Top 5 Tips for Growing Tomatoes Indoors
Growing tomatoes indoors can be very rewarding and enjoyable, especially if you have limited space within your garden. Not only will this allow you to enjoy organically grown produce, but also help you save a bit. But there are a few issues you must address first before you can start growing your very own indoor tomatoes – this will be variety, soil, care, flowering and pollination.
To eliminate any concern about growing tomatoes indoors, here are some great tips that experts themselves provide for those who are just starting;
- Variety – There are many varieties of tomatoes that you can choose from but only a few that will fare particularly well indoors. For this, experts suggest that you choose the crack resistant variety.
- Soil – A good starting soil mix can get your tomatoes off to a roaring start by allowing them to grow much faster as compared to using just about any soil. You’ll be able to purchase standard potting soil mixes from local nurseries that you can find within your area and modify this mixture according to your needs. If you’re a beginner though, it would be best to leave this mix alone for the moment as adding in more chemicals to the soil might affect the end result. If you really want to modify your soil mix, it’s advised that you put in equal parts of perlite, vermiculite, and sphagnum peat plus about a teaspoon of hydrated lime for best results.
- Care – When starting, you need to remember that tomato seeds should be planted about ¼ of an inch deep and about eight inches away from each other, to prevent crowding later on. Also, during the first few days after planting, cover your pots to keep them from drying out. With the proper lighting and temperature, your indoor tomato seeds will be up in 5 – 12 days, and can be transferred in their own 6 inch containers once they reach 1 ½ inches tall.
- Flowering – In growing tomatoes indoors, force flowering is probably one of the trickiest phases there is. In this process, you might want to consider transferring your tomatoes to 3 gal. Containers in order to insure that it will have all the space it needs for proper growth. For the first few weeks, you’ll want to feed them with a heavy mixture of 10-52-70 ratio fertilizer. After this, you’ll just want to concentrate on giving them 16-16-16 fertilizer to promote continuous flowering.
- Pollination – If flowering is the trickiest part in growing tomatoes then pollination will be the trickiest part in terms of flowering. As soon as flowers start to develop and open, you’ll need to manually pollinate them every day. Experts suggest that you do this process during the time of the day that is ideally humid for your tomatoes (sometime between 11:30 -12:30). Be careful not to pollinate too early or too late as it might affect the quality of your tomatoes later on.
As a final tip in growing tomatoes indoors, you’ll need to remember that as soon as your plants start to blossom, you’ll probably want to switch to stronger light. Check on the various indoor lighting tips and find out which one really is advisable for your tomatoes. With the right tools and information on hand, you’ll be able to enjoy your fresh, quality home grown produce within 60 to 80 days.
