How to grow tomatoes from seed
Enjoy your own grown tomatoes in salads and soups after you follow our step by step tutorial about how to grow tomatoes from seeds.
Best tomato growing tips
It will normally take at least one week for tomato seeds to germinate.
The ideal time to start sowing tomatoes in the northern hemisphere is indoors in March and April to be able to transplant your tomatoes outdoors in May, when there is no more night frost.
- Start with tomato seeds from tomatoes that are harvested in your garden. Especially seeds from organic grown tomatoes will jumpstart a great tomato harvest.
- Cut the tomato open and scoop out the seeds. Eat the rest of the tomato!
- Set the tomato seeds aside. Don’t be afraid of the layer of mold that will develop on the seeds. Wait another day and rinse your tomato seeds very well until you are only left with seeds.
- Add some water over the seeds and wait a few minutes. Remove bad seeds: they will float on top, whereas the good tomato seeds will sink at the bottom under water.
- Spread the good tomato seeds out as thinly as possible on a ceramic flat plate in front of a warm window. Stir the seeds a few times a day.
- When the tomato seeds are completely dry, they are ready for planting or storage. Tomato seeds can be kept in a clean dry jar in a cool dark place, refrigerator and even in your freezer.
- Plant your tomato seeds ideally in peat pots or other small pots for growing seedlings. Fill the pot with the soil mix of your choice. I just use potting soil from the nursery but if you love to mix different soils, use a combination of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 coarse vermiculite and 1/3
compost.
- Always place 2 to 3 tomato seeds in each pot. At least one seed will germinate! Cover your seeds with a bit of soil so the seeds are no longer visible. Pat down lightly and moisten the soil with a water spray.
- Place your pots in a warm, sunny place like a sunny window sill.
- When your tomato plants have at least 3 leaves, they are ready for transplanting.
- Transplant your tomatoes so only the top 1/4 of the plant is sticking out above the soil. This way the long stem under the soil will make new roots. Always put a hand full of compost underneath your tomato plant.
- Pour warm water (at room temperature) in the hole after putting your plant in. Never ever give tomato plants a cold shock using cold water straight from the garden hose.
- Put a stake next to your tomato plant, so you won’t have to do it later. For those using upside down tomato planters, stakes of course are not necessary.
- Feed and water your plant often. In hot days: make sure you water your tomato plant twice a day. Always water at the base of the plant.
- Pinch and remove suckers that develop between the joints of two branches. They won’t bear much fruit but do take away lots of nutrients from the rest of the plant. Unless you are growing bush varieties, then you can keep the side-shoots, as your tomato plant will stop growing in height after about 2 feet or about half a meter.
Tumbling Tom Tomatoes don’t need pruning nor pinching
- Do not prune your tomatoes.
- Check your plants daily for bugs and kill them manually when your garden is small.
- Once the tomato plants are about 3 feet or 1m tall, remove the leaves from the bottom 30cm or first foot of the stem. These tomato leaves will be the first leaves to develop fungus because they get the least amount of sun and soil pathogens can be unintentionally splashed up onto them.
- When your tomatoes are flowering and you don’t see any insects, do tick the stakes every day so your tomato plant vibrates a bit and pollinates the tomato flowers by itself.
- Thin leaves to allow the sun to reach the ripening tomatoes , but remember that the leaves create the sugars that give flavor to your tomatoes.
- Harvest the tomatoes when the green color starts to change. personally I love to let the tomatoes get ripe on the stem as much as possible.
Please leave a comment when you have more questions about how to grow tomatoes from seeds.
