Do bigger seedlings produce faster?

[Tomatovator]

If I start seeds around the first of April I should have decent sized plants to put in the garden by mid May. Does it follow that if I start the seeds 3 or 4 weeks earlier I will have bigger transplants by mid May and therefore get ripe tomatoes sooner?

[Suze]

The first part of April, along with planting out mid-May (or even up until late May-early June) sounds about right for your zone, but hopefully others in your area can confirm that.

As far as starting earlier to have larger transplants, it depends. In general, it's really not necessary in a cooler zone to do so and may even be counterproductive.

After about 3-4 weeks under lights, plants get huge and start to crowd each other out under lights. At this point, I really like to get them outside. Five weeks under lights is about the longest I like to go, and that's if they were grown cool and w/o being fertilized.

After that, they really benefit best by being outside.

What many in the warmer climates (in the states and zones 8-9) do is start seeds around the first part of Jan. Then plants are potted up and go out side all of Feb (and the first part of March if necessary) before being planted out. The soil really doesn't get cold here. I can grow a rather large, tall transplant and not even have to trench it. There is also a necessity in the warmer zones to doing so in terms of trying to get every possible advantage before it gets too hot for good fruit set to occur. Last year, this started as early as the first part of May.

In short, I don't think it's necessary or particularly beneficial in your case.

[Tomatovator]

Thanks Suze. That confirms what I suspected. I knew you would know.

[carolyn137]

B/c I often was sowing very old seed for plants for fresh seed stock at the same time I was sowing fresh seed I always had seedlings of different sizes and in general I also found it makes no darn difference at all in our growing zone re how rapidly one gets mature fruits.

What seems to be most important, if seedlings of variety X are planted out early-May vs the same variety X seedlings of the same size planted out in early June is the weather and warmth. Many times the later planted seedlings of the same variety would grow faster.

In my zone 4b/5a I'd sow seed around April 1 ( with cherry varieties aboiut a week later since they grow so much faster) aiming for an early June plant out time, and of course that also includes a week of hardening off time.

I want to put out a seedlings that's about 7-9 inches tall, and most of the time that worked, but sometimes they got a bit taller, but no way did I want monster plants b'c then I had to dig deeper with the trowel. With smaller transplants just one movement with trowel in, pull back, insert plant, firm up with heel of hand and done.

[montanamato]

Huge transplants are the only ones I have ever lost to transplant shock too....Sometimes a larger transplant quickly sets fruit after being planted, but the smaller plants grow so fast , the risk isn't usually needed....

Jeanne

[username5]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

In my zone 4b/5a I'd sow seed around April 1 ( with cherry varieties aboiut a week later since they grow so much faster) aiming for an early June plant out time, and of course that also includes a week of hardening off time.

Did you mean you start from seed around May 1st for a June plant out? You wrote April 1 and I can't imagine having only 6-7" plants after 8 weeks.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by username5

Did you mean you start from seed around May 1st for a June plant out? You wrote April 1 and I can't imagine having only 6-7" plants after 8 weeks.

No, I meant exactly what I said.

Seed is sowed around April 1, cherries a week later, and sure, I have the size I want by late May, and then with hardening off they're ready to go in early June.

When I first started growing my own plants, lo those many years ago, I started them way too early, as around March 1 and then mid-March, and when doing that the plants just got too darn big, and as I said above, I want about 7-9 inch plants if i can.

And yes, as mentioned above, transplant shock can be greater with larger plants as well, so yet another reason for the smaller transplants.

[Tomatovator]

Thanks Carolyn,
Have a great holiday (to all).

[Tania]

Do bigger seedlings produce faster?

I believe they do, as long as I keep potting them up, up to 1 or even 2 gal pots... and bring them back to the house or garage on cold nights...

And this is lots of work folks, don't get me wrong!

[TomatoDon]

I'm certainly not the expert, but one year I found some large plants with blooms and marble size tomatoes in a nursery quite a bit south of here and potted them in gallon containers (or maybe a little larger) in late winter. (These were nice plants that were probably started in Florida or the gulf coast of AL or MS, and I found them in a south MS garden center in February.) I kept them on a little enclosed sunporch, and I'd set them outside when the days got longer and warmer in March, and bring them in when needed. I only had a couple of plants, so it wasn't a bother. I transplanted them into whiskey barrels outside in April after our last frost date, and the barrels had warmer soil and the plants never knew they had been moved. I had ripe tomatoes in May, the first in town. In fact, the tomato in my atavar is one of them.

It's not practical to do this with a lot of plants, but it's not much trouble if you are just wanting a fun project of one or two, trying to get a truly early tomato. That's half the fun of the early season to me, getting that first red slicer. Seems the variety was either Better Boy or Early Girl, both pretty standard plants here that all garden centers carry. I got the first tomato of the year several times doing this, and it was a lot of fun, and just seemed to start the year with a bang. But again, I started very early, did it all in containers, and only tried it with a couple of plants, which was no trouble setting inside and out depending on the weather.

I doubt many would advise this on a larger scale, because it's just not practical to move the whole garden inside and out for a month. It breaks all the rules of not buying tall plants with blooms and small fruit, etc., but it's great fun with just a couple of pet plants trying to get that first truly early tomato a month ahead of time. It's a specialty thing for fun, and it can be done successfully in containers, and I'm sure I'll try it again this year.

Don

[feldon30]

There's a chart I'd like to do, but it will take a lot of work.

It would show the daily high and low temperatures for every day using historical averages for 3 different cities. I'm thinking Houston, Memphis, and Philadelphia.

See, up North, I think you get your tomato plants in the ground in late April, early May, and things just get better and better for them from there with only a small window where fruitset doesn't happen and then things kick back into gear.

In Houston, I am thinking the temperatures outside ramp up much faster than up North and large transplants are able to hit the ground running, so to speak.

I think in some ways, our spring growing season is not much longer than Vancouver or Alaska.

[duajones]

In Houston, I am thinking the temperatures outside ramp up much faster than up North and large transplants are able to hit the ground running, so to speak.

I think in some ways, our spring growing season is not much longer than Vancouver or Alaska.



I started my brandywine early for that reason, hoping that a larger transplant might give me a better chance at early fruit set before temps get too high. From what I am reading here, maybe it wont make any difference

[feldon30]

I think Carolyn is right in that small transplants can catch up to large transplants if the large transplants get more transplant "shock" from the cool soil and cold temps.

But I have yet to encounter a grower of tomatoes in Texas who does not recommend large transplants.

There is simply more time up north for fruit to set and ripen before the high temperatures kick in.

I don't think a 9" tomato transplant will be setting fruit within a month of planting:
http://www.shelly-and-roy.com/Garden...ndex_march.htm
These guys plant 12"-16" tall transplants out of 1 gallon pots.

Would be VERY curious to hear the planting schedule that Michael (Deer Park) goes by.

[duajones]

my brandywine is already 6 inches tall, started hardening it off a couple days ago. at this rate it will be pretty big by the time it goes in the ground. I may have started a little too soon.

[Plant Lady]

Originally Posted by feldon27

I think Carolyn is right in that small transplants can catch up to large transplants if the large transplants get more transplant "shock" from the cool soil and cold temps.

I would have to agree....I have noticed growing the same variety...starting half of my seedlings to transplant size and then starting another flat of the same kind....When all are planted outdoors at the sametime, the smaller ones seem to take off growing quicker then the larger plants...But they both seem to produce fruit within days of each other, So larger plants are really not that important, it would seem. When I buy plants from a green house, I look for sturdy stems...not the biggest or smallest plants.