Indoor tomato plants?

[Happy prose]

Hi All,

Has anyone tried to grow tomatoes indoors? I'm thinking of trying cherry tomatoes. I have a south facing window that gets lots of sun. Any tips are appreciated. Also, how much will one plant yield?

[Happy prose]

Even the small cherry tomatoes? I thought the plant itself would be smaller.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

All of my cherry tomato plants have been too big to have in the house. They don't tend to remain small, but grow to several feet, with lots of vines. I grow them in a pot, on my balcony in the summer and just let the vines sprawl on the ground.

The plants I had would yield a small bowl about 2x/week, I had 3 of them.

[busymom]

My cherry tomato plants grow to be as big as "normal" tomato plants. They are excellent producers of those"cute little maters", and my kids love 'em! With 2 plants, we were picking a cereal bowl full per day when the growing season was at peak.

[Happy prose]

Thanks. I think I'm going to try it this spring! I'll post pictures. I so miss being able to garden like I did as a kid.

[olderburgher]

I have done it in the past in a south facing dining room window and two large pots set close together (one plant in each). Note however that to produce tomatoes you need to pollinate the tomato blossoms. To do that I used as cotton swab and passed pollen from each plant to the blossoms on the other. I was not 100% successful like the bees are but more like successful 40% of the time.

[Happy prose]

Oh I can't wait! Does anyone have any suggestions for maybe small pepper plants?

[blackcard]

Pollinate the blossoms? Couldn't I just let in some bees, or ladybugs, for a while?

[olderburgher]

No. You can't let bees in for "a while" and Lady Bugs do not pollinate. Bees are either in or out and aren't even out flying around outside when temps get below 40. Pollinating with a cotton swab allows you to have your plants and start growing tomatoes as early as February - long before the bees are even out. Also hives reduce their numbers of bees over winter so early spring there may be many fewer bees then you think. As a result they may be unreliable pollinators until late spring or early summer say when apple trees blossom. Even then you'd not want bees in the house but would have to take your plants outside.

[Happy prose]

I just read up on growing lettuce indoors. Sounds very doable!!

[bella]

I start all my plants from seed indoors. If you have just the smallest of outdoor space, you can have a container garden, just keep it well watered and fertilized. You could use a slow release variety that will get you through the growing season.