Supersteak winter Zone 5

[nltaff]

Planted the seed in September, 2015, in anticipation of getting the HPS light in October. Put the seedling in the large pot when the light was installed, and the plant grew to about 2' by December. As soon as the length of days began changing to the positive, it took off and by February, there were many flower clusters. Vibrating the clusters sent the pollen flying and by March, the plant now has tomatoes growing.

That pot gets about a gallon of water every day now and about 1/4 cup of Tomato tone every other week. Those tomatoes are going to have to ripen inside the greenhouse, because it is tied up every which way to the stakes and to the window frame. If I try to move it (it is on wheels), the tomatoes/branches will probably be damaged. I have to say in hind-sight, I should have picked a smaller, bush variety for my first try at indoor tomatoes.

I did cut off a branch about a month ago and put it in a half-gallon container. It rooted just fine and can go outside with the new seedlings in May.

[MichaelC]

Nice going there!! It's really difficult in my experience to not make any mistakes when it comes to tomatoes and garden space.

[nltaff]

Thanks, MichaelC, I'll try it again next fall but with a smaller, determinant plant. I did have many heads of romaine to go with those tomatoes, but they took their sweet time so now they can go with the new crop of lettuce.

[nltaff]

Never had an indoor tomato before, so I was amazed this thing actually set fruit. Now, I'm amazed again, as they are starting to ripen!

It was an interesting experiment, that I'll definitely try again next year, but with a much smaller tomato variety. I'm looking forward to getting my little greenhouse back again, as I can barely get in the door!

[AnnaIkona]

I'm so jelous! you guys already have beautiful tomatoes growing, while all I have are some 7 inch seedlings not even transplanted yet.
I should grow tomatoes indoors too next hear, just like you folks!

[nltaff]

Please don't feel bad, Annalkona, I've waited years to have an actual little warm greenspace for winter. Never thought in my wildest dreams this would work, but there they are. That huge plant is taking up valuable seedling space right now. It has rained all day yesterday, and threatens to pour all day today. I'm hoping to get all the spring starts out of that room into the bigger barn. Looking at the weather for the next two weeks, I'll be able to harden off most of the plants. That tomato wouldn't even BE if I hadn't received a high pressure sodium light for my birthday last October. I mainly wanted it so I could get a Meyer lemon tree to keep in the little greenhouse room. Bought that and a 'Sicilian Sunshine' sweet bay last month. Lemon and bay trees are about 6-8" tall. So far, both are doing fine.

[AnnaIkona]

Please don't feel bad, Annalkona, I've waited years to have an actual little warm greenspace for winter. Never thought in my wildest dreams this would work, but there they are. That huge plant is taking up valuable seedling space right now. It has rained all day yesterday, and threatens to pour all day today. I'm hoping to get all the spring starts out of that room into the bigger barn. Looking at the weather for the next two weeks, I'll be able to harden off most of the plants. That tomato wouldn't even BE if I hadn't received a high pressure sodium light for my birthday last October. I mainly wanted it so I could get a Meyer lemon tree to keep in the little greenhouse room. Bought that and a 'Sicilian Sunshine' sweet bay last month. Lemon and bay trees are about 6-8" tall. So far, both are doing fine.

I too have a lemon tree and I have just purchased a bay tree last year. Both are beauties! I however grow my lemon tree inside and my bay tree outside.
Yeah, greenhouses are a big plus when it comes to gardening, I have a tiny 7x7ft one but all I am able to grow in there are flowers in the winter- not enough to for any veggies or trees. I have plenty of field space though, so I am planning on buying a larger greenhouse next year. Hopefully it works!

[Lindsaylew82]

Did you supplement light outside of the window? Huge plant. But it doesn't look too spindly!

Kudos!

[nltaff]

Hey Annalkona, you'll end up with more space than I've finally gotten. My little room is 8' x 16'. The ceiling is taller than 12', can't really remember-maybe 16. We had the barn built 2-3 years ago, and my little insulated room on the southeast corner was a must. We upgraded the 3x4' slider windows to 4x6' and crammed three into that space. Briefly considered triple pane, but settled for double and they have never accumulated any condensation at all, even with all those plants in there.
Lindsaylew, my hubby bought me a high pressure sodium light for my birthday last year and I'm convinced that the light was responsible for getting that particular plant through the winter. I don't think my 4-tube fluorescent fixture would have kept it growing through the dark days (Oct-Feb). However, this spring, the big steak had to budge up to share the light with my tomato transplants. As soon as those went into 4" pots, I put them under the HPS light, hoping to avoid any lack of light legginess. This seemed to work, but I did notice that on the long sunny days, those transplants really bulked up. Glad I went for the bigger windows. By the end of March, I was able to turn off my heater completely, as the sun warmed the room plenty to hold temp at 70F overnight.
Annalkona, I'm using the rest of the barn (also insulated) to stage the plants for hardening off. It usually stays at about 40F overnight, but I can get it up to 60 by just lighting a small, short-lived fire in our woodstove there. I did construct a little greenhouse like structure around my straw bale garden. I'm just putting the final touches on this thing (if it ever stops raining). My neighbor is convinced that long-season, "steak" type tomatoes can't be grown here, but I say I can. I'm hoping this structure will help me keep my late harvest safe from early frost in Sept. In-progress pictures are under veg garden pics and progress, but I need to update those as I've made improvements.

[applestar]

Looks really great! You did a fantastic job.

I don't have such a big space, so my variety choices are limited to varieties that will top out at around 28-30" in height including the height of the 2-3 gallon container, and drooping/sprawling determinate (terminal fruit cluster) varieties that are suited for hanging basket growing. These typically have cherry to saladettes sized fruits.

I'll have a review and trial thread of varieties I will be growing in 2016-17 winter later on, but there are ones from last couple of years already if you are interested (unfortunately this past 2015-16 winter tomatoes were a bust though they started out well ) . In your case, you could probably have enough room to grow some of the taller dwarfs and short Indeterminates as well as determinates.

The ones I am growing this summer for these categories will include some larger fruited ones and will be documented in my 2016 tomato garden thread.

[nltaff]

Thanks, Applestar, that means a lot to me (and thanks to others who've chimed in as well). Just wonder, did the bt do nothing to the mites? Actually, you are the reason I joined this forum, as I was looking for solutions to my fungus gnat problem and happened upon the mosquito dunk solution (and while I was waiting to get them, picking out lots of larvae from that tomato's pot-lured to the top with potato slices). Thanks for the tips on how to drench, bringing plants indoors. In the greenhouse, I have a resident wasp (that may or may not have helped pollinate), all the ladybugs I found in the fall and winter in the house. I also do battle with box elder bugs (longer bodies, but similar to stink-bugs in appearance). I fear these have chewed on a few of my leaves. Lots of spiders pass thru the barn and greenhouse, and I hope they do their part, snatching a meal here and there.

MrGreen helped by suggesting a few varieties of smaller, determinate plants to try next year and your suggestion of a start date in the thread will be heeded. I fear I started too late. I've already purchased the seed and planted two of them-Amelia and Carolina Gold for this summer. If I like them, I'll go with them again for winter, if not, I'll try one or two of the others I bought. I'll be looking for your updates for 2016 results.

[applestar]

You made my day

[MichaelC]

I did have many heads of romaine to go with those tomatoes, but they took their sweet time so now they can go with the new crop of lettuce.

lettuce2.JPG

What size container do you find a decent minimum for lettuces? I'm interested.

Regarding your tomatoes, I've had great luck with picking tomatoes, whose shoulders have turned but just don't want to seem to go any further at the end of the season, and letting them ripen in my garage. I ripened many pounds of San Marzano that way last fall. Maybe yours are showing the same reluctance?

[nltaff]

Well, MichaelC, I'm ashamed to say that nice romaine in the 6"w x 8-9" high pot was not harvested in time I just let it deteriorate and bolt! I don't really have a minimum, as those red-leaf lettuces are about twice as big now, and I'm just thinking about transplanting them into 2'x3' planters on my deck. They've done nicely in those 4" pots for about 2 months now, but the lower leaves are failing. I have to get past Sunday night, when the low is expected to be 38, then they'll go out (our low is always lower than the prediction). I have the best luck with lettuce when I give them room. I think the lettuce lets you know when it needs more space. That little green pot would've been just fine, if I'd just lopped off that lettuce and put it in the crisper about a week and a half ago. (I've purchased smaller heads than that one at the store.) Interestingly, I've purchased hydroponic lettuce in the store here, and as soon as I get it home, I've cut off the roots, unrolled them and planted them. Sometimes they rot, and sometimes they take off and produce more leaves. I guess it's a matter of how long they sat in the produce dept. As for the tomatoes, they are getting increasingly redder, but still too firm to pick yet. Probably next week. I've tried letting tomatoes ripen in cool, dark places, but I always end up with fruit flies. Fruit flies and ear wigs kind of turn my stomach. I'm really anxious to give my new cobbed-together structure a try for both beginning and ending season frost threats. Pics are over in vegetable garden progress.

[nltaff]

Over the weekend, we ate two of those tomatoes, and they were tasty. So much better than the store-bought. I lopped off a small head of the red leaf lettuce to go with some romaine I had in the house and put that 4" pot back in the sunny window. As I said, sometimes the lettuce "stump" grows more, and sometimes it just rots. Had some sun (about 4 hours total) over the weekend that heated up the greenhouse to about 80 degrees, so all the tomatoes on the plant are getting ripe. Controlling the temperature in there by opening and closing the windows since mid-April. The lettuce is going to have to be patient a few more days as the predicted overnight lows keep dropping. This has been the coldest, cloudiest May I can remember, with threatened, but little rain (look at the noaa radar, dark green flowing over my region, look out the window, are my plants getting watered?, NO!). Last year, I do believe I had our little pool up and filled by now!