Hydroponic Tomato Varieties for small indoor grow tent

[Virtex]

I will soon be purchasing a 2x2 or 2x4 grow tent. I really like Goose Creek and Nepal as my go to outdoor varieties. I am looking for a good yielder in a small space.

Any suggestions on varieties that would be good to grow in a small tent?

Thanks,

- Scott

[Cole_Robbie]

Just wondering, but what do you like about the tent idea?

Do you want a slicer tomato, or is a cherry ok?

[Virtex]

Cole,

The room I will be using is on the front of the house which might attract attention with bright lights. The tent will keep the light inside, it is also reflective inside which helps with the lighting.

Slicer would be good, was hoping to produce about 5-10 pounds in my small space. I think it is possible. Just thought I would ask, in the hopes someone had a good suggestion. I need to start some seed soon to get it going before my stuff arrives. If it comes down to it I would choose goose creek but I am worried it will max out in a 70 inch tall tent pretty fast. But, maybe there is a way to make it a bush and still get good results.

Cherries would probably give the best results, since it is my first time inside it will be a lot of trial and error, was hoping to have little to no error.

[maf]

2x2, what does that mean? Two feet wide and two feet long?

There is not enough information to answer this question properly, things we need to know include the type of lighting to be employed and how you are going to be ventilating this grow tent.

In any case, you would want to be looking at dwarf varieties because you need to restrict the height. Mainly for light penetration issues, secondly because of the height of the tent.

[Cole_Robbie]

Just cover the windows.

My problem with the tents is that they trap heat. You need a fairly big light to grow tomatoes, which will make a lot of heat. You would need to be moving air constantly through the tent to vent the heat. Without the tent, you can use bigger lights, so in my opinion the tent holds you back more than it helps. If you were growing greens under flourescents, it would be different.

I second the suggestion for a dwarf if you want slicer-size tomatoes.If you want a cherry tomato, there are several compact hybrids that are easy to grow. I like Terrenzo and Lizzano.

[loudog]

Cyril's Choice is a determinate\ dwarf tomato with very good flavor and they grew to the size of 2- 2 1/2 ft. with fruit the size of large salad type in my garden this year (3 plants). Louie

[Worth1]

Ditch the tent and put up foil and or dark room shades on your Windows.
Nobody's business what you do in your house.
Worth

[heirloomtomaguy]

Originally Posted by Virtex

Cole,

The room I will be using is on the front of the house which might attract attention with bright lights. The tent will keep the light inside, it is also reflective inside which helps with the lighting.

I start all my seeds in what should be a breakfast nook in my laundry room attached to my kitchen. My wife likes to look at the foothills while she is doing laundry so we have no blinds on the windows. At night the grow lights pretty much shine bright enough down my driveway to illuminate the whole cul de sac. They turn off at ten so no one is bothered by the light. That being said my next door neighbor thought i was growing weed for the longest time. It was the running joke between us until i showed them the hundreds of tomato seedling billowing out of my laundry room. Then they just thought i was crazy for growing so many tomato plants. So my point is who cares what the neighbors think about the sun illuminating the front of your house from the inside. Just share some tomatoes in the winter and they will be fine.

[KarenO]

When my lights are out, I set them up in from of a huge south facing window to give my plants both as much natural sunlight as possible supplemented by the fluorescent. Pretty sure you could see my lights from the international space station. I am growing legal plants so I don't care if the cops show up. If they ever do, I'll give them a tomato and post a picture here and on my facebook page
KarenO window light plus artificial light is a great combination.

[JamesL]

Virtex,
I would agree that you need to go with Dwarfs. Pick almost anything coming out of the dwarf project. Rosella Purple and Sweet Sue were both tasty.

Growing indoors - You need to be obvious about it and just cut the lights at 10 pm. This is my second house answering the question. People are never 100% convinced until they see what you are doing.
I am always nervous that someone will drive by and think they see something they don't.
The police are not going to politely knock and ask what I am growing. And if you think you have recourse when they don't, well maybe legally but good luck with that. Too much precedent, at least here, of there not being any. Better to be open and obvious and never have the problem.

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by heirloomtomaguy

I start all my seeds in what should be a breakfast nook in my laundry room attached to my kitchen. My wife likes to look at the foothills while she is doing laundry so we have no blinds on the windows. At night the grow lights pretty much shine bright enough down my driveway to illuminate the whole cul de sac. They turn off at ten so no one is bothered by the light. That being said my next door neighbor thought i was growing weed for the longest time. It was the running joke between us until i showed them the hundreds of tomato seedling billowing out of my laundry room. Then they just thought i was crazy for growing so many tomato plants. So my point is who cares what the neighbors think about the sun illuminating the front of your house from the inside. Just share some tomatoes in the winter and they will be fine.

I actually did laugh out loud when I read they thought you were crazy for growing so many tomato plants.