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Old February 24, 2006   #1
hedwarr
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My zone is 5b. I know that my last frost date is approx. may 10. Last year i waited until march 1st to start my seedsand it was a little late because the weather was warm in early may. I felt that i lost a couple of weeks of in ground time. My question is, would starting my seeds this weekend be a mistake? Would it be too early? I really don't want to screw it up this year. Sorry for the stupid question. thanks ED
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Old February 24, 2006   #2
Andrey_BY
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I used to start mid-late/late tomato varieties (for greenhouse in my Zone 4a) 60-70 days before my last frost date; midseason and midearly varieties - 50-60 days before translanting; early and ultra-early tomatoes - 35-40 days before transplanting.

Peppers (sweet and a few hot for greenhouse) - 70-80 days before this happy event.

All terms included 5 days for germination.
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Old February 24, 2006   #3
COgarden
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Seems really early to me. I live in the Denver area (Zone 5). Year before last I started my tomatoes on March 15th and wished I had had waited longer, serious threat of frost til mid May. I had pot-bound seedlings begging to be planted out, but it was too cold until May 15th or so. Last year I started on April 1st and planted out around May 21st. Much safer and my plants did great. I'm starting to think that planting out early only results in more stress for me and the tomatoes. If they go out too early they just stall until the ground warms up anyhow. Just my experiences, your area may be different from mine. I'm gettin' the itch awfully bad myself!

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Old February 24, 2006   #4
veggiecanner
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there are so many variables in you question. And The best answer depends on how much growing space you can provide if you cann't plant when you want to. Will you be able to pot up your tomatoes if the weather does not cooperate? A good sugestion is start some now and the rest a little later.
I have all mine started. I will pot them up into quart yogurt containors or plant out and cover them alot before the weather gets nice.
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Old February 24, 2006   #5
bcday
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I am in zone 5 and start seeds the last week of March or first of April. I start planting out anywhere from mid-May to late May, depending on the weather. 6 -8 weeks is plenty of time to get good-sized seedlings.

Why do you feel that March 1st was a late start for planting out in early May? Did something happen last year that the seedlings didn't look big enough to plant out by then?
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Old February 24, 2006   #6
Tomstrees
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its getting more tricky for me by every phone call I make to different extension offices - one will tell me April 4, another will tell me between April 15 - 30, and others tell me May 1st ... decisions decisions decisions ~ Tom
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