Tomato germination trouble?

Anyone out there having a bit of trouble getting your little ones to emerge from their dark little cocoons? well, I thought I'd share a few tips and secrets I've picked up over the years.

1. Get a heat mat.
You may think you don't need one, or they're too expensive, but let me tell you what a revelation it was when I finally got one last year. My seedlings used to take FOREVER to come up, and sometimes not at all. My germ rate was way too low. I thought it was just the seeds - but no, it was that they were too cold (and also packed in too tight, but we'll get to that in a minute.) Once you get a heat mat, your seedlings will be leaping up overnight. Yes, they actually will. If I don't check mine in the morning, sometimes they are already up about an inch by the time I get home from work.

2. Don't pack 'em in.
When I first started trying to grow tomatoes from seed, I got my little peat pots and I looked at the directions on the pack. Ok peat pot expanded, seed 1/4 inch in, cover up and squish that peat down nice and cozy. Bzzzt! Nope. Seeds need not only moisture, but air to come to life. If you pack them in there, they won't be able to breathe. Now, I put the seeds in and barely push the peat over the top. Works like a dream.

3. Put 'em in the dark.

Seeds need dark to germinate for some reason. I know it doesn't make much sense, I mean in the "wild" the seeds would just fall on the ground and have to sprout in broad daylight right? I dunno. Just cover them up with something opaque like a box top or some newspapers though, ok?

4. Plant at least 2 seeds per pot.

I know, I know you don't want to waste seeds. Well, I didn't either, so instead I wasted time. Precious, precious time. Time those seedlings could have spent getting big and strong and ready for the "real" world. Just this year I decided to plant at least 2 seeds in every pot, and I can tell you every peat pot I planted has a seedling growing in it. Now my problem is I have too many, but that's a different kind of problem. The problem of insanity - but that can be solved with medication. Your weak little undergrown seedlings cannot.

5. Don't keep 'em too wet.

This is kind of a tough one for some reason. It took me quite a while to get this just right. If you're using peat pots or a similar moisture holding material, you need to soak them in water to be able to use them. But this makes them too wet. You can solve this problem one of two ways. You can wait to plant your seeds for a day (who has the patience?) Or, you can plant right away and leave the plastic cover off the first or second night. Likewise, you can alternate between leaving the plastic cover on and taking it off. One night it's on the next it's off, you get the idea. This way you can avoid the bane of seed starting; a mysterious mold that creeps up in the middle of the night and pounces on the little buggers, ruining them. (Actually it's not really mysterious,and it doesn't actually pounce. I bet it even has a name, I'm just too lazy to look it up right now.)

Once your seeds sprout, you do need to remove them from their dark moist cave and bring them into the light. Be sure to check them daily - or twice a day is best. You'd be surprised how fast they can shoot up -I always am.

***Bonus tip***

If you've tried all the above and been a very good little girl (or boy) and your seeds still don't sprout, I have one secret that I use. I call it "fluffing". You just take your fingernail (or similar small pointy object) and gently kinda dig into the top of the pot sort of fluffing up and pushing the peat aside until you uncover the seed or seeds. Then, you very softly cover them up again, and don't add any water for a day. You can also make sure when you do this that the seed wasn't planted to deeply. They don't like that either. Too shallow is actually better than too deep.

Well, that's all I got for right now. I hope some of these help. Lemme know 'eh?