Maturity days

Ok- this is a newbie question.
I am planning my new garden and trying to determine approx. harvest dates.
Many of my seeds have Days on them- from the catalog (Johnny's seed) I see that these are Days to Maturity- and for many varieties it will say to subtract some of the days if I start indoors and transplant vs. starting in the ground.
Here is my question- If I am doing the transplant method- starting indoors and then moving out- Do I starting counting days when I MOVE the plants outside- or when I SEED the plants indoors- or once the plants have GROWN to a certain point indoors(germ date- or first two leaves date????)

Hopefully someone will understand my question :-) Thanks.
Hillary

1. Days to maturity is a ball park number and it is a BIG ballpark.
2. For seeds that are normally direct sown, Days to maturity is measured usually from seedling emergence, but some times from plnating.
Plants normally grown from transplants are measured from transplanting. This includes Tomatoes. peppers, cabbbage, broccoli. cauliflower and the like. You will ocassionally see a processing tomato listed at 120-140 days. That is for the commercial growers who direct seed tomatoes.

Needless to say, climatic conditions have a dramatic effect on maturity, so maturity dates are mainly used for comparison purposes.

I wholeheartedly agree with farmerdill...it's a big ballpark! I find almost everything really takes longer than they say. I've often thought those days to maturity often only apply on planet "perfect". That is no wind, no hard rain, sun at 100% constant temp output, etc.

Yes, it's a ballpark. I find for example that a 75 day sweet corn planted in late April here might take 80 days to mature and if planted in early June, it might take 65 days.

Also watermelons are notorious for taking longer HERE than the 68, 80 85, or 90 days listed in the catalog or on the package.

Thanks guys-I know I can always get an answer here.
I figured the timing was dependent on a bunch of things- but it is good to know what the information is supposed to be telling me- albeit in a "perfect" world!!
After a few years of experience under my belt I'm sure everything will be more clear!

Hill

Days to maturity generaly means after it has it's true leaves . They are generaly measured in a green/hot house . If they were true all the tomatoes of that varity would be ripe at same time ,all the plants would have the 2nd tomatoe at same time etc .
It's like having a kid - 9 months - maybe a little more or less .
Days to maturity generaly is more usefull for figuring how long you will get veggies or fruit . [ after maturity ]
I would add at least a week to early ones [ short days ] and maybe subtract a day or 3 from long ones . early ones - how cloudy / how much sun , more sun warmer ground unless it's windy . Are you watering from the city [ water cold from under ground or a tank thats above ground and warmer ? ] water cools or warms ground .

While it definitely is a ballpark, the majority of seed packets or growing info state whether or not the maturity date is from seeding or from transplanting out.