Quote:
Originally Posted by Salsacharley
I've been considering direct seeding some tomato plants into 5 gal containers, wondering why that wouldn't work out well. I'd love to bypass the transplant step. I do worry about the high winds and wild temperature swings, and having a very large number of plants makes protecting each individual seedling a real chore.
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I think it can work pretty well if you do it right, but make sure it's not too hot by the time you do it (or else maybe shade it to cool it like Rockporter mentioned). However, with containers, you'll want to make sure you have a soil the seeds will sprout in. Not all container soils are great for germination. I had tomatillos and a tomato reseed in a container once (very early). I left two tomatillos in and they did quite well. I transplanted the tomato. They had overwintered in the soil. Disturbing the soil and watering seems to encourage earlier germination for reseeded seeds.
I know it's not supposed to be ideal, but I used garden soil (mixed with peat moss) for my container (which is why it had tomatillo seeds in it). I didn't grow tomatillos in the same container the year before.