2013-14 WHO'LL BE GROWING WINTER TOMATOES INSIDE THIS YEAR?

[ReptileAddiction]

I honestly don't know how you guys do not get sick of growing tomatoes. In my garden by the time I yank them I am so sick of them. Right about now I start to want to plant them again and by the time to plant them I can not wait. I would not be able to grow them all year long.

[applestar]

We -- or at least *I* am weak. Cannot take the deprivation until planting time -- seed starting for summer tomatoes isn't until mid Feb at earliest, and actual planting not until late April/early May.

...can't wait to take a pic of the ripening fruit and show you all. Looking good I can almost taste it.

[applestar]

...and tah dah! ...almost ready to pick -- a couple more days at most

First to ripen Kootenai

It's about 1" across viewed this way but it's actually elliptical and is more like 1-3/4" at widest. Once this is harvested, the larger fruit which is about 2" across at widest should color break and blush. In the garden at maximum growth (28-30" high) some Kootenai fruits got to be maybe 2-1/2" in diameter so there isn't a whole lot of fruit size reduction in the container so far, and this is still a very small plant.

[Northernfox]

I cant wait for mine to be ready!

[gixxerific]

Forgot to mention I have some ripe fruit as well. JA Yellow X Hippie Zebra F2 first ripe winter tomato. Pics to follow.

[applestar]

Cherokee Tiger Large Red update:

Biggest mega bloom fused fruit is currently about 1" across and growing....

[applestar]

1st to ripen red Kootenai with what should have been Coyote -- these turned out considerably darker yellow and larger than the summer fruits so maybe it was bee crossed -- Jaune Flammée was the only yellow nearby and that would have been the right color and could account for the increased size?
(2 Fish peppers and a small Jalapeño)

[rainbowgardener]

Beautiful! It is just amazing to me that you can grow all that indoors, in winter, without high intensity lights or any really fancy equipment.

I'm still not trying it. Pretty much all available window space is taken up with all my house plants and all the ornamentals that get over-wintered. That's even more true right now, because the best window space with an almost floor to ceiling picture window facing mostly west and 2 windows on the other wall of the corner, facing mostly south, is now taken up with the Christmas tree. All the plants and trees that were there have been relegated to other (less light) spaces.

I don't want to put anything under the lights in the basement, because in just about a month seed starting starts again. And I must say, I enjoy a little break from gardening in Nov/Dec while I do holiday stuff. Makes me more ready to start again...

[applestar]

Haha I *used* to have all those house plants... Somehow, over the years, they have been superseded by edibles or other + alpha. Truly non-producing/ornamental "house plants" I have left are 2 Chenille plants, a couple of orchids and African violets, and a Norfolk Island Pine... Oh and a Ficus elastica though that's technically an useful plant... Oh I have the poinsettia, Thanksgiving cactus and night blooming cereus too.... and a couple of zebra plant succulent that really doesn't produce anything... Oh and some stick/pencil cactus that I begged cuttings from my daughter's dentist to propagate... Maybe I have quite a few house plants still after all....

...I dunno... This is more fun --- and you get to eat them, too.

(Close up of prolific Sweet n Neat -- 1/2" small cherries
-- with 2nd to ripen Kootenai and more to follow)

[Juliuskitty]

Beautiful. Nice job!
My apologies ahead of time if you have already answered this, as I haven't read the whole thread, but that looks to be a dwarf growing with the rugose dark green foliage. What variety is it please? Just curious because this is my first year growing dwarfs, and they are impressive.

[applestar]

Edited the post above to indicate varieties

I'm seeing most action from the Family Room Winter Wonderland. Maybe it's because DH was cranking the heat in there, making the room even warmer than upstairs bedrooms... maybe it's because we spend more time in there, filling the room with CO2... or most likely it's because that's the room that overall gets most sun and biggest (4-tube. T-8 fixture) longest duration supplemental light

...but today, I noticed that the upstairs striped fruit that doesn't look like Jaune Flammée as labeled ---Maybe more like Tigerella with these stripes? -- is stirring in DD's bedroom

<<< still picking off tomato leafminer caterpillars as soon as I find them (obviously I'm missing some and they are morphing into adult pregnant moths )
<<< and the week of warm before this snowstorm decended on us brought in more pesky ants and aphids . -- happy to see the outdoor thermometer registering at 24°F

[GardenFresh]

Just wanted to follow up and say that my growing is doing quite well and I have a number of cherry tomatoes on and getting bigger. My only concern at this point is since my growing area is in the unfinished basement, the recent cold snap outside is really putting a damper on the temp. Right now I am only averaging a high of like 70 to 72 and the low goes down to about 59 with the lights off.

I'd really like to get that temp up a little and stay constant around 75-78 but not sure if I should add a little heater or what....

Any suggestions.....?

[applestar]

The family room where winter wonderland is was only 56°F this morning and The cool gang on the floor is still sitting at 57°F. I think your 70's high and 50's low would not keep them from blooming and fruiting as long as you are diligent about e. toothbrushing the blossoms.

Mine will be very slow to ripen.

[GardenFresh]

The family room where winter wonderland is was only 56°F this morning and The cool gang on the floor is still sitting at 57°F. I think your 70's high and 50's low would not keep them from blooming and fruiting as long as you are diligent about e. toothbrushing the blossoms.

Mine will be very slow to ripen.

Thanks for your reply...I have been e-toothbrushing the blossoms every couple of days or so. I also have been trying to remember to mist with water bottle. Last night I did and the humidity went up from the 40's to the 60's in no time flat:)

I'm ready for some maters.....

[applestar]

Good luck and have fun! I'm harvesting the 2nd ripe Kootenai today (and a third is on it's way )

2nd and third ripening Kootenai

The upstairs fruit is ripening red and with the already present striping, it looks like this was a Tigerella and not Jaune Flammée as I thought.

Looks like Tigerella

I think they were originally together in a community seed starting ice cream tub -- JF on one side and T on the other, and it was the T that survived not JF

This first fruit is about 17 inches up the vine -- maybe typical for an indeterminate and a trait that may be unsuitable for my criteria.