-mail address. The best time to start tomatoes and peppers is around the middle of February but you are not too late. You should be able to put your young plants in the ground around the end of April, first of May. The key to remember is that tomatoes and peppers do not tolerate frosts so, once you have had your last frost, it's okay to put the plants in. Keep the lights on your seedlings indoors no more than 10 hours per day. Keeping lights on longer than that, especially with warm, indoor temps will cause the plants to be spindly (leggy). If you can move the seedlings to a place where the temps are 50-60 degrees F even with light this will cause them to slow their growing process and become bushier. Actually, you can still start tomatoes from seed now and while they won't catch up they will still be ready to produce fruit in the summer around the same time as your other tomatoes do. Peter, I hope I answered your questions for you. I love growing peppers and tomatoes and our climate here in KC is similar to D.C. but yours is a bit milder. I work for the Fed. Gov't. and get out to D. C. every now and then. I always enjoy my time out there, but I'm always glad to come home to a smaller city...but love the Metro! Let me know if you have more questions.
Tom Thanks.It is just 1 tomato plant I started yesterday.The other 2 are 3 weeks old and look healthy to me,but once the new one gets started I will back off on the amount of time I keep the lights on.I didn't start them in mid February because the past few years I had plants that were getting too big and it seems to be we have a late spring.Last year daytime highs were in the high 50's till the end of May and I killed a tomato plant just during the hardening off process where I put it outdoors at 1 PM and it was about 60 degrees,Went out came back at 5 the temperature dropped to around 45.So I no longer trust the weather and this was in early May.Another thing I have to ask is this the reason I waited to the first week of March to start them is because on the seed pack for the bell peppers it gives 85-92 days to harvest,Is that from the time the seed is planted,germinates or when the plant is put outdoors? I know it all depends on the weather but I am just wondering how they come up with those maturity dates.As far as Wash DC is concerned even though I live about 28 miles away I do not care for it too much here,To much fickle weather,Last Monday it was 81 today it is 50.Too much rain and cloudy,windy days here.I hate the cold,anytime daytime temps are below 50 .I lived in Tucson.AZ for 12 years and while it was hot way to hot from MAy till Early October it was nice to see the sun out most of the time.
Answer -
Hi Peter,
Thanx for the follow up. When the seed packet instructions say 85-92 days that means from the time the transplant is set out until the fruit should be mature enough for harvest. At 75 degrees it takes 5-7 days for most tomato and pepper seeds to germinate and another 2 weeks before they have enough leaves to put them outdoors once all danger of frost has passed. There are some varieties of tomato you might consider for cooler temperatures. Glacier, Siberia, Siberian, Stupice, Manitoba just to name a few. Manitoba I believe, was bred by Canadians, Stupice from the Czech Republic, Siberian and Siberia are two separate varieties from Russia. They have a very short maturity, from 48-68 days from transplant but the fruit will be smaller. There are some peppers that are bred for cooler temperatures. Try http://www.totallytomato.com/ they have all kinds of tomato and pepper seeds. Yes, fruiting and maturity depends very much on the weather. If it gets above 85 degrees pepper blossoms will abort and not set fruit. Tomatoes too. They like it warm during the day and cool at night which is the climate of the mountains of Mexico from where they originated. The dates are arrived at by the growers and it is for the climate in which the plants are grown. So seedstock that was propagated in Maine may mature faster in your area and even quicker say in Florida.
I hope this helps.
I don't care much for cold weather myself. I am in Kansas City and we have some nice weather but we also have some crazy and dangerous weather. We had a whole slew of tornadoes a few days ago across Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri. I lived in Phoenix for 2 and half years back in the late 70s. I don't care much for Arizona except as a tourist destination.
Take care and good luck with your tomatoes and peppers.
Tom I enjoy your gardening wisdom.So in warm climates where you seed directly in the ground is when those maturity dates are accurate? I still have not seen my bell peppers grow yet they were planted March 9.Actually there is a green cotyledon? is that how you pronounce it the seed flats are in the same room as the furnace .the room is at least 75degrees the seeds are from this year.How far from the light should I keep them? How about watering? Maybe I am putting too much? Yes Kansas City,Oklahoma City,Dallas.those Midwest places get some nasty weather.Arizona is exactly that a tourist and retirement destination,Saw little job opportunity there.Guess I should be gratefull even though our weather is real changable it seldom is of the violent nature of Places like the Midwest.Plains or Gulf Coast.Just perfer a smaller city,It is growing too rapidly here,You see alot of empty land and six months later trees are being cut and land is being cleared for more homes.Also the cost of living is too high,Want to move to a place with a bit longer growing season.
Answer -
Hey Peter,
Nice to hear from you again. The days to harvest the seed companies give do not take into account in situ (direct) seeding for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc. Now some like radishes, carrots, beets, which are typically direct seeded, those days do mean the average days it takes for the vegetable to mature. I just finished reading some materials on tomato and pepper germination because I too wanted to know why I wasn't getting tomatoes within the range of time the packet indicated. Well, it was because
I wasn't taking into account the time it takes to start the plant indoors. I know it's odd but few people ever direct seed tomatoes, peppers, eggplants because most climates it isn't as efficient as starting them indoors. Does that make sense to you? In warm counties people direct seed these plants but in Europe and North America almost all people start their tomatoes and peppers indoors.
I have about 4000-5000 heirloom tomato and pepper babies growing in flats on my germination stand in a spare bedroom. They are doing well and were started about 1 month ago. All of them have nice true leaves except the peppers. Peppers will actually grow faster if you cool them down to about 55 degrees. I turn the furnace off when I go to work and it usually never gets colder than 55 or 60 on these cold days when its only in the 30s and 40s. The cat doesn't seem to mind it and it helps my plants. Keep a good 40 watt flourescent within 8 inches of them. They tend to grow slowly and leggy if kept too warm. Tomatoes like to be cooled down too but more so around 60-65 degrees.
Allow plants to germinate at 75 and then cool down. You have the correct spelling - cotelydon - it is pronounced cot-lee-don. So all you have right now is just the seed leaves (cotelydons)? That's all my peppers had until last week. That was 3 weeks of growth. Peppers are slower to germinate and slower to grow. Keep soil moist but not soggy. Gently run your hand over the seedlings just barely grazing them a couple of times a day. This stimulates the plant to strengthen and not become so leggy. It's the same action as the seedling would get from gentle breezes swaying it back and forth gently and helping it firm up its stem so it is sturdy. Believe it or not, it works.
Our area is growing (I guess everywhere is.). Not as quickly as some other areas but I rue the fact that our metropolitan area keeps spreading farther and farther out. I am not against development and improvements but I love Kansas because it is so thinly populated and so open and free. Many people complain about the drive across the so-called flat prairies. I find them beautiful and breathtaking and far from just flat grassy exapanses. I know there is little danger of Kansas becoming overcrowded but I don't want to see Kansas City become a big, dirty, congested megopolis. The cost of living is fairly decent here. I have lived in California, Hawaii, Arizona, Florida and Texas and cost-wise, it's wonderful here. It's easy to live here. Four years ago I bought 20 acres out by the new Kansas International Speedway which is in a rural area of our city but within the city limits and with all the services except sewer. Everyone in that area owns at least 5 acres so one is not on top of the other. I want to build a house there and retire some day and try to grow my own food. I live right smack dab in the inner city which is making a comeback and have been working on my 120 year old house. I hope to sell it in the next few months, buy another fixer-upper for the next year and then build on the land next year. We will be selling heirloom tomato and pepper plants this year and then heirloom vegetables in the summer. Take care Peter and let me know if you have any other questions.
thx,
Tom Thanks you may be right about the indoor temps a few weeks ago when I started the peppers we had a week of warm days in the 60,s and 70,s I rent the basement of a townhome but the landlord controls the heat from upstairs since it was warm the heat was hardly on and thus the furnace room was cool around 60-65 degrees.Since the 15th the days have been struggling to get to 50 so the heat has been on more and it is between 70-75 in there.ONLY 3 of the 7 pepper plants have sprouted all planted on the 9th.(2 BANANA,1 BELL).Would it help if I put an insulated ice pack under the pepper flats to cool it down? Also last night (I am not sure if this was a mistake)I gently poked the soil of the unsprouted seeds to see if maybe from watering too hard they sunk deep and they were down about 1 and a half inches so I fixed it and realize I need to be spritzing the soil lightly several times to water.And be gentler .I was using an old mustard squeeze bottle that has an adjustable cap.I sure hope by April 15 I have a decent size plant.But based on how the weather is going I don't plan to set these plants out till at LEAST the third week of May.By the way a few years ago I tried direct seeding one Bell pepper just to see what happened in mid May and it started producing fruit in late August and went right up to the first frost in late October.I also direct seed a second batch of cucumbers in early July when the first batch is nearing its peak and they give fruit starting in late August except they are smaller into September,I simply don't have the room for everything indoors.
Answer -
Hey Peter,
I would recommend in the future plant your seeds in a pot and then place the pot inside a 10X20 plastic seed flat with no drainage holes. Water your seedlings from the bottom by putting waterin the seed flat and allowing the pots to take the water up that way. I never water from the top. Don't worry about cooling the seedlings down with ice. It's not worth it. The seedlings will be fine. You might want to take the seedlings outdoors during the day and in a shady spot and bring them in in the evening especially if temps will get below 40. This will help a lot. I hope this helps.
Tom Tom.All is well except those darn bell pepper seeds they are not germinating.I did what you said and planted 4 more pepper seeds in a larger pot last Saturday and covered it with thin clear plastic to keep soil moist,The tomatos look great I planned on hardening them off outdoors today but it was rainy and windy.I plan on starting my cucumber and melon seeds this week since they grow very rapidly,Never had a problem with them to be able to put out in Mid May.If my tomato plants are stocky and almost 2 feet tall now can I withdraw them completely from the grow light and alternate between putting them outdoors when the weather is decent and keeping them by a sunny window? I came to the conclusion that the peppers like the carrots take a long time to germinate even the ones that came up took almost 3 weeks.
AnswerHey Peter,
My pepper plants are still fairly small. It does take longer for the pepper seeds to germinate. Sometimes up to 4 weeks depending upon variety, humidity, temperature and watering. I would go ahead and let the tomatoes spend the day outdoors when it is above 40 but put them in a shaded,protected area where they won't get blown around or pelted by rain. After about a week, you can put them in direct sunlight. Don't plant them in the ground until you're relatively sure you're not going to get frost (you probably already know that.). I have been roto-tilling another area for our summer vegetables. So much to do and so little time. I have been transplanting tomato seedlings into Dixie cups. I'll be glad when I have a greenhouse next year. The seedlings are tall but leggy and a little weak. I know they would be better grown under sunlight even in a protected greenhouse. Take care and keep in touch.
Tom
