Starting tomatoes for fall garden

I've been told that in my region we have a great opportunity for a fall garden of warm weather plants. The tomatoes and peppers for a fall garden should be planted in July, which means seeds should be started soon. What I'm unsure of is where to let the seedlings grow. How much sun can seedlings take? And how high of temps? I'm sure we'll have days over 100* before they are planted. But if I keep them in shade or dappled shade to help reduce the temperature will they get enough light? Surely I don't need to keep them inside under lights, do I? I appreciate all insight...I've way over-analyzed this! Thanks.

You would probably be fine leaving them in a windowsill for a while until they are ready to go outside, then put them out side in a place where they get a lot of shade for starters (or get some shade cloth that you can cover them with) then every couple of days move them to where they will get more and more sun (I am assuming you will be able to leave them outside at nights). Then before you know it you will have some plants that are ready for the garden. Hope this helps and I am no expert so if anyone has better suggestions please take over from here!

How about you try it and let me know Ours don't go out until August, so I can just learn from your experience

Can you seed them direct into the garden? Maybe have a square dedicated to starting tomatoes and peppers? Then when they get big enough and their permanent home is ready transplant them.

I am thinking of the tomato volunteers we get as the soil warms.

Turan, why would she sow them and then tranplant them?

ryan wrote:Turan, why would she sow them and then tranplant them?

I assumed she has other things in the squares right now. Also it would be easy if one had a 'nursery' square to give it a tulle cover and extra water etc if needed. You could plant 16 tomato/pepper seeds in a square. When they get 4 true leaves transplant them to give them more room. Same routine you do with starting in pots but the hardening etc all happens automatically. But, sure, at this time of year there is no big reason to not seed direct in the garden.

Turan you are right, I don't have a square right now. But, you are giving me ideas about establishing a nursery square, or small nursery box. I also think that would help the seeds to stay moist. What's in the garden now should be producing until late June (I hope). Do you think the little tomatoes would be ok at 16 per square for longer than just the first 4 leaves? Up to 4 to 6 weeks? I can transplant as the squares become available, which I could select them so that I'm almost "thinning" them out of the nursery box. (Of course, this is sounding more and more like me trying to stuff 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag. My typical M.O.) Thank you all for your suggestions! And elliephant..stay tuned!

I kinda do something like that. Hadn't really thought of it as a nursery square, but when it came time to decide which seedling to keep (of all sorts of plants) I would never want to cull one, so I would dig it up and move it to another square. Seeing how well it worked, that has morphed into me planning on it...for broccoli, for instance (something I plant in the heat of Sep/Oct and grow through the winter), I plant a circle of 5 seeds and transplant them into separate squares once they are up.

I haven't done this, just transplanted volunteers to where I want them. I am thinking that 16/sq is 3"X 3", which might be a bit tight for getting roots apart if you do not have a pot or soil block forcing that. So you might be better off going for 9/sq if not planning to do an intermediary transplant. That way they have 4"X4" to spread in.
I just thought of something.... To develop the deep root you will need to transplant to a final placing or hill it.

Hmmmm,,,, I guess I do this sort of with raab and flower volunteers.

Can't help you with question about when to start and where to let them grow, but we used to live in Rowlett (eastern edge of Dallas County). I remember harvesting peppers and tomatoes the week before Thanksgiving and only because we were expecting frost. Enjoy your SFG.

Don't forget you can let a sucker go for a while until it is a few inches long, cut it and root it in moist soil to start your fall plants.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7553007_grow-tomatoes-suckers.html

Kay

+1 ..

Suckers, six packs & hormones = a good time


... now that I have yr attention








Take the suckers, apply some rooting hormone (comes in powder and liquid), and stick them in a glass bottle untill they root (you'll need to change the water periodically & add some liduid fertilizer)

OOOOH Acara. I likey. Did you empty the Sangria bottles yourself?

Kay

acara wrote:+1 ..

Suckers, six packs & hormones = a good time


... now that I have yr attention








Take the suckers, apply some rooting hormone (comes in powder and liquid), and stick them in a glass bottle untill they root (you'll need to change the water periodically & add some liduid fertilizer)

That is awesome!

Acara, I am going to have to resort to similar methods as I had poor germination of my prized gilberties. Thanks for the photo.

You folks in Texas are very lucky to have such a long growing season. Tomatoes in November? Wow-I would say that if you don't have any place to put them, start them in decent sized pots and grow them until you do have room for them. Tomatoes are one of the few plants that actually do well when you re-plant them in something bigger. With your weather it doesn't seem like you have to worry about hardening off. But if you do, visit me at my site to look at my last post-how to harden off. Maybe it's helpful, maybe it's not. And while you're there take a look at those cool little pot makers. I just planted a lot of things in my garden right from the pot maker starts. They've been in there for about 5 weeks. I was skeptical that the pot maker-made out of newspaper-would be able to stay together after all the watering it took. It sure did-it's a great way to grow things. I got tired of all my plastic seed containers cracking, breaking, and having to go out every year to buy more. Now, I won't buy another plastic cell every again to plant. It's a pretty nifty item-$20 from Burpee