Now we all know that growing tomatoes indoors with grow light is a good idea. But how to grow it?
How To Grow Tomatoes Indoors
Tomatoes are not the easiest plant to grow successfully, whether outside in the garden or in a spare room. You will need to be committed to this to be successful, because there will be challenges along the way. Of course, a successful tomato harvest makes all the hard work worth the effort.
Choose The Right Tomato Variety
You will need to be well-versed in the needs of the different tomato varieties to choose the best one to grown in your situation. For example, there are tomatoes that bush out and some that grow on vines. You will need to determine which works best with your space.
Determinate Tomato Plants
Determinate tomato plants produce all their tomatoes at the same time. This variety gets its name because you can predict, or determine, how much it will produce.
Indeterminate Plants
This is the vine-type plant that continues to grow all season and keeps producing more tomatoes. It will produce an indeterminate number of tomatoes, because you never know how big it will get. Most hobbyists opt for determinate tomato plants indoors, because they are easier to predict and control.
Choose Your Potting Mix
As discussed earlier, it is best to get a sterile potting mix that does not have fungi or other undesirable ingredients. More important than sterility is that the soil is a variety that is good for drainage. A good coarse potting mix with ample drainage is crucial to setting up your tomato plants for success.
Pot Your Seeds Correctly
Using your egg carton or seed trays, place the potting mix into the trays. Then take 2 seeds and bury them about ¼ inch down into your soil in each tray or egg carton recess. Now take a water sprayer and mist all your trays and cover them up to keep the humidity in. Try to keep your seeding trays or egg cartons at about 63° Fahrenheit, or as close to it as you can. Maintaining the correct temperature is critical for germination. If all goes well, you should see little sprouts starting after two weeks or so.
Transplant Your Sprouts To Pots
After your seeds have begun to sprout and reached just about 2 inches tall, it is time to move them into a bigger container. To have a happy plant, your container needs to be a minimum of 12 inches deep, or the roots will not have enough space to expand.
Place Your Pots
At this point you need to make sure your pots are positioned in such a way that they can drain efficiently and have plenty of exposure to your light source. If you have several pots in the room, make sure each one has plenty of space around it for the bushes or vines to expand. Nobody wants to be crowded, and a corner is never a good place for a tomato plant. Place them with open air on all sides and several additional inches of space for expansion.
Growing Tomatoes Indoors With Grow Lights: Final Thoughts
Even if you live in an area with a suitable climate for tomatoes, you may still want to grow them indoors. Doing so means you have full control over everything.
Your plants are not at the mercy of the weather and other external factors. In addition, you can harvest tomatoes year-round from an indoor grow. Outdoors, you only get one harvest per year.