HELP All seedlings die every time! INDOOR grow

[Two_Sheds]

I grew mine indoors no probs without lights, started them on a shady window sill

Just wondering ... did you get your plants to produce fruit?

[esbo]

Just wondering ... did you get your plants to produce fruit?

I should perhaps qualify that I *started* mine indoors, they are now outside in the garden, fighting it out with the slugs. And yes they are producing fruit but none of it is ripe yet the biggest is about an inch in diameter.

[Two_Sheds]

Yep, that's what I thought. It's easy to get the plants started indoors (indeed they need to be if you're sowing in Jan/Feb), but they need better conditions & more sun in order to fruit

I had two tomatoes indoors for as long as I could bear it (they were constantly infested with greenfly, despite squishing & spraying) ... they had flowers aplenty, but no fruit. They've now been outside for several weeks and I have (drumroll please) three miniature fruits forming. The ones put in the gh in April have been fruiting well for weeks

[esbo]

Yep, that's what I thought. It's easy to get the plants started indoors (indeed they need to be if you're sowing in Jan/Feb), but they need better conditions & more sun in order to fruit

I had two tomatoes indoors for as long as I could bear it (they were constantly infested with greenfly, despite squishing & spraying) ... they had flowers aplenty, but no fruit. They've now been outside for several weeks and I have (drumroll please) three miniature fruits forming. The ones put in the gh in April have been fruiting well for weeks

Were the flowers pollinating? That could be the problem, it seems they need some help if there are no bees, you have to shake them or something to pollinate them, so maybe they were never pollinated.
That could be the problem, I am a total novice but it sounds fairly likely.
I often see a bee buzzing around my tomato flower, possibly the same one I only every see one but he seems a hard worker. Also the wind outside will give them a little shake.
Sound to me like they were never pollinated, if they were I am sure they would get fruit of some sort, for a start it is warmer inside.
As I said I am no expect though but it seems logical to me.

Also are you sowing in jan/feb? sounds real early to me.
mine were not sown until April, mid April I think, one is 4 1/2 feet tall now.

So I think sowing later may help, it may get so cold it kills them or they may get confused about the
time of year.

I would definitely try sowing at start of April, maybe a little earlier if you like but all mine came up real
quick, no lights, I don't think you gain much from a very early start, there is not enough sunlight
for them to grow very much, the light is weak and only for a few hours, the tomatos won't like that much.

I would say starting 2 months early only probably gives you a couple of week start because they will
grow much slower.

Seems I have confused you with the OP somewhat, my apologies, you seem to be doing fine if you have had plants fruiting well for weeks. I spotted my first fruit on the 17th so the oldest is about 3 weeks old, but a long while before they ripen I think.

[Two_Sheds]

Esbo, thanks for your help. It seems I have a lot to learn

[Andrew wakeman]

Is that cfl a proper grow light or just a house light? However have you thought about a small grow tent and use a led grow light such as a hydrogrow penetrator 84 x pro these give of almost no heat and you can use them to grow from seed to picking and the lights last for years then you can grow whatever you want. Type hydrogrow penetrator 84 xpro into youtube and watch how cucumbers grow and toms etc good luck pal

[esbo]

Thank for the reply,
I live in a flat , so my only choice is indoors.
The only reason I got the light that close is because they look like they stopped growing, they are 2 weeks old.
the light are about an inch from the seedlings.
I'm growing some more in the mini-greenhouse, I'll replant in a day or two, I'll make sure the light are at lease 3 or 4 inches away.

lets hope this time it works

Thanks...

I think plants always look like they have stopped growing after a couple of weeks, they so in my experience anyway, I think sometime people try to care to much for plants and do more harm than good.
I tend to drown my plants by over watering, think that done my onions in lol. I also burn them with fertiliser, but then I see stuff growing like crazy in my garden like the big creeper I have to chop back every year and think, well they seem to manage perfectly well by them selves!! Left to it's own devices it would have completely covered my house and the rest of the street probably.
I too think you do not need the lights in summer, all my stuff will grown on a sunny window sill or even one in the shade, or even just where they get a bit of indirect daylight.

Plants are sensitive to too much heat, that is why they are green, if they were black they would simply melt in the sun. I would stick a thermometer under the lights and see what kind of a roasting you are subjecting them too!! remember out doors there is cooling breezes, inside the temperature on the leaf surface could be roasting them.

Good luck!!