First lets discuss grow methods. By now you have probably spent a few dollars on compost, soil or in constructing your tomato beds, so let me ask you this, why in the most important part of your plants life would you not get some lights to grow your giants properly I’m not talking about glow bulbs and $400+ for grow stations just a couple $15.00 shop lights.
I myself had used shop lights I bought at an auction for .50cents right up until this year when I spent about $150.00 to build myself what I like to call my Super Deluxe Grow Station complete with room to plant seedlings, storage for trays even my many magazines. The shop lights I had I hung from an old bunk bed frame yes it took up a little more room than my new model but it did the job.
So with that said lets move on to grow methods, forget about placing your trays in windows, if it’s cloudy for a couple days your plants will suffer, plus they need light for 16 to 18 hours a day and here in Western Canda in spring we get 10 to 12 hours per day. Again get some lights, I checked at Crappy tire and they had shop lights 14" wide by 48" long complete with plug in cord and hanging chain for $14.99 Canadian.
Next comes bulbs, ok I won’t try to talk you into buying $20.00 grow bulbs I don’t use them either you can use cool white bulbs but I like to have a happy medium and buy $8.00 plant/aquarium bulbs it has the right blue and red rays young plants need.
After you have your lights and a spot for them to hang and your bulbs in, plug them into a timer set for no more than 18 hours and no less than 16 hours. What we are going to try to do is create the best possible growing situation for your young giants and give them the best start in this world because the most important part of
their life is the first 10 weeks.
Once your ready to plant choose soil less plant potting mix, never use soil from the garden, like I said we are going to fully control the early life of these young giants so lets not possibly cause problems by using outdoor garden soil.
Seeding trays (no less than 4 pack), jiffy 7 grow pucks, peat pots all work great as they won’t remain in them long enough to get root bound. I would recommend 4 pack seeding trays with humid domes to get them started. Fill tray cells up ¾ with potting mix, place ONE seed in each cell cover the remaining ¼ with potting mix, firm down and water well, don’t soak so it is soggy though, cover with humid dome and place under lights. Keep lights 2 1/2" to 3" above dome (measure from bottom of bulbs to top of dome).
Once seedlings begin to emerge wait till ¾ of the seedlings are up before removing dome for good, keep an eye on the moisture in the potting mix you may need to water but not likely while under the dome. Once you do remove the dome keep an eye every day on the moisture, water when needed. As well you will want to keep an eye on the height of the lights, once the dome comes off keep lights 3"- 4" above the plant, adjusting when needed.
Now take a breath, pat your self on the back and wait till the first set of true leaves emerge, once this happens we are going to due some transplanting. For this you will want a big enough container to contain the plant till you transplant one more time before setting it out doors roughly 6 weeks away, I would choose a 3"-4"peat pot. Once your ready to transplant remove the seedling gently from the 4 pack, tip it side ways, squeeze gently on the side of the cell and easily pop the root ball into your hand. You will want to fill the bottom ¼ to ½ with new potting mix and place your seedling in its new pot filling the rest of the pot up to just below the bottom
two leaves, that’s right bury the plant stem right to the bottom two leaves. Now you are going to start to feed your seedling so once it is in it’s new home add 10-52-10 at half strength to it’s water (most directions for 10-52-10 say 5ml per 1litre of water so add 21/2 ml).
Now is the time to take another breath and again another pat on the back, but quickly we have some work in the garden to do. Before we get there lets recap quickly and go over some new info. If you skipped the transplanting of your seedling because you thought ahead and seeded into a large enough container to hold the seedling till you planted it in the garden go back and either re-seed new ones or transplant into an even bigger container (mentioned above) as this first of two transplantings is crucial to the building of roots in your giant tomato plants and it is these roots that will feed your plants in the months ahead. For those that just finished transplanting lets continue.
You should have started your seeds 6-8 weeks prior to your first frost free date or for you Western Canadian growers 6-8 weeks before you will plant in your mini-greenhouse. I plant the first to middle of April in my mini-greenhouse so I start usually the 15th of Feb. Why so early? just in case something goes wrong I have time to replant and plus I have quite a few locals that I grow seedlings for and they like theirs around May 24th. For most the 1st of April is good. You should plan on keeping them indoors the full 8 weeks this allows for a little longer of a controlled grow before turning them over in part to Mother Nature.
Ok your checking your seedlings at least once per day adjusting lights when needed (3" - 4" above plants) and keeping moist you can add ½ strength 10-52-10 once per week (not full strength). Every things good, lets go to the garden. For northern growers pick a day that’s not to cold you’ll be out for a bit. Go to your raised bed(s) and place Black Plastic over top of your beds then install your top/ribs and clear plastic. Don’t scrape snow from your beds this is free water and starter moisture for your plants and don’t forget to stick a thermometer in your mini-greenhouse you’ll want to know how they are heating up. Six weeks from placing your seedlings into your mini-greenhouse is lots of time for nature to start your greenhouse. (melt snow, warm it up etc.) However if you had a freak winter you might want to add a heater in there near the last week before plants come out, you want the temps in your bed(s) to be roughly the same if not better then in your house, you don’t want to shock and cause stress to the plants.
