Sprouting and growing tomatoes from seeds is easy if you follow these 3 steps:

1. Wet a container full of growing mixture in warm water. The ideal growing mixture for sprouting and growing tomatoes is one that is mostly soiless, and is composed mainly of peat moss and drainage agents like Perlite. Using potting soil sparingly, especially if you’re trying to germinate more expensive hybrid varieties.

Wetting a solless mixture is a lot easier said than done, as sometimes the mixture simply refuses to get wet. To resolve this unfortunate occurrence, simply press down on the surface of the soiless mixture after it has been watered, and all the water trapped beneath the surface will run out through the drainage hole of the container. The result is a well-wetted mixture ready for the seeds to be sown in.

2. Sow the tomato seeds 1/4″ deep into the growing mixture. The easiest way to sow tomato seeds is to use a penci poke holes about 1/4″ deep into the growing mixture. It’s safe to sow 2 tomato seeds into each hole and gently bury them with the surrounding mixture. A common mistake is to sow the seeds too deep into the mixture. Although doing so is benign for most varieties, it will result in uneven and delayed germination. Tomato seeds do not have to be sown too deep at all, just enough so that the seeds won’t dry out.

3. Once your tomato seeds have germinated, find a source of light for the tomato sprouts as soon as possible. This step is critical to producing healthy and vigorous plants for your summer garden. Seedlings that could not find light will become sicklings with long necks, which delay the growth of the plants and make them difficult to handle. If your tomato plants do end up becoming too necky, be sure to bury most of the stem when transplanting them to the garden, as having a long neck delays nutrient uptake to the leaves and make the plants supscetible to snappage, especially under intense wind.

In general, tomato plantlings need at least 6 hours of indirect sunglight to flourish. Up to an hour less is okay for young plants, but if finding adequate sunlight becomes a problem for your plants, installing a flourescent lighting setup could be a viable alternative. Fluroescent light bulbs are the cheapest grow lights you can find. In addition, they’re easy on power usage and will get the job done. However, unlike professional tailor-made grow lights, lighting emitted from flourescent bulbs are not strong enough to provide light energy to a big area. The best possible way to take advantage of all the light available is to place your plants less than an inch away from the actual light bulbs. In fact, the leaves should almost be touching the bulbs. This will ensure that the plants get enough energy to grow and propser.

About 6-8 weeks after sprouting and growing tomato plants from seeds, the plants should be big enough to be hardened off and transplanted into the garden. Following the guidelines in this article will ensure that your eventual matured plants are vigorous and productive for the length of the growing season. Happy harvest!