In today’s article we will discuss some of the procedures that our readers can follow to grow tomatoes in their houses under the lights.
If you don’t have proper setup in your indoor, you need grow tents, check these out the best indoor grow tent available to buy now.
What are Tomatoes?
Tomato also known as tomato plant is an edible red fruit of Solanum lycopersicum, and it originated from Central and South America. The word tomato comes from a Spanish word of “tomate”.
Why Should I Grow Tomatoes Indoor?
Growing tomatoes in door is very rewarding apart from that there are many benefits of growing tomatoes in your house. We will discuss some of the important advantages in the following points.
- Taste: The biggest benefit of growing tomatoes indoor is that the level of test and excellence of it. Indoor tomatoes basically have better taste and flavor as compared to other options.
- Healthy: Another benefit of growing tomatoes in the indoors is that it is considered healthy because they are preservative-free.
- Fun: Some people consider the activity of growing tomatoes indoor quite fun and enjoyable.
- You can grow tomatoes year round: Another benefit of growing tomatoes indoor is that you can do it around the year at any given time under the LED lights.
- Stress Reliever: Growing tomatoes indoor also helps some people to relive their stress and tension.
- Credibility: When you make something yourself and with your very own hands, you tend to believe on its authenticity more as compared to other options available. Outside in the market people use many chemicals and preservatives to keep their industry growing, however when you plant something on your own then you know that it is not going to leave any ill effects on you and your family.
- It does not require much space: Growing tomatoes inside your houses will not take much space and it is much more appealing option for those people who want to grow tomatoes but do not have any outdoor space available.
Now that we know there are many benefits of growing tomatoes indoor now it’s time to talk about some more practical steps.
The steps for Growing Tomatoes Indoor:
There are many stages of growing tomatoes indoor – we will discuss the major points here.
- Germination: This is the first stage that happens after you have planted the seeds to moist soil and with the temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. After the week at 75 F, the embryo that is growing will burst from the hard seed and will push it way through the soil. Shortly after this, the first pair of true leaves will form. This shows that the plant is moving towards its sexual maturity and that is why it will look much like mature plant’s leaves.
- Vegetative Growth: The vegetative form of tomato plant life begins after the seed has germinated. At this time the only focus of the plant is collect as many building clocks as it can to help in the process of photosynthesis. You should make sure to provide it with rich soil and warm temperature to make the growth explosive.
- Fertilization: Every flower contains both male and female sexual organs to help them to self-pollinate. Once fruits have formed and ripened the tomato seeds will be able to grow in seedlings. And at the end the first tomato fruit will develop completely.
Growing indoor requires you to provide all the natural resource a plant needs in a normal outdoor environment such as water, sunlight etc.
Getting sunlight to the indoor plants is a bit difficult task if you do not have a proper room where you get the direct sunlight, in such situation you need to provide artificial lights – aka grow lights which can act as a substitute for sunlight.
There are 2 types of plants, one which requires low light and the other requires high light. Tomatoes fall in the second category, it requires high light. It also depends how much growing space are you using and how many plants are there in that space.
For the expert growers selecting a proper grow light is not a big task, but for a normal person who is just starting their indoor gardening, well it’s a tough task.
We are here to help you select the best LED grow lights for tomatoes growing in-house.
Top 5 LED Lights for Growing Tomatoes Indoor
Apollo Horticulture has the wide range of LED Grow Lights in different sizes that no other company offers (as far this list).
Total 9 different sizes grow lights (suitable for all stages of plant growth, from vegetative to flowering) are available for sale starting from 75W to 1200W. Each light comes with built in fans, stainless steel hanging kit and 2 year warranty.
Advanced Platinum LED Grow Lights are best and well known name in grow light industry. They produce the top quality and powerful grow lights with unmatched features.
They also offer a complete 12 band spectrum that ranges from Ultraviolet to Infrared, suitable for indoor plant life-cycle.
Advanced Platinum grow lights come in wide range of sizes, such as 150W, 300W, 450W, 600W, 900W or 1200W.
ViparSpectra Reflector Series LED grow lights is an excellent collection of well designed, well made grow lights, at reasonable.
These are made in China product but are stylish and have top notch features you would expect from a top quality grow light.
You have 5 options to choose from, depending on the number of plants and growing space, various sizes includes 300W (3×3′ coverage), 450W (3.5×3.5′ coverage), 600W (4×4′ coverage), 900W (4.5×4.5′ coverage) and 1200W (5×5′ coverage).
GalaxyHydro is a well know name in making LED grow lights. Most of their lights are full spectrum needed for both vegetative and flowering stages of growth. They are lightweight and easy to install. Each light comes with a small fan built in and 2 years warranty.
They produces different lights such as 300W model and 600W model for larger grow space.
King Plus LED grow lights uses new and improved Double Chips 10W (2pcs 5w chips in every led) technology in their latest LEDs lights, which is much brighter and proficient than 3W and 5W LEDs. Consumes about 210w power only, they are brighter and last long.
King Plus lights come in 4 different sizes – 600W, 800W, 1000W and 1200W.
Growing Tomatoes Indoors with Artificial Lights
If you notice we only listed LED lights for growing tomatoes with artificial lights, wondering why?
Here is the answer:
LED grow lights produce more light per watt than the other lights such as HID or fluorescent.
Most LEDs come with small fan built in, that means they also run cooler than the other and lesser electricity costs.
They are designed specifically to emit the exact wavelength of lights that tomato plants need the most thus result in better and bigger yield.
FAQ about Growing Tomatoes Indoors with Artificial Lights
1. How many hours of light needed for growing tomatoes with artificial lights?
There is no fixed number of hours, it depends on few conditions – various factors come into effect when it comes to hours of light for needed for tomatoes.
In a normal situation you will need at least 6-12 hours per day to product good quality tomatoes.
Ensure that your tomatoes plants need darkness too if you provide too much light then it will become harmful to the plants instead of doing any good to it, especially if the plants are growing indoors under artificial light.
2. How much Sunlight does tomato plant needs?
If you are growing indoor than you don’t need sunlight at all!
But you need to provide artificial light instead of sunlight. You can use LED lights for this purpose instead.
As stated above you would need at least 6 hours of light daily for your indoor tomato plants to grow properly and produce fruits.
Watch this interesting time lapse video of a tomato plant growing under an LED Grow Light.
Enjoy growing Tomatoes indoor with artificial (LED) lights.
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