I sowed a few seeds this week, Christmas day in fact, for a few early-maturing, cold-tolerant varieties that I hope will be ready about a month before my main crop. Growing in NE Texas, where our spring frost-free date (30% probability) isn’t until 22 March.
Standard “tomato math” allows 6 weeks for getting these seeds to germinate and have one up-potting from their original starter cells into 3.5” square plastic nursery pots, where they will grow under lights. Then a week or so for hardening off followed by planting out into their permanent home, which will be fabric grow bags, in this case, 10 or 15-gallon size.
Six weeks from 25 December = Thursday 5 February.
Plant out into grow bags a week later (Thursday 12 February.) Will take the plants into the garage most nights, as well as on days that are colder than about 50. I will also insulate the fabric grow bag with a couple layers of cardboard, since that’s where lots of heat loss occurs.
My usual planting out date, here in NE Texas, is about 12 March, so these “early-bird” plants will have a one-month head start. It remains to be seen whether they will actually bear fruit a month earlier or will just loaf along until the days and nights both get warmer. It is an experiment.
Varieties: Bush Early Girl, Siletz, Elfin, and Sub-Arctic Plenty. All are suitable for container growing, 10-gallon or 15-gallon size.
Bush Early Girl – Compact Determinate, DTM about 55 days, fruit size about 6 ounces (170 g.) 15-gallon grow bag.
Siletz – Compact Determinate, DTM about 65 days, fruit size about 8 ounces (226 g.) 15-gallon grow bag.
Elfin – Compact Determinate, DTM about 60 days, fruit size, cherry, ½ ounce to 1 ounce (15 to 28 g.) 10-gallon grow bag.
Sub-Arctic Plenty – Compact Determinate, DTM about 50 days, fruit size 1 or 2 ounces, in clusters. 10-gallon grow bag.
Have you tried to get a jump on the season like this? How did it work out? Suggestions? Cautions?
Thanks!
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Note: The photo is not one of mine. It is borrowed from the Tomatofest website. (I often buy seeds from them.) It is Siletz.
by NPKzone8a
1 Comment
The only downside to this is the labor involved. Those grow bags get heavy! I have found it to be worth it. I have a 2 in 1 dolly and will usually set it flat, take some plywood and make a flat/stable surface, and haul the grow bags two or three at a time. Wheels help!
If you have some questionable days or if you are worried you won’t be home in time to bring them in in the evenings, what I have found works well is taking some 1 gallon plastic jugs (the translucent foggy plastic kind) and cutting off the bottoms. Nestle that into the soil over the plant and pile mulch around the edges, to insulate. **Remove the caps!!!** That lets the heat escape and avoids cooking the plants. This will let them get a lot of warmth and sunlight without being as worried about the cold. (If for some reason you are leaving them overnight when it will be ~40, you can put the caps back on, but they need to come off the next morning; it’s a totally valid strategy if you want to save yourself two hauling trips when the night will be borderline.)
I have done this in previous years, as you know, though I am trying to move mostly away from container gardening this year for various reasons (mainly I’ve gotten better performance from my raised bed planters, anchoring plants is easier, there are fewer weed issues, and I don’t have to fuss around with fertilizing so often).
Bush Early Girl is wonderful and has a permanent spot in my garden. Sub Arctic Plenty did great one spring and terrible the next; I am growing it this year as a tiebreaker year.
I am pretty sure the seeds I got marked “Siletz” were not in fact Siletz 😡, so I have no data there. I’ve never grown Elfin either; I’ll have to look into that one.
Definitely go slow when hardening off if the temperatures are low and start in the warmer parts of the day; sort of the inverse of what we have to do for our fall plants that we harden off in late summer.
My early group this spring contains Yellow Patio Choice, Hossinator, Red Snapper and Sub Arctic Plenty. You were right, Hossinator has been great, even with all the problems I had this fall.