When to plant tomatoes in Invercargill: 28 November – 16 February

In Invercargill, tomato: sow for seedlings from 16 September to 26 December; plant into a greenhouse from 7 November to 16 February; plant out into open ground from 28 November to 16 February.

Tomato in Invercargill: soil, season and weather

In Invercargill the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 11 August, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 15 °C — the minimum on the tomato card — only around 28 November, 109 days later.

Last spring frost	11 August
Top 7 cm of soil at 15 °C	28 November, 109 days after the last frost
Into an unheated greenhouse	7 November – 16 February; November outside: 9.4 °C at night, 15.9 °C by day; card 16–27 °C
First autumn frost	7 June, 192 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	70
First harvest, if planted in this window	6 February – 26 April
Days left for picking	122
Daylight	12:55 on 7 October, 15:24 on 28 November
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 3 days; the driest month, June, has 14 rainy days

Tomato in Invercargill: care after planting

Planted on 28 November: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

Feeding, by the card’s schedule from that day:

28 November — feed: balanced (NPK)
26 December — feed: nitrogen

Pests and diseases of tomato to watch for:

Dates count from the first planting day of the window above; a later planting moves them by as many days.

Weather in Invercargill during the tomato season

No month of the season averages above the tomato card's 16–27 °C by day; the warmest, January, averages 18.4 °C. Months that stay below 16 °C even by day on average: April–June and November (10.5–15.9 °C). Nights average below 16 °C in every month of the season, from 5.1 °C to 11.9 °C.

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
November	15.9	9.4	116	16	14:55
December	17.4	10.9	115	18	15:46
January	18.4	11.8	115	16	15:24
February	18.4	11.9	105	14	14:00
March	17.2	10.8	97	15	12:29
April	15	9.6	111	16	10:48
May	12.9	7.7	111	17	9:23
June	10.5	5.1	93	14	8:37

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Tomato in nearby cities

Around Invercargill, Christchurch is 29 days earlier and Dunedin 5 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Queenstown	154 km	20 November – 28 January	8 days earlier
Dunedin	176 km	3 December – 30 January	5 days later
Timaru	318 km	4 November – 12 February	24 days earlier
Christchurch	464 km	30 October – 13 February	29 days earlier
Nelson	694 km	11 November – 29 February	17 days earlier
Blenheim	705 km	30 October – 8 February	29 days earlier

Each window starts on the Greenly calendar date and ends on the last day that still leaves the crop’s days to harvest (from its card) before the average first autumn frost, plus six weeks of picking for crops harvested over weeks (tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins, watermelons, beans) — our rule; earlier in the window is safer.

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