small sweet tomato to be grown indoors??
- Thread starter LGHT
- Start date
When you say small, are you looking for a cherry or grape type or something a little bigger, and do you care if they are determinates or indeterminate?
I always grow a couple small toms over the winter and this year I'm thinking of overwintering a Riesentraube which is a very productive, short, indeterminate type which grow in huge clusters.
I always grow a couple small toms over the winter and this year I'm thinking of overwintering a Riesentraube which is a very productive, short, indeterminate type which grow in huge clusters.
Potawie,
I would not say short, per se. Mine is about 5 feet tall. It does produce a lot of grape-type maters. Another good one to grow inside is a Siletz. Indeterminate, about 4 foot tall, 6-10 ounce tomatoes, fantastic taste. Very few seeds, just enough juice to make it a great slicers. Parthenocarpic, sets fruit in cooler temps.
Mike
I would not say short, per se. Mine is about 5 feet tall. It does produce a lot of grape-type maters. Another good one to grow inside is a Siletz. Indeterminate, about 4 foot tall, 6-10 ounce tomatoes, fantastic taste. Very few seeds, just enough juice to make it a great slicers. Parthenocarpic, sets fruit in cooler temps.
Mike
Derek,
I haven't noticed them being extremely bushy, which is a plus since you do not need as much light. In the Garden Forum, a couple of growers recommend moving a significant amount of leaves, saying it helps promote the fruit growth.
The only negative I have noticed about the Riesentraube is they do not hold the fruit well. Just moving one of the clusters to try to pick the ripe ones results in several falling on the ground. That's not really a problem - I usually pick as many off the ground as I do off the plant!
Mike
I haven't noticed them being extremely bushy, which is a plus since you do not need as much light. In the Garden Forum, a couple of growers recommend moving a significant amount of leaves, saying it helps promote the fruit growth.
The only negative I have noticed about the Riesentraube is they do not hold the fruit well. Just moving one of the clusters to try to pick the ripe ones results in several falling on the ground. That's not really a problem - I usually pick as many off the ground as I do off the plant!
Mike
Thanks for the tips. I can probably grow it as high as 5' without a problem as I plan on having my lights hang around 4' from the 10' ceiling. I want something a little bigger than cherry or grape, but not as big as a tom. I am dedicating the entire walk in closet of one of the spare bedrooms so I'll have a lot of space and 2 sets of lights.
Roma, or plum variety are great for sauces. If you can grow them indoors, I have no idea. Others will know.LGHT said:
While I don't know a ton about tomatoes I will throw in my 2 cents. Determinate tomatoes would be good because of there reduced height. My only concern is that you are growing them in a closest which will probably limit your width. If you grow indeterminate tomatoes it is fairly easy to keep them trimmed down to a main stem and one or two suckers. This will greatly reduce its width. You may run into height issues (at least, to my knowledge, with several indeterminate varieties). Depending on the size of the closet, you possibly can get creative and train the vine to go somewhat horizontal. Possibly like a staircase that goes up several floors. Sorry this post wasn't really helpful I was more or less thinking out loud. Good luck.
Josh,
I grew a Siletz (determinate) in my office window. To keep it from taking over the area, I built a 16" square cage that was four foot tall, using PVC. The plant got a little over the top of the cage but it was in a bucket of water so that was roots and all. As it grew, I would put another ring of string around the pipes. It was easy to keep it "confined."
Mike
I grew a Siletz (determinate) in my office window. To keep it from taking over the area, I built a 16" square cage that was four foot tall, using PVC. The plant got a little over the top of the cage but it was in a bucket of water so that was roots and all. As it grew, I would put another ring of string around the pipes. It was easy to keep it "confined."
Mike
Ciao all-
My experience has been that growing tomatoes inside, regardless of whatever light setup requires some effort. My only real successes have been with very short determinate or dwarf cherry tomatoes. Whippersnapper does very well inside as long as you have the time to flick the blossoms when they open (and there are a lot of them) so you can be sure of good pollination. Whippersnapper gets to 2 ft tall when grown outside so inside, I'd predict it to stretch a bit from that. It's a very prolific, tasty pink cherry, about 1/4 oz. and 1/2" across.
My experience has been that growing tomatoes inside, regardless of whatever light setup requires some effort. My only real successes have been with very short determinate or dwarf cherry tomatoes. Whippersnapper does very well inside as long as you have the time to flick the blossoms when they open (and there are a lot of them) so you can be sure of good pollination. Whippersnapper gets to 2 ft tall when grown outside so inside, I'd predict it to stretch a bit from that. It's a very prolific, tasty pink cherry, about 1/4 oz. and 1/2" across.