Hi guys
I hope someone can help me out here. I love tomatos and would love to grow them in my flat all year round.
Does anyone have an idea how I can trick a tomato plant into growing tomatos all year round? Can I play with special lights or soil? And do I need multiple plants that grow tomatos on different cycles or can my tomato plant just grow tomatos for 365 days a year?
Home someone can help
Cheers
Nick
Great idea and it would be nice if that could be the case. I know a guy who did just that in his greenhouse using hydroponics. He had some three year old tomato plants that kept producing on a regular basis. For in-soil plants there would be several problems that may arise.
Tomatoes do have a life cycle and after so much production time they just plain wear out. With constant care and fertilization of the proper proportions at the proper times, you may be able to get them to keep it up. It would, as you allude need lighting and temperature control to help trick the plants.
With all that work it may soon become tiresome. My friend even with his extensive and expensive set-up stopped his experiment because he was unable to sell the tomatoes produced at the price needed to break even. I understand it would be for personal consumption for you, but maybe too much work for the reward.
I might suggest a rotating timetable for your plants. Grow out some plants, put them in the pots under lights and as soon as they are blossoming start another batch of seeds so that by the time one group is done producing the next is well on the way. Not sure if that would require two or three waves of plants for year round fruits. If you try it let us know the results.
Tomatoes do have a life cycle and after so much production time they just plain wear out. With constant care and fertilization of the proper proportions at the proper times, you may be able to get them to keep it up. It would, as you allude need lighting and temperature control to help trick the plants.
With all that work it may soon become tiresome. My friend even with his extensive and expensive set-up stopped his experiment because he was unable to sell the tomatoes produced at the price needed to break even. I understand it would be for personal consumption for you, but maybe too much work for the reward.
I might suggest a rotating timetable for your plants. Grow out some plants, put them in the pots under lights and as soon as they are blossoming start another batch of seeds so that by the time one group is done producing the next is well on the way. Not sure if that would require two or three waves of plants for year round fruits. If you try it let us know the results.
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rainbowgardener
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Here's a couple of those winter indoor tomatoes threads imafan was talking about:
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... es#p369335
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... es#p363089
As noted, tomatoes are annuals and will reach the end of their life span; they cannot just produce tomatoes year round. But you can start tomatoes from seed in late summer and then bring them in for the winter (IF you have the proper light set up and are willing to work pretty hard at it). If all goes well, they will produce some winter tomatoes for you (what a luxury, home grown tomatoes in dead of winter). Then in late winter you can start more seeds indoors under lights, to have new plants ready to take outside when it is warm enough in spring.
This will still not guarantee you year round tomatoes, but doing it that way where I am, one could eat home grown tomatoes maybe as much as eight months of the year. For really year round tomatoes, you would have to start seeds more than twice a year, which would mean a very complex operation with tomato plants in all different stages of growth and production. LOT of work!
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... es#p369335
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... es#p363089
As noted, tomatoes are annuals and will reach the end of their life span; they cannot just produce tomatoes year round. But you can start tomatoes from seed in late summer and then bring them in for the winter (IF you have the proper light set up and are willing to work pretty hard at it). If all goes well, they will produce some winter tomatoes for you (what a luxury, home grown tomatoes in dead of winter). Then in late winter you can start more seeds indoors under lights, to have new plants ready to take outside when it is warm enough in spring.
This will still not guarantee you year round tomatoes, but doing it that way where I am, one could eat home grown tomatoes maybe as much as eight months of the year. For really year round tomatoes, you would have to start seeds more than twice a year, which would mean a very complex operation with tomato plants in all different stages of growth and production. LOT of work!