Tomato planting dates by zone

Choosing a tomato for your season

The first choice is the plant’s habit. University of Minnesota Extension says bush (determinate) plants stop growing at 24 to 30 inches and ripen a set crop within four to six weeks, while vining (indeterminate) plants keep growing and ripening fruit until the weather turns too cold. University of Illinois Extension says modern determinates still ripen over a shorter period, so successive plantings may be worth it to keep the harvest going.

The second is the length of your season. Clemson’s Home & Garden Information Center says it takes 52 to 90 days, depending on the cultivar, to reach the first harvest, and its cultivar table runs from ‘Sun Gold’ at 57 days and ‘Early Girl’ at 60 to ‘Rutgers’ at 82. Illinois says the earliest varieties are better suited to northern areas, where seasons are shorter and summers cooler, and that the main-crop varieties are far superior for a summer-long harvest where the season allows.

In the South heat narrows the choice. UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions says that once Florida’s summer nights stay warm, large-fruited tomatoes keep flowering but stop setting fruit, while cherry and grape tomatoes and heat-tolerant cultivars such as ‘Heat Wave II’ keep setting. Clemson says most early-ripening cultivars are determinate and will not produce through a South Carolina summer.

Disease resistance is the third. Minnesota says a resistant variety will not become diseased and a tolerant one will, but more slowly; seed catalogs mark both with codes. Clemson says the letters F, FF or FFF after a name mean resistance to races of Fusarium wilt, and VFN adds Verticillium wilt and root-knot nematodes.

Starting seeds and buying plants

The table above counts the indoor sowing back 6 weeks from each zone’s median last spring freeze, the timing our seed-starting tool uses. The sources sit around it: Minnesota starts tomato seed five to six weeks before planting outside, which in most of Minnesota is mid-April, and says plants started earlier are hard to manage and do not necessarily bear earlier. Clemson sows six to eight weeks before the last frost date, and Utah State University Extension allows 6 to 8 weeks to grow a transplant.

Minnesota sows the seed one-fourth inch deep in a sterile, soilless mix, keeps the flat warm with a heating mat until the seedlings come up, gives them bright overhead light, and thins them to two inches apart once true leaves appear. Without bright light directly overhead, it says, the stems stretch and lean over.

If you buy plants, Minnesota says to choose sturdy ones up to a foot tall, with stems at least the width of a pencil and leaves closely spaced, and to pass over any with spotted leaves. Penn State Extension says transplants should be short and stocky. Utah State says plants with flowers or fruit already on them establish slowly and yield poorly, so remove those before planting.

Harden plants off before they go out. Minnesota starts them outside with wind protection and a couple of hours of sun, adding more sun over the next week or two; Penn State hardens them off over the course of a week; Clemson begins a week before transplanting, in bright, indirect light under a tree or covered porch.

Planting out

Minnesota transplants after all danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed. Illinois says that for the best results with the least risk, plant when the soil is warm, soon after your frost-free date, and warns that setting a tomato out too early can stall it: a plant exposed to cold nights may take up to two weeks to resume normal growth. The table gives a set-out date one week after the median last freeze, and the cautious date the last freeze falls before in nine years of ten.

Plant deep. Minnesota digs a trench three to four inches deep, removes the lowest leaves and lays the plant down, burying the stem up to just below the remaining leaves; new roots form along the buried stem. Penn State removes the lower leaves and plants 5 to 6 inches deep, and Clemson sets transplants deep enough to leave only two or three sets of true leaves showing.

Rotate. Minnesota says to choose a spot where tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants and tomatillos have not grown for the past three or four years; Clemson says at least three years. Minnesota and Clemson both transplant in the evening or on a cloudy, calm day.

Spacing, cages and stakes

Penn State spaces determinate varieties 2 feet apart and indeterminate varieties 3 feet; Minnesota allows two to three feet in all directions between vining plants; Clemson sets plants 24 inches apart in rows 3 feet apart. Illinois says some vigorous indeterminate varieties may need 4 feet between plants.

Put supports in at planting time, Minnesota and Penn State say. Penn State gives determinate tomatoes 2- or 3-foot supports and indeterminates supports about 5 feet tall. Its cages are made of concrete reinforcement wire with 6-inch openings, and it says caged fruit is smaller and later than staked fruit. Illinois says the short, narrow cages often sold at garden centers are all but useless except for the smallest dwarf types.

For stakes, Penn State uses 6-foot stakes at least 1½ inches across, driven 12 inches into the ground 3 to 4 inches from the stem, with plants 18 to 24 inches apart, tied every 8 to 12 inches as they grow. Staked plants must be pruned: Penn State removes the suckers at each leaf node, and Clemson prunes to one or two main stems, or once to three or four stems in a cage. Clemson also describes the Florida weave, twine run between stakes on both sides of the row.

Water, mulch and feeding

Minnesota calls one inch of rain or irrigation a week ideal, soaking the soil thoroughly rather than sprinkling and keeping water off the leaves. Penn State gives 1 to 1½ inches a week and checks with a finger: if the soil is dry 2 inches down, water. Both say steady moisture prevents blossom-end rot and cracked fruit.

Penn State mulches with 2 to 3 inches of seed-free straw or bark chips and Minnesota with three to four inches of herbicide-free grass clippings or straw. Illinois says to hold off on organic mulch until the soil has warmed completely in early summer, so cool soil does not slow growth.

Minnesota says too much nitrogen gives bushy, leafy plants slow to bear, and feeds alongside the row when the first fruits start to enlarge. Illinois side-dresses after the first tomatoes reach golf-ball size and again 3 and 6 weeks later. Penn State says more fertilizer, or a high-nitrogen one, delays flowering and fruiting.

Full guide: Tomato Fertilizer: What to Feed Tomatoes and When

Southern timing

Clemson’s planting table gives the South Carolina Coastal Plain March 1 to April 30 in spring and July 1 to 15 for a fall crop, and the Piedmont May 1 to June 30, with no fall planting recommended there.

Texas A&M AgriLife’s home vegetable gardening guide plants tomatoes 1 to 8 weeks after the frost-free date in spring and 12 to 14 weeks before the first freeze in fall, at 36 to 48 inches apart, and gives 70 to 90 days to harvest.

UF/IFAS says Florida can plant tomatoes in late winter or early spring, once the danger of frost has passed, and that waiting too long leaves the plants too little time to set fruit before summer. For fall plantings anywhere, Illinois times them for the most fruit before a killing freeze, up to 100 days from transplanting for most varieties; the table’s last planting counts back 60 days, our crop table’s days to harvest with no frost to spare.

Harvest

Minnesota harvests when the fruit reaches usable size and color. Utah State says fruit takes 25 to 35 days to mature from flowering, depending on the variety and the weather. Illinois says that in hot summer weather you should pick every day or two, once color has started, and finish ripening indoors.

When frost threatens, Minnesota picks all the fruit and brings it in. It says fruit picked truly green will probably never ripen to good flavor, but fruit that is full size and starting to turn white or pink should; some gardeners look for a white star on the bottom. Clemson says not to refrigerate green fruit, which stops it ripening, and that light is not needed to ripen it.

Common problems

Blossom-end rot, a dry, leathery rot at the bottom of the fruit, comes from a local calcium shortage in the fruit together with uneven soil moisture, Illinois says; mulching and even watering help prevent it, and affected fruit cannot be saved. Utah State adds excess nitrogen, root pruning and drought stress as causes.

Minnesota names early blight and Septoria leaf spot as common leaf diseases every year, prevented in part by spacing, pruning, rotation and watering at the base. Illinois says Verticillium and Fusarium wilts persist in a garden once they build up, and the only practical control is a resistant (VF) variety.

Flowers dropping without fruit, Illinois and Utah State say, happens in unfavorable weather, cool nights or very hot, dry, windy days, and usually stops when the weather improves. Hornworms, large green caterpillars, feed on leaves and fruit; Illinois says to hand-pick them and to leave any carrying small white cocoons, which are parasite pupae. Utah State says twisted, cupped new leaves usually mean herbicide injury from a lawn weed killer.

Common mistakes

• Setting plants out too early. Illinois says a tomato exposed to cold nights may take up to two weeks to resume normal growth.
• Planting where tomatoes, potatoes or peppers grew recently. Minnesota says to wait three or four years.
• Too much nitrogen. Minnesota and Penn State say it gives leafy plants that are slow to fruit.
• Uneven watering. Penn State says it causes both blossom-end rot and split fruit.
• Small store-bought cages on full-size plants. Illinois calls them all but useless except for dwarf types.
• Wetting the leaves. Minnesota says wet leaves are more disease prone.

We found no tomato source for Louisiana, Alabama or Mississippi that we read for this page. The Southern timing here is Clemson’s, Texas A&M AgriLife’s and UF/IFAS’s.

Questions

When should I plant tomatoes outside?

University of Minnesota Extension transplants after all danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed, and University of Illinois Extension soon after the frost-free date. The table on this page gives a date one week after each zone’s median last freeze, from NOAA records.

How late can I plant tomatoes?

The table counts back 60 days from each zone’s median first fall freeze, our crop table’s days from transplant to harvest. Illinois times fall plantings up to 100 days before a killing freeze for most varieties, and Texas A&M AgriLife plants 12 to 14 weeks before the first freeze.

Why are my tomato flowers falling off?

Illinois and Utah State University Extension say tomatoes drop their flowers in unfavorable weather, cool nights or very hot, dry, windy days, and that the problem usually disappears as the weather improves.

Should I remove tomato suckers?

On staked plants, yes: Penn State Extension says staked tomatoes must be pruned, removing the suckers at each leaf node. Clemson prunes caged plants only once, to three or four main stems, which leaves more leaf cover against sunscald.

Which tomatoes ripen first?

In Clemson’s table, ‘Sun Gold’ (57 days), ‘Early Girl’ and ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’ (60 days) are the earliest; ‘Rutgers’ is the latest at 82. Illinois says early varieties suit northern areas with short seasons.

Sources

Freeze dates on this page are NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, for every station the ZIP codes in each zone cite. Zones are the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, 2023. The planting rules are named beside the table. Growing advice is quoted from the extension publications below, each written for its own area.

• University of Minnesota Extension, Growing tomatoes in home gardens , by Cindy Tong, Marissa Schuh and Jill MacKenzie (Reviewed 2024). Written for: Minnesota (USDA zones 3a–5a).
• Penn State Extension, Tomatoes: From Seedlings to Fruit , by Susan Marquesen (Updated June 29, 2026). Written for: Pennsylvania (USDA zones 5b–8a).
• University of Illinois Extension, Tomato (Home Vegetable Gardening) . Written for: Illinois (USDA zones 5a–7a).
• Utah State University Extension, How to Grow Tomatoes in Your Garden . Written for: Utah (USDA zones 4a, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b).
• Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center, Tomato (HGIC 1323) (Revised March 2, 2022). Written for: South Carolina (USDA zones 8a–9b).
• UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions, Tomatoes (Accessed October 2026). Written for: Florida (USDA zones 8b–11b).
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Texas Home Vegetable Gardening Guide (EHT-077) , by Joseph Masabni (June 2014). Written for: Texas (USDA zones 6b–10b).

How we write our guides

Published October 27, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026