How to Grow Healthy Tomatoes from Seeds

Do you struggle with growing healthy tomatoes? Common problems that tomato growers experience include:

Blossom end rot (black patches appear on the bottom of the tomato)

Blossom drop (flowers appear but fall off without tomatoes developing)

Catfacing (tomatoes appear deformed) and

Viral diseases (black spots or weird stripes appear on the tomato); these are just few common problems.

These common problems are usually the result of over fertilizing, not enough light, overwatering or underwatering and poor soil nutrients.

Seedlings vs. Seeds; what’s the difference? Seedlings are seeds that have just sprouted and are ready to be transplanted, seeds are seeds and there is a process before they can be transplanted. Most people grow their tomatoes from seedlings because it is easier, however, there are advantages to growing tomatoes from seeds such as cost effectiveness, more control over the type of soil you use and more variety of seeds to choose from. With the right timing and technique, you can easily grow tomatoes from seeds at home.

The trick to growing from seeds is temperature, humidity, nutrition and light. Check out this simple guide on how to grow tomatoes from seeds:

Temperature and Humidity

Check when the last frost is likely to be in your local area; plant the seeds around 8 weeks before the last frost date and keep them warm in your house.

Nutrients:

Always use a "starter" seedling potting mix because it will usually already contain the right nutrient balance and be finely sieved to ensure the little seeds can push through the soil and germinate properly. Pot them as you would any other seed – an inch below the surface of the soil in a small pot or seedling tray.

Make sure that you mist spray them every day and keep the soil at around 27C (80F) to encourage growth.

Light:

Make sure they receive at least 5 hours of sunlight per day. Placing them on the window sill works well.

Once you see the first 3 or 4 leaves, it's time to gently prick the tiny plants out of the starter pot and place each one into its own separate larger pot to encourage root growth. You can start placing them outside for several hours per day to harden them up.

When the last frost has passed it's time to transplant them into your prepared garden bed or final pot.

The end result will be the most delicious and healthiest tomatoes all grown from seeds. The tastiest ones of all are the heirlooms. There are thousands of delicious heirloom varieties and quite a few online seed sellers who specialize in providing heirloom seeds. Further details of the thousands of delicious heirloom varieties and seed sellers are included in the world’s largest tomato database which comes with; How to Grow Juicy Tasty Tomatoes - printed version or e-book available at (see URL)