[NAFEX] direct seeding
Doreen Howard
gardendiva at charter.net
Sun Feb 20 20:21:24 EST 2005
Stephen Sadler wrote:
> Have some of you tried direct seeding of tomatoes, impatiens, etc.? I
> read
> years ago that direct seeded plants would catch up with, and overtake,
> indoor-started plants in terms of size, vigor, and production.
Direct seeding does produce tomato and pepper plants that mature faster. I
used to direct seed some at the same time I transplanted seedlings grown
under lights when I lived on the Texas Gulf Coast in Zone 9b. The
direct-seeded ones set fruit first.
That said, direct seeding is an option only for those with long growing
seasons. Mine is 95-105 days. It's all I can do to get the entire tomato
crop size up properly before the first freeze, which was Sept. 23 in 2004.
About a quarter of the crop ends up being picked green just before the
freeze and ripens in the sunroom over the next three months or so.
Doreen Howard
More information about the nafex
mailing list