Tomatoes indoors

skylined

Member

• Jul 21, 2008

• #1

When winter comes around I want to continue getting fresh, delicious, nutritious (and most importantly safe) foods that I grow myself. I am thinking of using an active recirculating hydroponic system for tomatoes. I'd have two gardens of 2 270 W HPS lamps. is a 250/270 watt lamp strong enough for growing tomatoes?

BSSF,
~Skylined

 

DIGITALHIPPY

Active member

Veteran

• Jul 22, 2008

• #2

i actualy rocked out a tomato in a sog run i did. i was using a bit more wattage then you, but it should work just as well.

 

B

bigbluntbob

• Jul 23, 2008

• #3

yes, it will get the job done. keep it trained down to one stem. you'll need to pollinate by hand. just thump the flowers or use a vibrator or electric toothbrush. a recirculating system would work great. tomatoes also love dwc, too.

if the plant gets too long you can cut it off and stick it back in the system. it wont miss a beat usually.

good luck,
bob

 

C

cloneX

Member

• Jul 24, 2008

• #4

my tomatoes have not done well leaves are all deformed

 

W

Wait...What?

Active member

Veteran

• Jul 24, 2008

• #5

Choose a dwarf variety of tomatoes for indoor/overwinter growing. The cherry and grape tomato plants are actually larger than the beefsteak tomato plants, so tomato size does not correlate to plant size.

Husky Red, Pik-Red, Totem, and New Big Dwarf are some suggested varieties to try.

I grow tomatoes outdoors in rockwool, dwc, and waterfarms.

 

sativa_cyborg13

Member

• Jul 25, 2008

• #6

my indoor tomato is doin just alright. not spectacular like my cucumber or pepper. i am pretty sure that i need more light than what i have on it, but it is still goin to do well by the end of the grow. wait...what has the right idea by goin for a dwarf variety. mine is getting taller daily.

 

M

MrFista

Active member

Veteran

• Jul 28, 2008

• #7

My experience is that tomatoes like more light than most plants and don't perform well under HPS. They do grow, and you get something, but compared to a tom in the sun, well, there's no comparison.

In Hawaii a cherry tomato was found that was over 2 miles wide. One plant! That's a lot of lights.

 

skylined

Member

• Jul 28, 2008

• #8

Hell of a huge tomato plant that. What is the trigger for tomatoes to start fruiting? I'm reasonably certain that they are not photoperiod dependent. What will cause them to stop so much veg growth and begin fruiting?

~Skylined

 

M

MrFista

Active member

Veteran

• Jul 28, 2008

• #9

There are 3 types of tomatoes. Determinate, semi determinate, and indeterminate.

Indeterminate are vines and will grow as long as conditions allow. This is the hawaiin one.

Determinate grow to a certain size, pump out fruit really fast, then die.

Semi-determinate???? - a combo of the above I guess, longer season than determinate but will die after time's up?...

They'll flower at 60 - 80 days. You should polinate by shaking the plant everytime you're in there.

 

S

smokeymacpot

Active member

Veteran

• Jul 30, 2008

• #10

do all tomatos require polination or do you have some that dont need it? i never saw ANY pollen at all from my tomato plant.

 

Gottagrow

Member

• Aug 5, 2008

• #11

I've been growing tomatos for over a year now. I started with cherry tomatos which are really easy. I've now moved to romas from seeds that I got from store bought fruit. I cherries don't need to be polinated but I need to do research on the romas. It's great to make your own food. I also do peppers, cucumbers, catnip (for my cats ) and lettuce along with my ladies. I only use Ebb and Flow and these things get MASSIVE. I was so suprised how big the romas would get. The stems are about 1/2 think but they dont grow straight up they grow like a vine. Also if a stem stays on the grow rocks long enough it will grow roots.

 

Top Secret

Member

• Aug 5, 2008

• #12

I just started a veggie run myself

 

2

2stoge

Member

• Aug 5, 2008

• #13

would hps or mh work better for tomatoes?

 

B

bigbluntbob

• Aug 6, 2008

• #14

2stoge said:

would hps or mh work better for tomatoes?

Click to expand...

hps is a lil better but they will both work