Growing tomatos indoors
 

Ok, so I came across some leftover seeds about three weeks ago, and let the kids plant them in an herb pot on the deck. Now I've got 8 inch or so tomato plants on the deck. They aren't going to be able to fruit out at this point I wouldn't think, since we are only aout two months till frost date, so I'm thinking of growing them indoors.

That got me thinking. I've got an extra basement area and I've looked into a simple shop light and two grow bulbs. All together, it'll set me back about $35. I've got containers, so I'm really just looking at soil and some more seeds.

Question is: have any of you ever grown tomatoes or other edible plants inside over the winter? I'm not talking about starting them for spring transplants, but rather to have vine ripe maters over the winter. I thought I'd try basil as well.
thanks.

Suuuuure ya are...

I understand, man. I encourage indoor growing of "tomatoes". They'll certainly be great to grow for your "family".

Just sit down, eat and couple of tomatoes and take the edge off. No more headlocks.

I expected as much from CP, but I'm serious. I'm more and more skeptical of the crap produce at the store, and other than the polination issue (no bugs), I'm looking for tips for maters. If I wanted to grow pot, I've got plenty of places for that, but I don't.

I don't think a couple of grow bulbs in a shop light will be enough light for tomatoes. It takes some serious wattage to replicate full sun. The basil will do fine.

Never heard of anyone trying it, but if you can pull it off that'd be sweet.

Store tomatoes suck, most are barely pink, let alone red.

thats sort of what I was thinking. I'll probably pony up the $35 for the set up, and transplant the ones I have and throw some basil seed in and see what happens. If it doesn't work, then I've got a new shop light in there.

Could be fun . Keep us posted. Watch out for the MDB.

Will do.

I've done plenty of "Tomato" growing in the basement back when I was in college. And I hate to tell you, but you're crazy thinking you could do it for $35. For a setup that would actually yield you some maters, you're going to spend triple that at least. A couple shop lights won't cut it. You'd need a small light ballast at least for the kind of output you'd need. Generally you'd need about 75W per square foot of space. And to get actual good produce, you'd need specific lighting that plants can use, not just your normal florescent house light. You could get by with your simple ones while the plants are tiny, but you'd eventually need either a high pressure sodium or a metal halide. HPS would be the best choice by itself, but having both types would be best. Then you'd likely need some fans to manage the heat. Water testing supplies, including pH +/-. General growing stuff like MiracleGrow. Antifungal would be recommended. And C02 disperser if you really want to do it right.

Otherwise you're going to end up with scraggly little dead plants that never produce.

Do you have a sauna as well? Tomatoes like it very, very hot. If you're keeping the man-cave 80 degrees, they just won't do very well.

thank you. thats the sort of info im talkin about .

for the tomatoes, deep water culture (soilless) is really cool, if you have access to a ph tester and a tds meter.........theyre cheap to set up and I can post pics etc

Why do you need "tomatoes"? You're a dentist; don't you have the hookup for nitrous oxide?

http://blu.stb.s-msn.com/i/C8/C34F7D...EECD949016.jpg

Will they taste good and not be like the supermarket ones that are designed to look good and taste like water? Just asking.