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

[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!!

 

[Arielle]

Found another recipe for bone broth that uses bones and vinegar as th base and any left over vegies for araomatics.

A FOURTH seedling is up. Only 1 more still deciding if it will rot , or sprout. Planted 5 originally and hoped for just one strong plant as these seeds are now 3 yrs old.

Moved plants to upstairs bathroom next to incubator that is running:

Removed the plastic dome. Placed pack at floor level behind a plywood wall ( in a chick brooder) and lowered grow light to 1" above plants.

HEat from wood stove flows up the stairway directly into this room. THere is one big window for sunlight; and the room can be closed off and heated if necessary. One of the benefits of electric heat is I can heat up just one room; and we insulated all the walls on this room too. So doable.


NOTE FOR NEXT TIME: plant in a row so all sprouts are directly under the tube.

 

[Arielle]

Purused thru my 30+ envelopes of seeds from TOmoato Growers Supply COmpany. THeyare on line for anyone intersted. Good prices, and a huge assort ment of seeds including tom, peppers and eggplants.

As I read thru I am looking for another tom to start indoors. I am struct by the number that are Det and indet that I purchased. I tried not to let the det scare me and apparently bought a number of them. THe canning types are determinant-- IMO so the whole crop can be harvested at once for immediate processing.

THe cherry types are vigorous growers, and big plants.

It lead me to this question: for indorrs growing , is it better to have lots of leaves catching as much sunlight as possible , or prune heavily and keep it almost spindly?

Above was the suggestion to maintain within a cage. That seems to be allowing as many leaves as possible to catch the light. Perhaps limit the number of fruiting branches?

 

[hosspak]

Purused thru my 30+ envelopes of seeds from TOmoato Growers Supply COmpany. THeyare on line for anyone intersted. Good prices, and a huge assort ment of seeds including tom, peppers and eggplants.

As I read thru I am looking for another tom to start indoors. I am struct by the number that are Det and indet that I purchased. I tried not to let the det scare me and apparently bought a number of them. THe canning types are determinant-- IMO so the whole crop can be harvested at once for immediate processing.

THe cherry types are vigorous growers, and big plants.

It lead me to this question: for indorrs growing , is it better to have lots of leaves catching as much sunlight as possible , or prune heavily and keep it almost spindly?

Above was the suggestion to maintain within a cage. That seems to be allowing as many leaves as possible to catch the light. Perhaps limit the number of fruiting branches?

That is a tough question, More leaves means more resources taken from the fruits, but more leaves means catching more sun which converts into a sweeter, better tasting fruit... What came first, the chicken or the egg? Find the balance and you will reap the rewards...

 

[Arielle]

I was looking at the space available, and that might be a desiding factor. lol Other wise the bathroom could easily turn into a jungle!!


The bathroom is painted in the old style white ceiling and cream walls to bounce the light.THough I"m betting the plants will block the window . . .

 

[bachbach1]

Put a fan on the little guys so they wont too tall and spindly. Indoors they can shoot up so fast they get too weak, and fall over. A healthy tomato should stand on its won until it gets up to over 1 foot high. My first batch of tomatoes is up and about 3 inches high. I have about 500 Tobacco plants up too.

 

[Arielle]

Put a fan on the little guys so they wont too tall and spindly. Indoors they can shoot up so fast they get too weak, and fall over. A healthy tomato should stand on its won until it gets up to over 1 foot high. My first batch of tomatoes is up and about 3 inches high. I have about 500 Tobacco plants up too.

A fan????? Really????
Oh I get it-- slightly challenge the stems and they will compensate in growth to deal with the slight trauma!!!

SHould the fan run continuously-- or intermittent ( 2x a day )? ANd common sense says a gentle flow, nothing that flattens them, rther just a little wind pressure to fight against.

The fan should also be altered in directions, right??

I can use the fan from my homemade incubator-- it is not on the job right now.

 

[Arielle]

I looked at the 4 plants this morning. Those that were fallen over ( 2 inches tall) are now upright and almost touching the the light bulb. The one that just emerged had not fallen over, and is still the shortest. I'm betting it will have a better stem on it.

Question? If I keep the light low, will the plants stay below the light bulb?

 

[Arielle]

Started one more seed-- "SUn GOld Hybrid #6313 for Tomato Growers Supply Company.
57 days Indeterminate, Very sweet, bright orange cherry tomatoes taste not just sugary but also fruity and delicious. Vigorous growers, these tall plants bear long clusters of fruit. Try these for a real taste treat-- you won't beleive youre eating tomatos!"

Occured to me that a small tomato like one that is tiny would maybe less demanding on a plant. ANd if it grows tall it can capture more of the sunlight.

Also looked at the bedroom with a west window, and another bathroom with a north window.


I am struck by the amount of energy we humans use for all our endevors.

 

[Arielle]

Looking ahead---

It occurs to me that tomatos are heavy feeders and will need fertilizing while in the house. I would prefer to use something I already have, like rabbit pellets. Can I collect the rabbit poos and then make a tea? Or just mix it into a slurry and pour on top of the 5 gal pot?

I would need to start saving the pellets now instead of dumping out on the lawn . . . .