For years, I have always planted my tomatoes from seed starts. I would start the end of March, (using egg cartons), then move the little seedlings from the egg cartons to larger pots in April. By May, my tomato plants would be ready to set out in the garden.
I saved so much over buying plants from the garden and big box stores. But I also took a chance on losing the seedlings from not enough water to too much water, and I had to harden the plants off before setting them out. Then one day I read an article about cutting 2 months off of the amount of time needed for starting tomato plants. I decided - hey! this is something I'm going to give a try and let everyone know if it works or not.
First you need to find the kind of tomato plant that you want in your garden. You can go to a garden center, (here I went out to my garden), and gently pick off a shoot stem. NOT the main stem, (we always call these shoots the sucker plants - as the plant would mature, we would pinch them off to let the plant's energy go directly into setting fruit).
So, here is a side shoot.
Now place the side shoot in some water in a sunny window. Change the water every couple of days, as needed.
As you can see, after a couple of weeks, I now have a nice healthy tomato transplant ready to place in dirt. That little side shoot had grown nice healthy roots.
I've planted the seedling in some potting soil and it is looking very nice after
only three weeks. Normally, I would only have a tiny, tiny little sprout with 2 or 3 leaves still sitting in the egg carton. But I already have a transplant sitting out in the sun.
Here is a seedling that I started
THREE MONTHS ago, and as you can see - it is out in the sun, but still very spindly, and does NOT have the nice bushy shape as the side shoot I started 3 weeks ago.
NOTE: I will still continue to start my Heirloom tomatoes from seeds, since I don't want to lose those varieties. But for the average tomatoes this is my new method.
OH - and how will I continue this - I have decided that this fall when I pull up my plants for the year, I will pick a couple of side shoots that are the best looking and start my transplants indoors. By January I will have very nice looking plants in pots ready to go, and by Spring I can set them outside with hot caps over them. A much FASTER way to get earlier tomatoes than anything I've every seen.
I guess you can teach a "old gardener" new tricks after all these years.
