• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • John F Dean
  • Nancy Reading
  • r ransom
  • Jay Angler
  • Timothy Norton
stewards:
  • paul wheaton
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Anne Miller
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • M Ljin
gardeners:
  • Jim Garlits
  • thomas rubino
  • William Bronson

Will tomato seeds grow through mulch?

 
Matthew McCoul
Posts: 78
Location: Southeast Michigan
3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Or rather, how thick of a mulch will they grow through, in your experience?

I want to keep moisture in the soil around them, but I also want them to be able to make it through the layer.

My mulch options are fresh mowed weeds (not to seed yet) and good old straw.

Technically I have newspaper too, but I'd prefer natural.
 
Jack Edmondson
pollinator
Posts: 615
139
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
This season I started a new bed. (Clay 'gumbo' soil under lawn previously.) Removed grass last fall and covered with leaves and grass clippings. This spring I put down 2 layers of cardboard and about 4 inches of shredded leaves; and saturated the ground. 12/12 plants came up but some were sickly and need fertilizer to make it. When you plant, punch a hole in the cardboard and pull back a marble sized area of the mulch where the seed goes in. The plants will come up fine.
 
Dale Hodgins
Posts: 9002
Location: Victoria British Columbia-Canada
710
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Tomato seeds are small, so they don't have enough stored energy to push them several inches toward the sun, like a bean does. It would be best to let them germinate and get a few inches high, and then carefully mulch after thinning. Leave a little bit of room around the stem..

Cutworms might enjoy the cover that mulch provides. Damping off is also a problem with young tomatoes. Mulch immediately adjacent to the stem can make this problem worse.
 
William Bronson
gardener
Posts: 5677
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio,Price Hill 45205
1292
forest garden trees urban
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Until last year I had volunteer tomatoes coming up through mulch. Last year I mulched very heavily and had very few volunteers but it was good for the Grapevines.
 
A magnificient life is loaded with tough challenges. En garde tiny ad:
The Mega Edible Landscaping Bundle!
https://permies.com/wiki/359897/Mega-Edible-Landscaping-Bundle
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic