Dwarves, Micros, and indoor growing

[D.J. Wolf]

Ok, I should have known it was a mistake to get into a tomato growing forum. Well, I don't think it was, but my BH might disagree. Anyway...

I was looking through a few seed sites earlier, and found a micro that's supposed to only grow about 11-12 inches tall. It's called Tiny Tim, not that that matters really.

My question, or idea that I'm hoping for help with, is indoor growing with limited room over the winter. See, I hate not having fresh tomatoes year round. And when you figure into the equation that I generally won't get a ripe tomato from the garden until sometime in July usually, and our first frost is usually mid October, that doesn't give me a lot of time to enjoy my tomatoes. So, when I saw the description of Tiny Tim, my brain went "Hey dummy, why don't you grow a couple pants INDSIDE in the winter?" So, I'm an old farmer, figure I can grow about anything, but never have great luck with indoor stuff, other than usually starting plants. So here's where I need help. What varieties could I grow inside in say gallon or smaller containers that would keep me in tomatoes year round. Tiny Tim seems to fit the bill, a 1' tall cherry tomato. Must some of these dwarf tomatoes I've seen talked about on here interest me. Can I get a 1-2' beefsteak tomato? Am I limited to just cherries? What about flavor grown under LED grow lights? How the H-E-double hockey sticks to I keep the cats out of the tomatoes? Is a steady temperature around 70 day and night going to let them grow good and set and produce fruit? Do I need to dump even more Miracle-Gro on inside plants thann I do outside?

As you can see, I've got lots of questions. I hope some of you (looking at you GoDawg and you rxkeith and you nctomatoman). Any thoughts or help would be great, whether it's varieties, planting tips, indoor growing tips, whatever.

My thanks in advance...

Kevin

[GoDawgs]

I've not had any experience with dwarf tomatoes... yet ... but size-wise they might be above what you want or can do indoors. Here are some various dwarf variety descriptions:
https://heritageseedmarket.com/index...arf-varieties/

There are some folks from the Dwarf Tomato Project on this site who can help you there.

Cats? I have three of them and they've never bothered any of the micros on the table or any of the large houseplants on the floor. Oops, I take that back. Many years ago one cat loved to get into one large croton but a mesh onion bag cut open and laid around the top of the pot to cover the soil fixed that. Had to tie several rubber bands together to reach around the pot and hold the mesh in place. A small bungee cord would work.

Fertilizer? I just give them some Miracle Grow every other week.

[rxkeith]

i don't have much advice on this one for you.
dwarf tomatoes would most likely require some additional lighting to grow in doors
successfully. all depends on what you want to spend on high intensity lights, and
on the electrical bill.

now micro tomatoes you can grow on a window sill. or maybe get by with your four
foot shop lights. i started my first batch of micros in early february. the days were
starting to get longer, and sunnier, and the plants have done fairly well in one
gallon pots in a south facing window. our west windows are in an enclosed unheated
porch, so too cold to put plants there in feb, mar, and april.
i do not know how micros would fare here during the cold dark winter months. we
can go days without seeing the sun. i would maybe have to put the few plants i try
to grow on the plant stand upstairs with a third shop light instead of two that i use
for seedlings. we heat with wood, so the ground floor would be rather warm. upstairs
would be cooler, somewhere in the 50s on cold winter nights. just don't get out from
under the silk comforter, and you'll be fine.

fertilizer, use 1/4 strength when the plants are small every couple weeks, and maybe
half strength when plants are bigger.

cats, no experience there, my wife, and son are allergic to them. i am rather attached
to the two of them, so no cats.


you gotta give it a shot now that you put it out there. find a way to make it work.




keith

[Greatgardens]

This can be done, but to be half-way successful, you will need some good LED grow lights and about 15-18" of headroom from the top of your pot to the lights. If you have a south-facing window to help with the lighting, so much the better. Red Robin has done OK for me indoors, although I likely never got more than a dozen or so cherries from a plant. Tiny Tim can get quite a bit taller. I used around 8" plastic pots. Pollination is important. I used a small (~6") fan to help pollination.

Supply modest bottom heat for germination (the inexpensive heat mats are around 18 watts), and if your room is cool, consider leaving it on during some of the "sunlight" hours. It sounds appealing, but it is a lot of work and expense -- much cheaper to go to the grocery and pick up a package of "Campari." cocktail tomatoes, so it's got to be a labor of love. Certainly not complete, but hope this helps. BTW, Heritage Seed Mkt. (Bunny Hop) is the place to look for micro-dwarfs.

[D.J. Wolf]

Thanks everyone! I do already have 1 good LED grow light that I think will cover 2 plants easy enough. Maybe pick up an additional one or two if things take off and lock successful. I don't know, I just think that if I can do it, then there's no reason for me to go without good tasting tomatoes all winter. And on a year like we're having this year, I wouldn't be quite so anxious about getting them out in the garden. With the way the weather is going right now, I might not be able to plant out until after the 15th!

[oakley]

I've been growing year round for a few years now. I start a 1010 tray of micros in August, December and April.
Rugosa, Angora, and just added a carrot leaf last year.
You will find a few post using the search function...here is a link, http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ghlight=micros

^not sure if that will work

[oakley]

It is a fun winter project though small plants like a micro will not provide much fruit.
My interest is to advance and stabilize a variety much quicker. Looking for larger fruit in the carrot leaf.
I've been culling to keep at least three of the four varieties I'm growing. South sunny window with led time.

[GoDawgs]

D. J., just to give you an idea of how some of these grow, here's a shot of some micros on the porch last May 17. A couple of Whippersnappers on the left and a Red Robin on the right. They were started Jan 26 and stayed indoors until the porch temps got right. Once outside they finally got repotted to 2 gallons. Whippersnapper is definitely a hanging basket candidate!




Whippersnapper, 5/18/20:


This January I set up a different indoor lighting scheme involving a light fixture hung on chains from plant hangers that were already there.




Handy! Then I added a second fixture. I ended up with eight micros on the table, four under each fixture. Too many! This winter there will be just three under each light.

One more observation on growing these. They did OK in 24 oz cottage cheese containers, better in 32 oz yogurt containers but at some point they need watering every day, sometimes in the morning and again at night. At that point they need larger homes. A 10-12" hanging basket should be more than enough, I would think.

When I trimmed and repotted those four I was really surprised to see that the root balls weren't all bound up tight. To me that said that the frequently needed waterings weren't the result of the roots being so tight that water couldn't penetrate. It was more that the plants had grow much larger and sucked up the watering really fast. Just a thought. If anyone has thoughts on that, please do add them!