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Question by Kill_Me_Now!: has anyone grown tomatos indoors in the winter?
I am thinking of growing tomatos indoors this winter. I just read I have to manually polinate the flowers. Is that one flower to the next from the same plant or from a different tomato plant? Secondly, will these tomato plants once fruit have vine rippened produce a second and perhaps third batch of tomatos as long as it stays warm and doesnt die from lack of water and nutrients?
I am leaning torward cherry tomatos and leaf lettuce.
Best answer:
Answer by B. B
I have grown tomato plants indoors, and over winter. The plants will live a long time, it is frost that kills them. You will want a variety that is listed as indeterminate (this means it keeps growing, where as determinate means it only grows a certain size). Indeterminate types of tomatoes will keep reproducing, and if it grows too big, you can trim it back some.
You will need a container that is approximately 1 gallon in size per tomato plant. You will fertilise about once a month, but use only half the recommended fertiliser, as this won’t be draining into the ground. You will probably need supplemental lighting, even if you are placing them near windows. The tomatoes plants will need to get 10 to 14 hours of light. I have used fluorescent grow lights, a mix of 1 soft white and 1 bright white fluorescent, and compact “natural light” fluorescent bulbs, and could not tell the difference in the growing.
To pollinate the flowers, you have a couple of options. 1) Use a small cosmetic brush to get pollen from one flower and spread to another. 2) With a fan on it’s lowest setting, blowing lightly across the plants, gently tap the flowers until you see the pollen falling from them onto the lower flowers. I’ve used both methods, and the second method worked best for me.
The other thing to be concerned about is heat. Tomatoes like heat. They produce best between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. They will produce at cooler temperatures, but not as well.
The other thing you should know, is that it does take a bit longer to grow tomatoes in doors during the winter. I suggest growing a few plants, staggering the time in which you plant by about 3 to 4 weeks (if starting form seeds) so that you can try to have a continuous harvest. Also, if you are wanting the tomatoes to harvest during the winter, start the plants in mid fall so that they have a chance to grow and blow in time for the winter season.
Good luck on indoor tomato growing. I’m working on those now, as well as hot peppers (Serrano, Medusa, nosegay, and Caribbean hot), eggplant, basil, garlic chives, and peppermint.
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