Tomato Seeds,
Principe Borghese

Start seeds indoors 6-10 weeks before the last expected frost date. Transplant them outdoors after all danger of frost has passed and daytime temperatures consistently exceed 60 F. In warm climates, you can direct sow seeds after the frost has cleared​. If you’re not sure how to find your first and last frost dates, consult our blog post "Our Experts Answer Questions, Share Resources."

• As a tropical crop, tomatoes need plenty of warm weather and a long growing season. (Days-to-maturity figures count the time to first harvest from setting out transplants, which in turn take 6-8 weeks to grow before reaching transplant size.)
• Avoid planting tomatoes too close to Brassica varieties such as cabbage, broccoli, and beets, as they may inhibit tomato growth.
• In long-summer climates, they may be direct sown as soon as frost is past, but most gardeners start the tiny seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before the last spring frost date.
• Either way, the seeds are just barely covered and germinate most rapidly in temperatures of 70 and above—80 degrees is best. (Use a heating mat indoors if necessary).
• Seeds germinate in 7-14 days.
• Once the sprouts appear, they require good light to grow well.
• They may need to be fed once or twice to make good growth prior to transplanting outdoors, which happens after last frost.

• Tomatoes tolerate a wide range of soil conditions but do best in deep, rich soil and in full sun.
• Plants are usually staked but may be allowed to sprawl; spacing depends upon variety and which method is to be used.
• Staked plants can be grown 18” apart in rows 3 or more feet apart; space 2-3 feet apart in rows 4 feet apart if the vines will be allowed to sprawl.
• Determinate plants are usually smaller, requiring less space, and often need less support than indeterminate varieties. See above for a list of available determinate and semi-determinate varieties. Most varieties we sell are indeterminate.

PESTS/SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Soil should be amended with plenty of compost; a little bone meal or other calcium source wards off blossom-end rot.
• Hornworms can be controlled by daily hand picking; chickens love them. Hornworms are excellent camouflage artists, but their presence is marked by their excrement, which looks like small grenades.
• It is also useful to keep tomato plants as far away from each other as practical in the garden.
• If you find a hornworm that appears to have grains of white rice glued to its sides, it’s been parasitized, and that means the beneficial Braconid wasps have arrived to the rescue! Leave this hornworm in place as a nursery, and when the eggs hatch, the wasp larvae will eat the hornworm.
• Pest control through “hiding” tomatoes in a polyculture planting can also be effective. Plant them with chili peppers, marigolds, borage, chives, nasturtiums, basil, calendula, sage, onions, and garlic.

• Most tomatoes are self-pollinating and don't frequently cross; in a garden setting, separating by 25 feet should prevent 99% of cross-pollination. Or you can bag and hand pollinate for 100% purity.
• On a small scale, seeds may be scooped from the fruits and dried on a paper towel.
• For larger quantities or cleaner seeds, fermentation for a few days is recommended.
• Once dry, tomato seed can be stored in a cool, dry, dark place; good seed retains viability for 5 years or more.