Tomatoes should be started from seed in the early spring about 6-8 weeks before the last frost in your area, and in that time period will likely need to be repotted 2-3 times. If you choose to start your tomatoes from seed indoors you will need to successively increase the pot size for the young seedlings as they grow. 1: Transplanting tomatoes to larger containers (repotting) Although the process is similar, there are some distinctions to be made between them.

We can break down the transplanting stages for tomatoes into two main groups: transplanting into larger containers and transplanting out to the garden. This creates a robust and resilient underground root system that will anchor it in place and support the plant for the rest of the season. This means that every time tomatoes are transplanted and their exposed stem is buried more deeply, they develop more roots. In addition, tomatoes can grow roots from any point on their stem, and you may have noticed the little hairs along the stem that make them slightly fuzzy to touch. Transplanting helps tomatoes by giving the roots more space and depth to grow downwards and replenishes the soil with fresh nutrients for further growth. If tomatoes are kept in the same small container that they were planted in they will simply run out of room to grow, become rootbound, and likely die. Transplanting tomatoes into larger containers and eventually outside is important for their development, as young tomato plants will quickly outgrow their containers. Young plants purchased from nurseries or gardening centres are even sometimes referred to as ‘transplants’. The most notable transplanting period in the gardening season is in the spring, when seedlings grown indoors or purchased from nurseries are transplanted out into the garden. When transplanting a tomato seedlings from one pot to another larger pot, we often say ‘repotting’ as well. Transplanting is a pretty general term in gardening that basically means moving a plant from one spot to another, often from a smaller space to a larger space. Let’s break down all the different stages in which tomato plants might need to be transplanted, when they occur, and how this can be done in each scenario to ensure your tomato is happy and healthy.

Re-potting tomato seedlings two or three times before planting them in your garden will help to get your plants off to a good start in their development. The term transplanting and repotting is often used to describe several actions when growing tomatoes from seed or purchasing seedlings for planting.

Transplant tomato seedlings