When to plant tomatoes in Rotorua: 26 November – 3 February

In Rotorua, tomato: sow for seedlings from 14 September to 13 December; plant into a greenhouse from 5 November to 3 February; plant out into open ground from 26 November to 3 February. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Gardeners Landscape Supplies (garden centre, 2 km) and Palmers (garden centre, 2 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Tomato in Rotorua: soil, season and weather

In Rotorua the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 10 September, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 15 °C — the minimum on the tomato card — only around 26 November, 77 days later.

Last spring frost	10 September
Top 7 cm of soil at 15 °C	26 November, 77 days after the last frost
Into an unheated greenhouse	5 November – 3 February; November outside: 9.6 °C at night, 19 °C by day; card 16–27 °C
First autumn frost	25 May, 181 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	70
First harvest, if planted in this window	4 February – 13 April
Days left for picking	111
Daylight	12:38 on 5 October, 14:29 on 26 November
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 3 days; the driest month, January, has 12 rainy days

Tomato in Rotorua: care after planting

Planted on 26 November: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

26 November — feed: balanced (NPK)
24 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 Rotorua during the tomato season

No month of the season averages above the tomato card's 16–27 °C by day; the warmest, February, averages 22.8 °C. Months that stay below 16 °C even by day on average: May (14.3 °C). Nights average below 16 °C in every month of the season, from 6.4 °C to 12.8 °C.

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
November	19	9.6	120	15	14:11
December	21.3	11.5	113	14	14:48
January	22.7	12.3	89	12	14:31
February	22.8	12.8	104	11	13:31
March	20.3	10.8	94	11	12:23
April	17.3	8.9	91	10	11:07
May	14.3	6.4	107	10	10:05

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Tomato in nearby cities

All the nearest cities on our list plant tomato earlier than Rotorua; the closest date is in Wellington, 4 days earlier.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Tauranga	51 km	from 25 October	32 days earlier
Hamilton (New Zealand)	94 km	26 October – 23 February	31 days earlier
Napier	161 km	from 11 October	46 days earlier
Gisborne	165 km	from 13 October	44 days earlier
Palmerston North	253 km	29 October – 29 February	28 days earlier
Wellington	372 km	from 22 November	4 days earlier

Where to buy tomato plants and seeds near Rotorua

Buy plants ready to set out from 26 November to 3 February (from 5 November to 3 February for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 14 September to 13 December. Within 15 km of Rotorua OpenStreetMap lists 4 garden centres, 3 farm-supply shops, 1 plant nursery and 4 markets (collected 20 October 2026).

Gardeners Landscape Supplies — garden centre
Sala Street 159, 3010 Rotorua · Mon–Fri 07:30–17:00; Sat–Sun 08:00–16:00 · 2 km
Palmers — garden centre
Mon–Sun 08:00–17:30 · 2 km
Tikitere Gardens and Nursery — garden centre
10 km
Full of Posies Flower Farm — garden centre
12 km

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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