Anyone growing tomatoes indoors this winter?

[pizzarrhea]

Whats your setup like?
I'm looking into putting some tomatoes inside the house for over the winter.
I can't go back to store bought tomatoes

[farmerlon]

I clipped an 8 inch "sucker" off of one of my Green Zebra (garden) tomato plants, and put that in a jar of water inside the house. I will probably go ahead and pot it, once it forms some roots in the water.
I might do the same with a Mortgage Lifter tomato plant, before the next frost wipes them out.
I will have to provide some supplemental lighting if I want the plants to do much through the winter.

[TZ -OH6]

I don't because I think it would be a hassle and expensive, but if I did this is what I would try first.

Compact/dwarf cherry tomato, 250 watt minimum HD light (sodium or hybrid, not metal halide), surround the plant with reflective material so the plant can get hit with reflected light.

You can try putting the plant in a large window with a reflector behind the plant, but production and flavor will suffer.

[Stepheninky]

here is my set up that is inside

[img]https://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt301/Superfrk34/closet%20grow/IMG00096.jpg[/img]

Later on the plants might get moved to the window with lights above them.

Problem with my set up is that those are pretty large lights and too close and seedlings burn up, to far away and not enough light.

They are 125 actual watt and 65 actual watt CFL bulbs . The 125 is 22" long

[Gary350]

I cover my plants when we have frost that gives me another month of tomatoes for sure maybe longer.

In the past when it got colder I covered my plants with glass at night. A wood box, a 55 gallon drum, anything to cover the plant then a sheet of glass on top. I almost always had tomatoes until the 1st of January.

One year I put a light bulb inside the box with a thermostat inside. When the temperature got below 45 degrees the light bulb came on and produced enough heat to keep the plant warm all night. When the sun comes up next day there is plenty of heat. I had tomatoes unually into Fedruary or March we get our worse weather then. If the temperature got below 10 degrees the 100 watt light bulb did not make enough heat. One year I had 2 100 watt bulbs and I kept 1 plant alive all winter in the garden with 2 sheets of glass on top.

One plant does not make a lot of tomatoes but it is much better than grocery store tomatoes.

[keen gardener]

Hi pizzarrhea
You will need to get the number of dayligth hours right for your tomatoe as they are a short night and long day plant. They won't fruit if they don't get enough light. This means they need more sunlight hours than dark night hours.

You will also need to watch for pests and diseases as plants indoors don't get the fresh air circulating around them. Somehow the pests and diseases get in attack the plant. Mildew and mealy bugs and maybe white fly will be a problem. Also suggest you don't spray the plant indoors and you will be breathing that in.

Another tip is not to put them right up at the window as the cold may get them.

Good luck
Keen gardener

[Spongegirl]

I had no idea you could root a tomatoe cutting. I was just posting a topic in the organic forum before I remembered about the tomatoe forum. I am organic everything so I always think to post there. I still have tomatoes and I am going to my garden this afternoon to take some cuttings to try. I have a fantastic light suspended over my fish aquarium that would be great for growing tomatoes inside this winter.
I just love this garden forum! I can read and read and always learn something new!

[hardland]

Hi pizzarrhea
You will need to get the number of dayligth hours right for your tomatoe as they are a short night and long day plant. They won't fruit if they don't get enough light. This means they need more sunlight hours than dark night hours. You will also need to watch for pests and diseases as plants indoors don't get the fresh air circulating around them. Somehow the pests and diseases get in attack the plant. Mildew and mealy bugs and maybe white fly will be a problem. Also suggest you don't spray the plant indoors and you will be breathing that in.

Another tip is not to put them right up at the window as the cold may get them.

Good luck
Keen gardener

Is this an issue growing in the Florida winter? I would imagine sunrise is about 7Am on Dec 21 and sunset about 5PM, thats 10 hrs of light and 14 hrs of darkness, only about 8 hrs of good light.

[Halfway]

Can anyone recommend a good "dwarf" tomatoe for indoors? Beefsteak or Cherry? Thanks in advance!

[applestar]

I can't give you the specific variety names but I would think the qualities you're looking for are found in those bred for container and/or greenhouse culture. I noticed they have little icons indicating those in Johnny's Seeds catalog.