by Jennifer Poindexter
Are you particular about your tomato ? I became the same way after I lead off maturate my own . In fact , I rarely can stomach the tomato from the foodstuff store because they do n’t taste the same as homegrown .
Granted , this is only my opinion . However , if you ’re particular about your tomatoes , too , you should conceive raising them indoors . If you do , you may keep up your tomato develop time of year or even make it to where you may have homegrown tomatoes year - round .
If this sound wonderful to you , here ’s what you should lie with to farm Lycopersicon esculentum inside your home .
What You Might Need to Grow Tomatoes Indoors
There are specific grow conditions you ’ll call for to meet to best grow tomatoes indoors . However , there are certain item you may include in your indoor gardening set - up that will make it easier to provide these conditions .
To begin , it ’s efficient to uprise your tomatoes on some type of table or shelving . This makes it easier on your back when care for them .
It also makes it easier if you opt to apply grow lights to raise your tomatoes indoors . tomato need around eight hours of sun per day .
This can be difficult to carry through during the winter , specially if you do n’t have an exceedingly sunny position in your planetary house .
In this case , I ’d advocate using grow lights . You do n’t have to enthrone in the expensive alternative . Use any type of bright lighting to care for your tomato plants .
I ’ve been known to use shop light , in position of traditional grow lights , when grow indoors . You might be able-bodied to find LED striptease ignition which could function as well .
Get originative , if you ’re work on a budget , to allow the inflammation your plants necessitate .
At this stage , it belike goes without saying , but you ’ll need containers to grow in . big planter or five - gallon buckets will do the joke for raising tomatoes indoors .
The key is to make certain that whatever you plant in will drain in good order . By supply a right curing - up for grow Lycopersicon esculentum indoors , you could make it much easy on yourself .
Growing Conditions for Indoor Tomatoes
Indoor tomatoes have a few specific needs which must be met for them to grow properly . To begin , tomatoes need sunshine .
If you have a gay window which can provide your plant with eight or more hours of sunlight , this would be a great spot to maturate them .
However , if you do n’t have a sunny location or if your windowpane ca n’t provide the full eight hours of sunshine , it ’s a good approximation to invest in grow lighting .
you could grow the tomato beneath the grow lights full - time or use them as a lighting supplement . Once you find the right-hand placement for get tomatoes , it ’s time to consider how you should grow them .
Tomatoes make excellent container industrial plant . The gage should have large drainage holes . Clay tummy are also recommended because they allow your plants to dry full between lacrimation academic session .
It ’s also fresh to spring up smaller tomato varieties when mature indoors . They seem to do better under these unlike portion .
By providing an adequate grow fix , your tomato plant plants will hopefully thrive under your care .
How to Plant Tomatoes Indoors
You have three option when raising tomatoes indoors . Tomatoes can be land indoors from your summer garden to stretch out their time of year , transplant a seedling , or start tomato plants from seeds .
If you have a plant in your garden you ’d like to make for indoors , dig it up in the evening hours . It ’s cooler during these sentence and will put less stress on the plant .
Transplant the fledged love apple industrial plant into your chosen container and place it in a shaded field .
Leave the plant there for a couple of days before move it to a further shaded location such as the edge of a carport or a cut across front porch .
After a few twenty-four hour period have passed , move the tomato plant plant indoors to its window or grow light . This will assist it acclimatize to the darker conditions of being grown indoors .
If you take to transpose a seedling , locate the seedling in your chosen container that ’s filled with soil . Dig a hole in the dirt , but make trusted it ’s large enough to support the root system of the plant .
occupy the hole with the surrounding grunge and press firmly at the base of the works to ensure no air extend to the roots of the plant .
Your final pick for growing Lycopersicon esculentum plant indoors is to start them from semen . Place two seed in each growing container .
overlay them lightly with soil and keep the soil damp while the seeds develop . It should take approximately one week .
Be trusted the pots are place in a affectionate location while you ’re waiting for the semen to sprout . After the seed have germinated , peck your hard plant to preserve grow .
The weaker plant should be cut at the base of the land , using scissors , to avoid damage the remaining plant ’s root .
Once your plant are indoors , in their growing location , you ’re ready to get wind how to care for them .
How to Care for Tomatoes Indoors
There are quite a few things you ’ll need to do to keep your love apple engraft healthy indoors . To begin , you must cross-pollinate the plant .
When they ’re outdoors , bugs do this job for you . Indoors , you ’ll be responsible for ensuring the pollination process occurs .
The well-off way I pollinate my plants is by grab the plant at the top and stimulate it lightly . This give up the pollen to be redistributed throughout the plant .
The next affair you ’ll need to do , to in good order care for your tomato plants , is water adequately . localise your tomato flora in your kitchen sinkhole .
If you have a atomizer beak on your spigot , aim it at the land of your plant . Spray the dirt with H2O until it ’s running from the bottom of the container .
Leave the industrial plant in the sink until it finishes draining . Do n’t irrigate the plant again until you stick your finger into the soil , and it ’s teetotal to your first knuckle .
The net care items on the list are to stake your tomatoes , when take , and rotate the plants . You ’ll go around your love apple plant life , so the light around them is distributed evenly .
If they ’re left facing one counseling for too long , the flora will start to lean because they ’re stretching to reach the light .
When the Lycopersicon esculentum plants are producing , they become backbreaking with yield and might be forced to bend . This could actually break your plants .
expend wager , or a tomato coop , to suffer your tomatoes within the containers to annul this . By taking the steps to care for your tomatoes properly , they should persist healthy .
Pests and Diseases Which Could Impact Tomatoes Indoors
The only affair which could get in the direction of healthy , thriving plants are pestilence and diseases . One direction to avoid all disease , when growing tomatoes indoors , is to employ a soilless intermixture for found . This avoids any hidden diseases from hiding in the land .
If you expend regular potting soil , you may also heat it in the oven prior to planting . If there ’s any fungous disease hiding within it , the heat will kill it .
avert overwatering your plants as well . If they have clock time to dry totally between watering sessions , it should help keep the leaf ironical , and reduce fungal disease from forming .
There are a few pest you should be on the lookout for when elevate tomatoes indoors . White fly and aphids can still attack inside .
Both of these pests can be treated by spray your plants with an insecticidal soap . Keep a close eye on your plants , and you should be capable to avoid stark harm from pests and diseases .
How to Harvest Tomatoes
Tomatoes should be harvested before they set out to crack . If you have cracked tomatoes hanging from your plant life , you ’re inviting bugs to your indoor garden .
Once the plant have strain their appropriate size and have almost reached their full colour potential , you could plume them from the plant .
You should n’t look until they ’re fully ripe as this can also thread germ . When you ’ve harvest your tomatoes , store them in the refrigerator or place them in a brown paper bag on your kitchen counter .
The refrigerator will help them stay clean . However , you ’ll need to set them out on the comeback and let them to warm up prior to use for their full flavor .
A brown newspaper base will assist the Lycopersicon esculentum retain to mature . Tomatoes can also be frozen whole or sliced . They ’re great for canning , too .
How you choose to keep your tomatoes will come down to your personal preference . Either mode , you should be able-bodied to produce Lycopersicon esculentum year - rotund , inside your home , by following these lead .
Hopefully , this has encouraged you to try your hand at raising vegetables indoors . get a new supplying of food , at any clock time , is deserving the add effort to produce your crops in the house .
More About Growing Tomatoes
https://web.extension.illinois.edu/veggies/tomato.cfm
https://extension.unh.edu/resource/growing-vegetables-tomatoes-fact-sheet-1
