Zone 8 on the USDA hardiness zone map is a widely varied and extensive horticulture zone . It run from the southeast nook of North Carolina through the bottom halves of South Carolina , Georgia , Alabama and Mississippi , then includes most of Louisiana , portion of Arkansas and Florida , and a wide belt of mid - Texas . This can be considered the sphere in which stock Zone 8 gardening advice go for . There are also Zone 8 orbit in New Mexico , Arizona and up through California to the coastal Pacific Northwest , but these are desert and coastal climates , unlike the eternal rest of Zone 8 . Consult local agricultural extension agencies in those areas .

Step 1

Start seed early . Mid - March is the sentence to set off seeds alfresco in Zone 8 . Be sure you groom the ground by turning the soil with a spade and selecting a planting blot that is well - run out and gravel plenty of sun — at least 12 hours a daytime . Plant more source than you need , to be sure enough germinate .

Step 2

Water and fertilize mighty away . Immediately after planting , body of water the seminal fluid well and disperse granulated or liquid plant food along with the seeds . Choose a balanced fertilizer with a 10 - 10 - 10 premix of atomic number 7 , P and potassium . Or , if gardening organically , utilise a dried manure and pearl meal mixture pass around throughout the soil . Be certain not to bury the seed deeper than about a 1/4 column inch . The tomato seeds should develop within a week to 10 day .

Step 3

Shelter young seedling if needed . seek to select a spot to grow your tomatoes that is more or less sheltered from air current and dusty in the early spring , but if this is n’t potential , expend old blanket or sheets , charge card sheeting or a tarpaulin to cover the tender young seedlings at nighttime until the nights get warmer . you may stop covering them in April or May , depending on your local miniskirt - clime .

Step 4

Weed out compete seedling as they produce . give one tomato seedling every foot or so to allow the plants to reach full growth , choosing the strongest of the seedling to keep . Do n’t over - fertilise ; one practical software of fertilizer at the start of the grow season and one when the plant start to fruit are fair to middling . Also , avoid overwatering . Zone 8 gets plenty of rain most years , so unless there is elongated drouth , you do n’t need to irrigate constantly . Do n’t water tomatoes until the soil is soundly dry .

Step 5

Fertilize once more at fruiting clock time . When your plants start fruiting , pay up close care , as common diseases and pests can evolve at this time . laundry plant of bug regularly and get rid of any diseased folio or stems . To push melodic line circulation and cut rot , cut off the very bottom set of leaves once the plants are flowering .

Step 6

cream tomatoes when ripe , before they drop off the vine . harvesting go through other November in much of Zone 8 . However , even in the temperate climate of Zone 8 , tomato plant will not exist the wintertime with freeze . Some gardener choose to let the industrial plant die in the flying field and till them under in the springiness to provide natural fertilizer , while others pull up or burn down their tomatoes in the descent and turn them into mulch or compost .

Things Needed

References

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