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zeuspaul · January 10, 2022

I am in North San Diego county about 10 miles from the coast. I plan on starting a few seeds early February hoping for a few early tomatoes. I plan on 2 inch pots then plant up to gallon (maybe 2 gallon) pots then to 25 gallon containers.

I use the 10 day forecast to decide when I plant outside. These few plants will be considered experimental with hopes for a few early tomatoes.

I don't keep records of my planting dates or anything else with my tomatoes. Traditionally I have targeted July 4 so I have tomatoes to bring to a July 4 party and usually have been successful with that. My best guess is an April or May planting guided by the forecast. In the past I was able to better select a date because I purchased plants from a nursery.

With the pandemic nursery starts have been limited so I started my own. Last year was a complete disaster. I started seeds early January which was way too early. The plants got too big and I got overwhelmed with potting up and trimming roots. And I had 125 plants to deal with which is too much for me in my aging years.

This year I plan on only about thirty plants. I am struggling with the start date for the seeds. This is a useful thread for me. I can't predict the plant out date because I can't predict the weather. I plan on a few early February for a chance at an early April planting. Then continue starting throughout February and March knowing that I will have too many plants. I will then just select the plants that will go into the ground depending on their size and the weather.

January 10, 2022	#7
zeuspaul Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2007 Location: North County, San Diego Posts: 418	I am in North San Diego county about 10 miles from the coast. I plan on starting a few seeds early February hoping for a few early tomatoes. I plan on 2 inch pots then plant up to gallon (maybe 2 gallon) pots then to 25 gallon containers. I use the 10 day forecast to decide when I plant outside. These few plants will be considered experimental with hopes for a few early tomatoes. I don't keep records of my planting dates or anything else with my tomatoes. Traditionally I have targeted July 4 so I have tomatoes to bring to a July 4 party and usually have been successful with that. My best guess is an April or May planting guided by the forecast. In the past I was able to better select a date because I purchased plants from a nursery. With the pandemic nursery starts have been limited so I started my own. Last year was a complete disaster. I started seeds early January which was way too early. The plants got too big and I got overwhelmed with potting up and trimming roots. And I had 125 plants to deal with which is too much for me in my aging years. This year I plan on only about thirty plants. I am struggling with the start date for the seeds. This is a useful thread for me. I can't predict the plant out date because I can't predict the weather. I plan on a few early February for a chance at an early April planting. Then continue starting throughout February and March knowing that I will have too many plants. I will then just select the plants that will go into the ground depending on their size and the weather.