I was talking to a greenhouse guy pre-covid and he claimed he started tomato seeds valentines day,which would seem way too early for this climate.Traditional planting time here is memorial day weekend.Some of the pricey huge plants another place was selling,the guy claimed they start them in March but his nose kept getting longer as he was talking.The 5 gal plants must have been started the previous fall.The $6 4th of july hybrid plants I bought last year were probably feb starts and actually had tomatoes here 4th of july. One of the few greenhouse that sell that variety,some of the plants already had blossoms when I bought them beginning of May.The $6 plants were producing good until the August hurricane did them in.
I will attempt the valentines day start of about 1 doz seeds,keeping one hand behind my back to prevent myself from going hog wild.

I usually start Maglia Rosa seeds in mid-Feb. They end up in containers that are easy enough to bring in and out, depending on the weather, and I usually get some delicious ripe tomatoes by mid-June . The rest just have to wait to be sown until the end of March.

Linda

For me, peppers will get started on the Valentine's Day weekend. Tomatoes not until March 1. Both get planted outside in the garden May 7-10 depending on weather.

I bring up the rear. Tomato starts about May 1st. Transplants roughly June 1st.

I never have luck with pepper plants here,the only ones I ever started from seed were the peter peppers.
The second year the saved seeds didn't measure up so to speak so I gave up on them.
Oddly enough the same nocturnal bug that turns the pepper leaves into swiss cheese did a number on 2 orange trees I bought last spring.
Definitely dessert for that bug in this neighborhood,something it never tasted before.
They have blossoms on them now indoors but are just drying up and falling off.

I may go with the food warming trays I got cheap years ago.
Normally too hot for plants,but I wired up 2 outlets in a box in series,so the two trays are in series 1/2 voltage,around 60volts.
This makes them useful for plants and seeds until it gets warm enough indoors.

It doesn't matter how early I start them, I can't reliably plant tomatoes outdoors until the middle or end of May. I have planted them earlier but it always gets cold again and I end up stressing about protecting the baby plants and they don't end up producing any earlier anyway.

My seeds get started indoors the last week in March.

cold ground definitely stunts them.

Does the greenhouse guy start them in a house with temps around 75F or does he start them in a cold frame? If they're cold, they take longer. I bet one could start them Feb. 14 in a cold frame and have them just be ready mid-May.

Warming mats,I would use them even with 75F house temp since the soil will always be cooler due to evaporation.
Sometimes even 10 degrees cooler.

starting that early would give me a 3 & 1/2 month old plant at the beginning of june which would be the very earliest that
i could plant outside here. even then the weather is iffy the first two weeks of the month. problem for me would be where
would i keep a plant that size. the work place has a ledge across most of the inside front of the store. the manager doesn't mind
me having plants there as long as they don't exceed two feet in height. that worked out for the micro tomatoes i brought in. maybe
not so well for an indeterminate plant. then, the bigger the plant, the bigger the pot needs to be, more potting soil equals more cost.
i would need access to a green house. there are possibilities...............


keith

I would have to decide if I want furniture or plants in the house,can't have both.
I would have to eat meals standing up.
I tell family I need a greenhouse with a lock on the door.
I hate losing produce to 2 or 4 legged pests.

I turned on the warming trays to get them ready.
I should be burping real tomato flavor tonight.
I am going to plant the seeds (if any) after I relax a while.
seeds right out of the tomato should pop in 4 or 5 days if I have the soil temp just right.

The white 20 cell seed tray in joblot was $7 no tax
Bonus was a fertilizer packet for 1 gal of water and 20 small ferry morse plastic plant labels.

waiting for the trays to stabilize before I plant tomorrow.
soil temp around 77F
100w food warming trays on 1/2 voltage