What to Do if You Planted Tomatoes Too Early
If you love tomatoes it’s easy to get excited and plant them too early. But what is the best course of action if you do? Experienced gardener and master naturalist, Sarah Jay has a few strategies for dealing with tomato season eagerness.
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Tomatoes, originating in western South America, are not cool-season growers. The weather in their native range is generally equatorial and temperate. But growing them can be so exciting that some gardeners plant tomatoes too early.
When tomatoes are planted before warm weather arrives, they suffer cold snaps and heavy spring rains. This causes stunted growth and more susceptibility to diseases caused by excessively moist conditions.
If tomatoes are too young and there aren’t enough true leaves present, they are likely to suffer from predation by pests and diseases. It’s a common mistake that lots of gardeners make. But all is not lost if you happen to get excited and plant them in the ground too soon. There are ways to keep them going!
The Short Answer
Tomatoes are lovers of sunshine and warmth. They need air temperatures above 50°F (10°C) to thrive, and they should have at least a few sets of true leaves to be ready. Problems arise when growers plant tomatoes too early. But it’s not the end of the world. Move tomatoes from their outdoor spaces indoors. There are ways to protect them in place too.
The Long Answer
If you’re like me, you can’t wait to get tomatoes in the ground so you can start to harvest those tasty toms ASAP. Before you do, remember this rule: tomatoes are best transplanted when the air outside is consistently above 45°F (7°F), and the soil temperature has reached 70-90°F (21-32°C). Wait for air temperatures of 50°F (10°C) and above to be safe.
Also, hold off on planting until your tomatoes have at least a few sets of true leaves. However, if you get them in before the last frost or too soon after the last frost, they’ll need extra protection. Here’s how to handle it!
Repot Them
Say a nice warm front rolls in, and you thought it was a good time to plant out tomatoes. But then, a few days later, a snap freeze is on its way. It’s a common mistake to plant tomatoes too early, and it’s easy to make when climate patterns shift rapidly. Or say you saw your tomato stems thickening, and you wanted to get going on that crop, but it was way too early for your tender seedlings.
One way to handle either scenario is to scoop the seedlings out of garden beds, and pot them back up. Locate containers larger than your starter pots. Then gently lift them from the soil with a hori hori, hand trowel, or even your fingers.
Place them in the pots and top them off with good soil or potting mix. Then, move the containers into a sheltered area indoors or in a greenhouse. If your tomatoes are already in containers, you can simply move them indoors. This gives them the time they need to stave off the cold or mature enough to be ready for transplant.
Cover Them
Another way is to leave them in the ground. As long as they have some protection through a snap freeze, they’ll make it. This works for immature seedlings, too, as a cover boosts the temperature and helps tomatoes produce healthy roots.
Frost cloth protects tender plants in light frosts, and an old sheet has the same effect. If you must, lay either of these directly over your tomatoes. However, supports keep the cloth off the plants and promote the greenhouse effect within. This makes the ambient air warmer, which makes for happier tomatoes.
If you have a hard freeze coming, a sheet of greenhouse plastic affixed over some PVC pipe, an arched cattle panel, or wooden supports is perfect. If you grow in an Epic Gardenbox, there are frost covers you can include. In-ground or Epic Gardenbox plantings benefit from the Epic greenhouse attachment, which covers a 47-by-31-inch area.
Once the air temperature rises above 50°F (10°C), remove the cover and let your tomato plants bask in the sunlight.
Plant Them Deeper
When you plant tomatoes, it helps to plant them deeply to promote adventitious roots that stabilize young plants in winds. If you didn’t do this when you planted your seedlings, lift them as you would to re-pot them, and instead of potting them up, dig the hole an inch deeper, and plop them back in the ground.
This nestles the stem into the soil where it’s warmer than the outside air. The soil can be up to 20 degrees warmer than the air or more, and keeps developing plants safe as they settle into their growing space. This method is best for too-cool weather and light frosts. For hard freezes, combine this with a cover.
Fertilize With Phosphorus
Cold-stressed tomatoes can’t uptake phosphorus to develop strong roots. Mitigate this with a gentle, organic phosphorus fertilizer. Side-dress the tomato plant with a tiny bit of seabird guano, and water it in. Follow the directions on the package, using no more than a half teaspoon per plant. Then water it in.
Do this for tomatoes that are slightly cold-stressed, and for those that don’t need to be lifted from the soil to survive. It’s best to follow up with phosphorus fertilizer when the plants have survived a cool snap and need a little boost as they enter the warmer season.
A sign of phosphorus deficiency is purpling of the leaves. Wait for this indication to apply any fertilizer, and wait for the cold weather to pass, as it’s always wise to avoid fertilizing stressed plants.
Grow New Tomatoes
If you leave your tomatoes out in the cold, or you plant them when they are too young, they sometimes succumb to the elements. The end result is occasionally seedling loss. If you have a long growing season, no problem at all. Start a new crop. Clean out your starter pots, and pop new seeds in. Place them in an area that is at least 70°F (21°C) with around 16 hours of bright light.
Then wait until there are sets of at least 3-4 true leaves, and transplant them. Most tomatoes need two to three months to produce. If you’re growing cherry tomatoes, the likelihood of getting a good harvest is higher. In warm areas, you could even wait for a late summer or fall crop.
This is less of an option for cold-weather growers unless they have sheltered areas away from the cold to foster tomatoes until next season.
Final Thoughts
You can still grow them if you plant tomatoes too early. Depending on your situation, there are several ways to correct this mistake: repot them, shelter them, plant them deeper, or cover them. After the stress passes, give your seedlings that handled the cold a little phosphorus boost. You’ll be harvesting sweet, acidic toms in no time.
