Direct sow tomatoes???

I have tried to direct sow tomatoes before without success. Though I have had cherry tomatoes self sow.  I read about a tomato that does well in my area (mountain  magic F1 cocktail) kind of late. I ordered it anyway. I keep meaning to start it, and I just didn't.  I have several other tomatoes I started , and planted.  I was finishing up my newest raised bed, and thought why not give it another shot?  I planted 4 seeds. I put a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off and the top lid open.  I did this to help keep the moisture in, keep the seeds warm at night, but mostly so I know where they are.  I hope they grow, but I have others if they don't.

I had no choice this year. Some jerk insect ate 9 tomatoes in half the day I transplant them. Then came back for 3-4 peppers. They even ate a cilantro. So I really hope direct sow works for me. Funny they already sprouted but in pots take a lot longer. I planted same seed in 6packs probably two weeks earlier. The direct sowed will be bigger in 2-3days max. That is of course if they don’t get ate again lol.

I think the biggest issue with direct sowing tomato seeds is keeping them warm enough while they germinate. They like to be 70 to 80 degrees. Keeping the seeds warm enough at night could be a struggle.

I do have a number of friends that prime their tomato seeds by putting them in a wet coffee filter, putting that in a sealed plastic bag and putting it on a heat mat until the seeds germinate. It speeds up the germination and you know what's germinated when you plant it. (Tomatoes still like to be 50 degrees or warmer at night or they will stop growing during that time and it may stunt their growth.)

Good luck! I always love a good experiment! It will be interesting to see how well it works.

Hi Joe. I'm so sorry for the trouble. I deal with that problem as well. Squirrels, rats, and gophers oh my.  Just recently all the tops of my pea shoots were being eaten. Turns out it was my husband's dog who loves to join me in the garden.  Needless to say she is banned from my garden.
Two things you can try.  Spray ammonia around the perimeter of your garden. Maybe even around the rows, or beds depending on how you garden. This will deter mammals. Next generously sprinkle cayenne pepper over the soil and plants you are trying to protect.  It doesn't kill the critters, but they learn in a hurry to stay out of your garden.  The cayenne doesn't harm your soil, or plants, thought you will have to be careful.
I have used both. They aren't magic, (darn it) so won't work every time for all situations, but they worked for me. Especially the cayenne. I planted corn seed 3 time, and those *@#*# squirrels ate the seeds. I planted the seeds, covered the bed with cayenne (cheap Dollar store stuff). The seeds sprouted, no more problem.
Of course both wash away with rain, or watering. Luckily both are relatively inexpensive. I only had to apply the pepper one time.  
This spring before I realized it was our dog causing the problem, and it was raining to much for the pepper and ammonia I made chicken wire baskets, tents and even covered an entire bed with chicken wire. The key is to remove it before the plants go through.
Sorry for your troubles, maybe one of those methods will help. Good luck

So far so good.  All 4 seeds sprouted.  We are having a very mild, even cool now and then spring.  I'm leaving the bottle on until the temperature warms up a bit. The seedlings are still in a tender stage, so there's no guarantees, but I have already gotten better results then ever before. Probably because I'm starting much later than then before.
It will be fun to see if they will make it, and if they can catch up to the one's I started in the house/greenhouse.

I still can't believe all 4 seeds sprouted. They are still young, so they may still not make it, but so far the results are better than I have ever gotten.  Once they have 3 or 4 sets of true leaves I will choose the strongest one (assuming more than one survives) and pot what's left and share.
The weather has been quite strange. Today it was hot tomorrow is supposed to cool way down and rain.  I took the bottle off today, but put it back on this evening. I should be able to remove it for good soon.

I don’t intentionally direct sow but the cherry tomatoes always self sow and come up in droves every year.  So much so that I don’t start indoors any more for that variety.  I noticed that the stuff that comes up that way grows faster and outpaces anything I start indoors.   I’m thinking it would depend on the variety, some just are more cold hardy and easier to direct sow outdoors.  Will be interested to see what results everyone is getting this year.  

I think it's safe to say I can direct sow tomatoes.  All 4 seeds not only germinated, but they all continue to grow healthy plants. One I transplanted, one I potted up and gave it to a coworker. I need to remove one more, I will probably give away.  
It will be interesting to see how it does compared to the one's I started in the house this winter. They are quite a bit larger and loaded with tomatoes.  
It will be fun to see if the direct sow tomatoes do better in the long run.  I can say they were so much easier than the ones I started inside. No potting up, just a lot less care needed.

I forgot to plant cyan peppers. They produced like crazy last year. Unfortunately they didn't survive the winter in the unheated greenhouse.  Again I thought what the heck might as well give it a try I planted 4 or 5 seeds. I didn't cover them, I probably should have. Even so 1 did come up. I didn't honestly think it would sprout. Wonders never cease. It's still tiny, so who knows if it will grow, but it's already exceeded my expectations.

We get an on-shore breeze from the Ocean at night where I live, so the comment above about overnight lows is the main reason I don't try to direct sow. I've left self-seeded tomatoes to grow over the years, and don't recall any that made it to production.

That said, I usually try to time things so that I start tomatoes in a 3" tall paper pot, and by the time it would want potting up, I drop the whole thing into its spot in the garden. This year's experiment was to mulch each plant with 2 flat rocks to try to hold a bit of the daytime heat. I also left some tall "weeds"* at the edge of the bed to protect them. We promptly had "Junuary" weather arrive 2 weeks early. The tomatoes sat through that doing no growing, but I'm thinking they at least settled their roots, as now that we've had a bit of warmer weather, they're starting to look interested in growing.

So much depends on weather, soil, and timing. Experimenting is the best way to learn so long as you have the time, space and seeds to do so.

*unidentified volunteer plants that double as chicken/duck feed.

When tomato seedling is young it seems to take forever to reach a few inches tall. Direct sowing means more weeding needs to be done so the weeds won't overwhelm until the tomato picks up. Usually I have volunteers cherry tomatoes producing about 1-2 months later than the transplants. The beefsteak type is even slower. One year I was only able to harvest only one ripe tomato before frost but it was the best tasting beefsteak ever. I saved the seeds from it and grow many of its offsprings.