Staggering tomato seed planting....???

[bradlo]

Hi
Do you guys stagger the planting of your tomato seeds (perhaps some a month or so after the first) or do you do it all in one go and hope the plants give lots of toms throughout the season ?

[Farmer_Gyles]

some varieties can be started in january, others say april on the packets, so yes, i generally stagger the sowing (same with other veggies)

but it doesn't seem to matter when i sow tomatoes or what varieties they are, i don't seem to get any toms at all until july .....

the only real advantage (to me) of staggered sowing of tomatoes seems to be that it spreads the workload of sowing / potting on / planting out .... and at this time of year, there seems to be TONS AND TONS of it to do!

[Thelma Sanders]

They carry of for a few months anyway, so don't think you'd gain anything by staggering.

If you want some to carry on longer it's easy enough to root some of the side shoots, you snap out of their armpits

[rustylady]

I sow mine all together. The fruit on a vine ripens at different stages anyway, and the cordon tomatoes in my greenhouse usually develop at least six trusses before they reach the roof.

[briggsy2011]

i have in a way. I planted 4 different types of toms , but a 3 weeks later no seedlings, so i have replanted so more but now the first lot have germinated! so seems like i have few 'extra' tom plants - good job i am getting a polytunel lol

[SarzWix]

I sow mine all together too, but, I actually want as many to ripen at the same time as possible, so that I can bottle them We get through a lot of chopped tomatoes in cooking through the winter...

[Two_Sheds]

imo, the growing season in UK is simply too short to stagger sowings in any meaningful way.

It's not like they all ripen on the same day anyway: the nature of the plant is to ripen its fruits over a period of time, rather than all at once

[leicestershirelass]

I sow mine all together too, but, I actually want as many to ripen at the same time as possible, so that I can bottle them We get through a lot of chopped tomatoes in cooking through the winter...

Hi ... what recipe do you use for bottling your tomatoes? please

[leicestershirelass]

I stagger mine ... although in some cases the first sowing, like others, has not germinated so had to sow a few more. Also got a few growing in the compost that I've spread in my raised beds so will let them grow a bit more and transplant them in a week or two.

[VirginVegGrower]

I sow mine all together too, but, I actually want as many to ripen at the same time as possible, so that I can bottle them We get through a lot of chopped tomatoes in cooking through the winter...

Same here - passata city

[SarzWix]

Hi ... what recipe do you use for bottling your tomatoes? please

I imported a 'pressure canner' from the US, so I process them under pressure for 15 minutes in that, if you do them in a water-bath, you have to process them for quite a lot longer. You also need to add something like citric acid to your jars to make sure that the acidity level is high enough to prevent botulism. I'll find a link with some more info...

ETA: For each pint of tomatoes, you need to add quarter of a teaspoon of citric acid. (You can get citric acid from the chemist, or from home brewing suppliers). Directions on how to do it, and times, here: http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/tomato_crushed.html

[taff]

I dont stagger [unless I've been drinking] the trusses ripen from the bottom up and depending on variety ripen more or less slowly....then I make passata with what's left over at the end of the season. Overripe is better than under for it.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I staggered my sowing this year not for the first time. I often do it when the first lot.............die.

Colin

[Alison]

I imported a 'pressure canner' from the US, so I process them under pressure for 15 minutes in that, if you do them in a water-bath, you have to process them for quite a lot longer. You also need to add something like citric acid to your jars to make sure that the acidity level is high enough to prevent botulism. I'll find a link with some more info...

ETA: For each pint of tomatoes, you need to add quarter of a teaspoon of citric acid. (You can get citric acid from the chemist, or from home brewing suppliers). Directions on how to do it, and times, here: National Center for Home Food Preservation | How Do I? Can Tomatoes

I pasturise my passata for about half an hour or so I seem to remember but haven't got the the relevant book to hand to check. All the recipes I have for doing tomato based stuff by this method don't indicate a need for citric acid although they do for all the veggie ones but I've not done those. You can get books which advocate preserving meat by this method too but they all come with warnings that it's not a good idea which kind of puts people off

[leicestershirelass]

thanks for info .. off to see what's available in UK