Keep your indoor tomato plants thriving with these top tips.
Potential pitfalls and tasty triumphs when growing tomatoes make them an edible garden favorite all summer long.
But what happens when you want fresh tomatoesfor your soupin winter?
Or you don’t have access to outdoor space for your tomato containers?
They’ll also need hot, humid temperatures, like what they’d get outside.
Use seed trays or even an empty egg carton filled with planting mix to start the plants.
Light
Tomatoes thrive in full sunand need at least six hoursif not moreof direct light daily.
Soil
Use a pre-made soilless potting mix when growing tomatoes indoors.
Keep the soil moist but well-draining and slightly acidic with a pH between 5.8 and 6.8.
Water
Tomato plants growing indoors require more frequent watering than those grown outdoors.
Use your hands to feel the soil to know when it’stime to water.
Wait until the first inch or so is dry to water again.
Keep the soil consistently moist, but well-drained.
At night, temperatures can drop down to the mid-60s.
Mimic sunny summer environments to help them thrive.
Avoid placing plants near air vents.
Shield them from cold drafts and excessive heat from furnace vents.
Adding a mister or pebble tray of water can help, too.
Then, use a weekly water-soluble or organic fertilizer for edible plants.
Add a granular fertilizer every four to six weeks.
In general, tomatoes need a 10-10-10 fertilizer with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Many commercial fertilizers will also include calcium, which can help stave off blossom-end rot.
you might alsouse compostas a fertilizer.
Hanging cultivars can also be suitable for small spaces.
Determinate varieties need very little pruning.
You must remove side shoots that grow off the main branch in indeterminate varieties,like beefsteak.
When pruning plants, cut dry plants early in the morning every few weeks.
Continue to remove suckers as they emerge, using your fingers to pinch off suckers under 2 inches long.
Tomatoes can easily propagate using cuttings taken from seedlings.
It’s best to do this earlier in the season.
Plant them six to eight weeks before you want to harvest.
Gently pack the soil around the base of the stem and water deeply when transferring.
Overwintering
Tomatoes growing indoors still need plenty of light during the winter season.
Aphids, whiteflies, spider mites, andcommon pestscan infest the plant but are treatable if caught early.
If these methods are not solving the problem, consider using neem oil.
Some diseases that impact tomato plants growing indoors include rot, wilt, and blight from waterlogged roots.
Common Problems With Tomato Plants
Indoor tomatoes face many of the same problems as outdoor plants.
Keep an eye on things to ensure they get the care they need.
Check on the light and water they’re receiving.
Adding fertilizer or amending the soil can also help.
No Fruit
Your tomato plant should flower a few weeks before it begins to fruit.
To ensure healthy tomato plants and avoidyellowing leaves, use a fertilizer with iron, magnesium, and nitrogen.
This is when the end of the tomato opposite the stem develops black spots that are rotting.
Remove these tomatoes, add a nitrate fertilizer to the soil, and water regularly.
In general, it takes 60 to 80 days after planting for tomatoes to fruit.
Determinant varieties will fruit for a few weeks.
After harvest, it’s possible for you to start the planting and growing process again.
Because those factors don’t usually come into play indoors (hopefully, you don’thave bees inside!
), you may have to hand-pollinate.
Simply shake the plant gently or tap the flower lightly to release the pollen.
Hand-pollinate every two or three days, ideally around midday.
North Carolina Cooperative Extension.Solanum lycopersicum (tomato, tomatoes).
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.Tomato plant.
U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library.Hydroponics.
Joy A, Hudelson B.Blossom End Rot.
University of Wisconsin Division of Extension Wisconsin Horticulture.
Published February 28, 2024.
