Growing a tomato plant inside my house-- help me make this successful

[Arielle]

I have a number of tomatos seeds to pick from, the seeds are getting older about 2 years, maybe 3 from a reputable suppier that specializes in Tomatos.


1. Looking at the Early Girls VFF Improved Hybrid, it is a 52 day indeterminant. a slicing tomato 4-6 oz. Suggestions on how to grow an indeterminante plant indoors to keep small, or is a determinant a better choice? I think I have a couple determinatn types.

2. Start under grow lights and keep under grwo lights as it gets bigger--- not sure how to handle beyond that.A mini greenh house I expect to deal with dry winter air and fluctuating air temps. Suggestions welcome.

 

[Arielle]

Basil-- found started plants one year at a distant nursery, then miraculouly foudn 6 packs locally this past spring 2013. WIll be looking for more. OR try my hand at aprouting the seeds I already have. Frozen basil is still lost in the freezer-- should have labels it. doh


CHecked last night and have THREEE tomotos 2 inches high!!!

Revamping my location to upstair bathroom, where I can turn on the heat. My LG needs the constant temps so might as well have the tomatos take advantage. I tis a north window but no trees to cause shade given the lawn out back. Lots of sunlight pours in, more than the southside.

 

[Arielle]

I love fresh herbs!! My dried herb bottles just sit onthe shelf ignored year after year!! lol

I buy fresh at the supermarket these days, put i a zip lock and put in the freezer!! Someday I will switch to glass jars and put on the freezer door.

My fav breakfast is: butter in a fry pan, add a good pinch thyme leaves; the scramble in 3-4 large farm fresh eggs, and cut up and add 1 oz cream cheese. SOmetimes drizzled with oo and a couple olives.

Do dried herbs from a bottle here!!

Also I just read an article that used tomatos in a chicken soup base. Apparently the purpose is to draw out more of the minerals frpm the bones into the liquid and therfore making those minerals available for our bodies. All the more reason to grow tomatoes!!

 

[hosspak]

I worry about over fertilizing and burning plants. Will research further.

If you are planning to do bucket gardening in the future, I would use Miracle-Gro Moisture release "potting" soil, different from garden soil. It helps maintain an even moisture level and will guard against under/over watering. It also has nutrients for all plants.

 

[hosspak]

I live waaaaay up north. I wonder if that has a lot to do with it? I find this fascinating to be honest, but I'm seriously nerdy. Overall, the gardenweb community is amazing.

I don't grow that many per season in terms of varieties, but I have been growing them for a while. This was also a theory I grew up with, so seeing what I grew up with, and what was doing well in my own garden, I was confused about this so I did a paper on it, tested it and etc. The tomatoes I grew for this experiment were also greenhouse grown- I did go over that on my paper I remember but it would be interesting to see the difference comparing ones grown outdoors to those grown in a greenhouse and what pruning would do.

What varieties that you grow stand out for you? I have to tell you that Roma, even the variants on the theme, have all just been so terrible for me. I have other paste types that do okay, but overall I don't grow paste types well for some reason in general. I tend to lean towards multi-purpose slicer types, even for sauce and paste, but I have to grow a LOT of them (which really isn't that big of a problem). I also love this heirloom movement, which has encouraged me to be more adventerous with the types I've been trying, but I only have two that I love to the point of growing them year after year. One is a non-labeled one I got for free many, many years ago in a trade off of gardenweb. I've asked what others thought it might be in the past, and "pineapple" seems to be the closest thing I can find to what it might be. I also love stump of the world, the only dark tomato that I've been able to enjoy (and I've tried many). I'm going to try out some regular old big round red tomatoes this year too, as that's what my husband wants. I have a few types of seed in this description.

Last season was the amazing season. My sister in L.A. started a lot of organic heirlooms which she passed to us the extras. Here goes; Garden Peach, Pink Ponderosa, Tai Pink egg, Dads Sunset, Tigerella, Green Zebra, Beefsteak, Top 100 (cherry), Pomodoro, Big Rainbow, Black Cherry, Yellow pair, Big Boy, and a couple more that I can't remember.

We liked them all but with so many it was hard to take care of them all. Some (determinate) stayed small and produced a lot. All had distinct flavors which my wife loved. We didn't can any sauce but we did can 2 different salsas, one with red tomatoes and one with all the yellow, pink and green tomatoes. And you can imagine all the tomatoes used for salads, burgers, sandwiches, or just given away.

We liked the Sweet 100 cherrys, garden peach, Dads sunset, Tai pinks, tigerellas, and green zebras the best. All had such a diverse flavor range. Many didn't make it out of the garden, lol. And the ones not good for eating were enjoyed by the chickens.

I forgot to plant Romas last year then didn't have the room after Sister's plants arrived. I have started several Romas and Sweet Aromas this year. So we should be canning sauce this year. (fingers crossed). 2 years ago we planted a roma plant that I just left alone except for food and water. I didn't prune it or stake it like the others but I did cage it. It did grow into a good healthy looking nice green plant but it stayed too short and compact, it smothered its own fruit growth because it was so dense and short. We could not reach into the plant to harvest what it did produce. We we be treating it differently this year.

Many of the indeterminate plants grew well over 8ft, that's how far up I could reach to top them off. They would have grown much taller if I let them...

 

[Arielle]

THanks for the input-- appreciated, even if only on 3 cups of Joe!! lol

I need to re-read the potting soil packaging, As I remember it said NOT to add fertilizer until repotting BUT I didn't see any fertilizer listed as part of the contents.

THe soil is getting a bit dry and as I tend to over water I have tried to wait until this point. THe top is just dry to the touch, and when I scrape at the top layer, it is crumbly dry. It is drier than it looks.

TIme to water. Will see if I have any fertilizer in the storge cabinet.

 

[Arielle]

Container was a little too dry. Leaves starting to dry---oops. Added warm water to the container and into the drip pan and let it saturate for a couple hours. Poured off excess in the drip pan.

Leaves are very dark green and looking plumped this morning.

As long as I dont kill the last seed to sprout-- it is the shortest and the stoutest and did n't suffer noticably from the lack of water.

 

[hosspak]

I have a number of tomatos seeds to pick from, the seeds are getting older about 2 years, maybe 3 from a reputable suppier that specializes in Tomatos.


1. Looking at the Early Girls VFF Improved Hybrid, it is a 52 day indeterminant. a slicing tomato 4-6 oz. Suggestions on how to grow an indeterminante plant indoors to keep small, or is a determinant a better choice? I think I have a couple determinatn types.

2. Start under grow lights and keep under grwo lights as it gets bigger--- not sure how to handle beyond that.A mini greenh house I expect to deal with dry winter air and fluctuating air temps. Suggestions welcome.

uuuhhh, move to a warmer climate! lol

I'm sorry I had to say that... I have been growing tomatoes for years, although I've never heard of indeterminate or determinate. Growing here in sunny California is so much different than where you are. Last spring we planted 14 different tomato plants, we still have a beefsteak tomato plant (over 6ft tall) still producing and several pepper plants that just keep on going. I don't have the heart to take them out as I'm getting the rest of the beds ready for planting. A greenhouse will help get them started but do you have someplace outside to plant them?

 

[gander007]

uuuhhh, move to a warmer climate! lol

I'm sorry I had to say that... I have been growing tomatoes for years, although I've never heard of indeterminate or determinate. Growing here in sunny California is so much different than where you are. Last spring we planted 14 different tomato plants, we still have a beefsteak tomato plant (over 6ft tall) still producing and several pepper plants that just keep on going. I don't have the heart to take them out as I'm getting the rest of the beds ready for planting. A greenhouse will help get them started but do you have someplace outside to plant them?

Now that is the way it is here in Southern California

 

[hosspak]

Now that is the way it is here in Southern California

Yuup!
This is what it looked like in April of 2013. Got a late start.

This is what it looked like in July. 8ft tall tomatoes on the left and Armenian cucumbers on the right. Those cukes made amazing pickles...

Pruning the 8 ft tall tomatoes was a big challenge. That box there had 8 different types, all were 6 to 8 footers or taller.