Earliest you start Pepper & Tomato Seed Propagation

[NE Ohio John]

Normally both are started 6-8 weeks before our last frost. What's the earliest you start your Tomato & Pepper Seeds?

 

[Chuck]

Eight weeks for tomatoes. Any earlier and they would get too large to take care of properly or take up too much room. Peppers can be started earlier and even kept in containers but the rule of thumb is to plant pepper seeds at the same time as tomato seeds and plant in the ground 30 days after tomatoes, the reason being soil temperatures are still to low to allow proper growth of the pepper plants. Pepper plants don't grow near as fast as tomatoes so they are easier to maintain.

 

[David from Dothan]

Eight weeks for tomatoes. Any earlier and they would get too large to take care of properly or take up too much room. Peppers can be started earlier and even kept in containers but the rule of thumb is to plant pepper seeds at the same time as tomato seeds and plant in the ground 30 days after tomatoes, the reason being soil temperatures are still to low to allow proper growth of the pepper plants. Pepper plants don't grow near as fast as tomatoes so they are easier to maintain.

Yep......What Chuck said.....these two were started 8 weeks before last frost date for zone 8b....peppers do grow MUCH slower than 'mater' plants. The "gem" that I gleaned from Chuck's advise....."plant peppers in the ground 30 days after tomatoes".

 

[Meadowlark]

-8 weeks prior is about right for starting my first canning tomatoes...more like -2 weeks for my late summer heat resistant varieties of tomatoes. Peppers I just buy the plants from Bonnies and set them out when soils warm at about +4 weeks and they usually produce all the way to November.

 

[Chuck]

-8 weeks prior is about right for starting my first canning tomatoes...more like -2 weeks for my late summer heat resistant varieties of tomatoes. Peppers I just buy the plants from Bonnies and set them out when soils warm at about +4 weeks and they usually produce all the way to November.

What heat resistant varieties do you plant?

 

[DirtMechanic]

I may start my peppers this week. It should be the last freezing week here though the average date is still basically 3 weeks from now. AVERAGE.

 

[Meadowlark]

What heat resistant varieties do you plant?

I mentioned Heatmaster above...my personal favorite for August. Celebrity although not advertised as heat tolerant does really well for me in the heat. Bella Rosa another. An heirloom I've heard is good is the Arkansas Traveler but haven't tried it yet.

The key for late summer production for me is late afternoon shade and starting them later than others in spring,

 

[Chuck]

I grow Celebrity's as an early tomato. Bella Rosa the same although it doesn't produce for me as well as Celebrity. Arkansas Traveler I just can't figure out. Some years it does great and other years dismal production. I haven't tried the Heatmaster yet but I will next year. I think it gets hotter here in South Central Texas sooner than East Texas. It get so hot here late in the summer that a fall garden of tomatoes becomes iffy for both determinate and indeterminate varieties. Either the heat or an early frost makes a fall tomato crop difficult.

 

[Meadowlark]

Long ago I gave up on a fall tomato crop here. Too dicey.

Try the Heatmasters...Bonnies will usually have some plants for sale later in the season. They aren't huge producers, but reliable setting fruit in August and Sept. when others fail.

 

[Chuck]

Long ago I gave up on a fall tomato crop here. Too dicey.

Try the Heatmasters...Bonnies will usually have some plants for sale later in the season. They aren't huge producers, but reliable setting fruit in August and Sept. when others fail.

I was looking for seeds and found several places that offer them. Too late for this year and I already have all my tomatoes ready to go in the ground for this year. I will probably send off for some and try for a fall crop this year and then again next spring too.

 

[headfullofbees]

Eight weeks before the last frost is the earliest for outdoor tomatoes in the UK, BUT, most of our tomatoes are grown under glass or in polytunnels. The far south of the country may get a reasonably reliable crop most years, but further north, they become marginal, both for the climate and for disease, especially late blight.
Since protection is necessary, start dates depend on what type of protection you can give, some varieties can be started from January onwards.
I find that starting a few in late Feb (-12wks) and the rest in late March (-8wks) allows me to get the longest season, although the earliest are likely to produce less. I accept this because shop tomatoes are absolutely flippin' awful.
Having said that, we had practically no Spring last year, going from a late winter that reached well into March and a summer which seemed to start mid-April, and I reaped the benefit with my best tomato crop since 2005, when I had the wisdom and experience of my late father-in-law to guide me.