Indoor Winter Tomato Project

[lakelady]

Artis, grew tomatoes in those small containers? wow. I always thought you needed huge pots and I'm concerned some of mine won't be big enough 2-4 gallon size. Looks like you had a nice harvest for indoors!

There are so many varieities out there it is amazing. I'll definately have to look into Danko and Clear Pink Early for sure. thanks!

[coloken]

Yes Artis those look nice. I some times use letter boxes in my GH, but never tried larger plants.
This winter project is a "me too" for me. I have four plants started in 4 gal buckets.
Matina, Rutgers (the Det. one) New big dwarf and Russian red. In a 6 by 8 green house.
The matina and rutgers are way to tall and leggy from short on light. My GH is in the shade most of the day now. I just added a light above with a timer. The best looking one is the Rusian red. It is 16 inches, the same as the NBD, but now has flowers. The matina also has a flower.
I mention the RR looking as good as the NBD cause I don't think any one thinks of it.
BTW: it never did have any thing to do with Russia. It comes from down under and is supposed to be very tough.
Tomatoes for thanksgiving?..KennyP

[Catherine+two]

Lakelady, I live south of you, but I also live at 7200 ft above sea level on a mountain side. Last frost this spring was about May 13, first frost this fall will be any time now, and the night time temperatures all summer (even in this hot dry summer) were in the 50s and 60s, with a few miserable days in the 90s, but mostly not. I am only sure of getting ripe tomatoes on short-season, cool-adapted plants. It's 4 months frost free, but the cool average temperatures mean I will never get a ripe tom from a variety that claims "85 days from transplant" unless I start using my stepdad's greenhouse room a whole lot more.

OTOH, my favorite cabbage claims to ripen 120 days from transplant, but it really LIKES the cool summer and it really DOES ripen nicely (and hugely) here.

I love a challenge, though. If I didn't I wouldn't still be trying to grow tomatoes here after all these years. ;-)

Catherine

[lakelady]

Kenny, can you grow in the gh all year where you are? I don't know much about Colorado weather other than my friends go skiing there . Russian Red, good to know, let us know how it tastes. There are way too many varieties out there that I'm learning about, so I'm trying to take notes on the lesser known varieties people mention for the future. So many great ones here are mentioned, and it's hard to keep up even though I try to read up on things I search...I used to grow mostly hybrids, and almost all late season tomatoes, so I'm making sure that next year I get something earlier. I wonder if the Russian in the name had anything to do with cooler temps or earlier harvest as others I've noticed. hmmm...so much to learn!

[dice]

Russian Red had excellent flavor for me, growing it outdoors, sweet
and delicious. Dwarf type plant, saladette sized fruit. It was actually
developed in New Zealand in the 1940s, and it was named that
because it is a tough little plant as tomatoes go. Not particularly early,
but I usually get fruit in late August to early September from it.

You can probably harden it off at the beginning of summer and move it
outdoors if you want, and it will keep growing and producing fruit. It may
be small, but it is indeterminate. Glenn50 mentioned keeping one alive
for 3 years in a greenhouse in New Zealand.

[lakelady]

Well, it did occur to me that if none of my plants set fruit this winter, at the very least I'll get a real good jump on the season for next year

Most of my indoor tomato plants are in regular large pots (a few in smaller 2 gallon pots). I noticed this morning one of them has a greenish tint on the soil. Sometimes my house plants get that. Anyone know what it is and how I get rid of it? I assume it is a type of moss or fungal growth. Actinovate?

[dice]

I noticed this morning one of them has a greenish tint on the soil.

Probably algae, meaning that your soil is drying out fairly slowly
and/or you have a humid environment indoors. If it was a mold,
you could use a hydrogen peroxide spray on it:
http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.c...-peroxide.html

[lakelady]

Thanks for that link Dice! It has been VERY humid here even though temps are cooling off. I have 4" of rain in a bucket outdoors that came on this week alone. With windows open in house, it gets too humid sometimes. I'll try the peroxide!

[lakelady]

Here are some updated pics of a few 6 week old seedlings in pots for you to see some progress and how they are doing. Dwarf Stone is a very cool stocky little thing that seems to grow faster than Dwarf Giant, even though I've read that the fruits are not so great. Silvery fir tree is so pretty and except for the curling on one part of this plant, it looks great too. I have others but early this morning lighting was not so good, so these were more photogenic.

Naysen, how are your little ones doing?

[coloken]

The more I look at your pictures and at my Russian red and NBD, the more i think dwarfs are the way to go. I watch the dwarf project all the time. I prefer red and large enough to slice. I just enjoyed a ham sandwich with one half inch slice that filled the bread, from a pusta kolox .

[lakelady]

I prefer larger tomatoes I can slice too or make a salad with. I probably cook most of the tomatoes I eat in the form of sauce or other dishes using tomatoes. In winter, it's canned plum tomatoes for the most part, but I'd prefer the texture of a fresh tomato. Cherry tomatoes are not eaten by anyone but me so that's a waste too. We'll see how the dwarfs do, I agree, probably the best way to grow winter tomatoes!

[afrance30]

I'm also growing indoors (for the second year), I'll have to take some pics later to show my babies

I do have one plant already flowering, a Burgess Early Salad Hybrid. It's the only hybrid I really enjoy, and it is perfect for growing inside. This year I may save some seeds and see if they grow true to type. This may be a hybrid that is actually stabilized? That would be perfect! I'm also growing mints (chocolate, spearmint, peppermint), citrus trees, peppers, herbs, and Tom Thumb peas. Right now everything is under T8 bulbs (tomato seedlings) and 400 watt MH (will switch to HPS as the plants get bigger).

[lakelady]

afrance, please share your photos! I'd love to see them.

Actually, my dwarfs are all doing fine, it's the regular tomato plants that are not doing well. I have Ailsa Craig and Thessaloniki in pots, and the Ailsa is wilted for some reason. The Thessaloniki has a weird drying edge to a few leaf tips at the bottom and I don't know why. They don't look so healthy and this just developed. I'll try and get pics up later today and maybe someone can tell me why they took a downturn. I did notice i have fruit flies near my plants and that was a surprise to me. Hope I don't lose them!

The drying tips and odd spots on Thessaloniki:

[artis]

Lakelady,Regarding you Thessaloniki plant, does the underside of the leaf look unusual (with fungus-like bumps)? If not, I have seen similar damage on younger plants by environmental stress such as direct sunlight, low temps, windblown rain, salt spray. I have not yet experienced wilting but apparently it can be caused by overwatering or poor drainage (in other words, root damage/suffocation).If the "fruit flies" are tiny and jump up during watering, they are most likely fungus gnats. They typically originate from soil infected with insect eggs and I have even seen them in some batches of Promix. Fungus gnats are relatively harmless as they mostly feed on stuff in the soil. They can supposedly be exterminated by natural insecticides containing beneficial bacteria but I have never tried it myself.

[afrance30]

pics!

Ok, here they are...

first pic- Burgess Eary Salad Hybrid
second pic- Tam Jalapeno pepper
third pic- Fish pepper
fourth and fifth pics, tomato babies
last pic- Apple pepper