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

[Arielle]

I don't mind lanky starts when going outside just so I can plant 6-9 inches under the soil. Gotta love tomatos.

Good reminder on the pot filling-- I remember my mom mixing "mud" for filling the pots, easy but so messy. lol

How do I find B12?




And this is for everyone---

how do I find the last frost dates?? I"m finding different dates.

One that seems accurate I am concerned about. Luv that it gives the 10% likely hood of a frost but the info for my location is that my frost dates are more than a week later than a city north of me and further inland from the sea AND very high altitude. THe weather their is differnt than me, so I don't follow those weather reports.

How do I find a reliable sourse for correct zone which I need to find plants, assumming everyone is useing the same mapping system?

ANd why are frost dates listed as 32, 28 and 24 degrees??

 

[Arielle]

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg060945275365.html


As I read thru this, I discovered that if indoors like a green house, pruning for control of size is ok; if outdoors and the space is available, do not prune hard and the plant will produe a abudance of tomatos.

The question becomes one of balance. I can't let the tomato plant take over the room and turn it into a jungle-- though it would look really wild, it would get damaged by kids getting to the toilet-- just a given. lol

 

[pinusresinosa]

Balance is always key, and you'll figure out what works best for you in time regarding pruning. You're on top of this with such great questions and a great thought process, I don't doubt that I'll be looking to do for tomato growing advice in a very short period of time.

That said, I think you'd benefit and have a lot of fun with this website: http://www.plantmaps.com/ (Uses USDA and other such info, very official and pretty standard).

As for the varying temps question, there's differences between hard frosts and below freezing. Just a rule of thumb.

Hope this helps!

 

[Arielle]

You must have heard me muttering over the lasat 2 days-- plenty of on line zone mapping info, but not all of it is right-- and I only know that because two sources put me at 2 different planting zones. Yikes.

I asked for help on another thread and I was kindly put in touch with a nurseryman in CA. After several pm's we decided that while I am technically zone 6, the north slope puts back into the zone 5 possibly or at least 4 weeks behind most of zone 6.

However-- I love playing with interactive things and comparing maps so off I go to have a lot of fun with this website:http://www.plantmaps.com/

 

[Arielle]

According to this info-- my area is 6a with lows of -10 to -5 F. THis is what is confusing-- of all theyears I have live here. I don't remember sucha low temp. HItting zero is memorable.

THe data I dug up ( haahaa) says -25 for 1957 but the current average is 15-16F in January asa the average. NEed to look futher.

 

[pinusresinosa]

I live in borderline zone 3 and 4. Apparently, it can get down to -50 here, although my father in law who's lived here his whole life has never seen temps reach that low even with windchill. I was going to also mention things like microclimates that can also change how you plant- and could very well be changing what you can grow in your particular situation. It even goes further than that- different sides of the home can change it depending on how sheltered, which direction you're orientated, if you're on a slope or a hill and the side of the slope or hill facing what direction, where prevalent winds come from and what they're like and so on. So, I live in zone 4 technically, but on the south side of my home next to the brick I have a place where I could probably push a zone or two zones, maybe more with heavy protection (I'm just now giving it a try with some perennials I started from seed last year, so we'll see how they took the winter). The snow melts on that side and is always warmed by the sun, and protected from north winds. There's another side of my home on the northeast side that is subjected to the northeast winds that are bone chilling almost constantly in the winter, and with the shade and lack of sun there, I can't grow anything that's not hard to at least zone 3 there. Where my pond is, same thing- it's nestled between to small hills and cold air sinks there over it and sits.

 

[Arielle]

Understanding the climate here is fine tuning the baics of climate zone, frst dates and soils. With microclimates created by the house and barns and trees and huge rocks. lol

Long term, I would like to change the use of my land to more productive products. Mostly looking at food and cord wood. As I contemplate how to modify the existing tree structure to include more forages I am reminded of other farms: the big effect of cutting down all the trees is the wind sweeps across the fields unimpeded. I hate wind! lol

Stumbled upon a silviculture method the other day, literally, that combined creating pastures among the trees, to run cattle or sheep. A different design than I was thinking . Maybe actually easier than my original plan.

I can assume the soils here are less than 7 pH. Generally the soil is not improved , but not stripped either. Been a eooded lot for a long time. Surrounded by rock walls but he number of rocks still evident say it was never tilled. ANd can't be tilled. So using animals to forage the land would be the better alternative. Looking for plant material that can handle the current pH and current soils. It grow ferns very well right now!!







THe growing of this one little tomato plant is just the beginning of trying to increase the amt of food for my family.

 

[Arielle]

Four tomatos plants-- no change in height, first true leaves are 1/4 inch. LIke a minnie leaf!

 

[hosspak]

Four tomatos plants-- no change in height, first true leaves are 1/4 inch. LIke a minnie leaf!

Stop watching them....lol "A watched pot never......" well you know!

 

[Arielle]