Indoor tomato growing

[Timbales]

i have two Tasmanian chocolate tomato plants I am growing to maturity indoors. Any advice or experience from others would be appreciated. They are currently doing extremely well, about a foot tall and blooming. I am using led grow lights and a south window where also get indirect light.

[Cole_Robbie]

Do you have any specs on your lights? Lumens and watts would be good to know.

[Timbales]

I started them with 12 watt led spotlights. When they were a few inches tall, I brought out the big gun. 300 watt led array, about 6 by 10 inches. I am using lights that only impact the growing and blooming spectrum. The light they give off is purple in color with virtually no heat.

[Timbales]

I will try to lookup the lumens. I do not know.

[Cole_Robbie]

They may not list lumens. It is considered an antiquated measure for lighting, but the problem is that there is not much of an alternative way to measure brightness.

LED products, especially coming out of China, have a wide variance in quality and extent to which they live up to the manufacturer's description. LED is obviously the future of lighting, and they are going to equal hps & halide lights as grow lights...at some point. There have been a lot of overly hyped products on the market over the last ten years, though.

[Timbales]

The 12 watt spotlights are Taotronics. They can be found on Amazon for about 25 dollars each. They are amazing. However, they only cover about a 12 inch circle. The 300 watt light is by a company called rhos. Also on Amazon. Both products are amazing. Most of this technology was developed for marijuana growing. It works great to grow tomatoes also.

[Cole_Robbie]

That's part of the problem, though - those guys will believe anything, buy anything at any price, and then have no one to complain to when it doesn't live up to its description.

I'm looking at 300w led lights on amazon. They range from a little over a hundred bucks to almost a thousand dollars. I saw one on another site for $1,400.

[Timbales]

Galaxy hydro 300 watt led is what I bought on Amazon. 119.00 dollars. It is fantastic. Major light. 2 fans built in, that I do not think are necessary. Also, some small hanging steel cords. The light output rivals the sun. Coverage area is hard to determine. I would say, 2 by 3 with no reflective box. Inside a grow reflective chamber, probably twice that.

[AKmark]

We have had the best luck with HPS lights, LED does not seem to work as well for tomatoes, as of observation of three different setups. I use 600 watt and some 400 watt lights, they rock tomatoes and peppers too.

[Timbales]

I can only talk about my experience with led lights. I will say this. If my tomato plants looked as good as they do right now in an outside environment, I would be happy. I know that I was skeptic too. All I can say is, don't stare into the light, just like the sun. This is the future. It works.

[Lorri D]

I bought my T5, 4 ft, 6 Lamp - HO, Fluorescent Grow lights 4 years ago. I really wanted HPS & MH lights, but I was just beginning and scared at 100+ bucks a bulb. Also, four years ago, people where still saying the LED's weren't good enough and the real professional ones for the space I wanted to cover would easily be $1000.00 a pop. I think they are the future and a lot more competitive now.

My only suggestion would be to know what you are growing them for. Are they for seed or to actually grow and eat from?

Are parts of your plants going to be in shadow? Can you use mirrors or reflective glazing to help bounce more light onto the plants?

I would keep them pruned and I would turn a fan on them for a little bit each day.

[Timbales]

I grow tomatoes because I love them. Having a vine ripened tomato in the middle of winter would be like defeating winter. Also, indoor gardening is cool. ��

[Timbales]

Lori, also, the led lights I am using create such a small amount of heat that it is not worth worrying about.

[Lorri D]

I agree, it would give me something to smile about for sure. I tried growing in my greenhouse through winter, but the sun is too low to provide enough light for them. They grew and did fine until the middle of December and then they sat there with their green tomatoes until Feb. By then I needed to give them the boot, because I needed room for my transplants. I did a squash of all things through the winter under lights in the house, but not tomatoes yet.

My fluorescents don't get hot either. I would use the fans for better air circulation, pollination, and to increase the thickness and strength of the plant.

[Sydney Grower]

I went into a hydroponics shop today and asked a few questions about LED lights. The guy in the shop kept saying things like “The thing most of my customers like to grow requires...” and “Does your growing operation need to be discreet?”.

He really cracked me up when he said “It’s OK, you can be honest with me about what you are growing”

I still don’t think he believes me “No, I really am just growing heirloom Tomatoes!”