Anyone grown tomatoes as a house plant?

[GardenNinja]

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in sowing some tomato seeds this month to grow on the window sill as an experiment, just to see if I can have a harvest by Christmas. I've been googling which varieties are suitable for 6-10inch pots and it seems like micro tom, red robin, vilma, and tiny tim are the most popular. Has anyone grown these 'super dwarf' type tomatoes indoors before? Which variety gives the best yield and/or has the best taste?

[Alison]

I've grown Totem in the past and they've been quite nice. Have sowed in January and had an early crop but if you want them for Christmas you'll be fighting against the tide as the days are so short the plants won't get much light. I've not bothered for the past couple of years though.

If you want fresh toms at Christmas I've found that some of the keeping ones (see Real Seeds, they sell one but can't remember it's name), they're great, stored them just under ripe and was still eating them (stored in a cool room out the fridge) until mid Jan last year.

[tamsin]

I've brought flower buckets in at the end of the season, I had a self-sown one that was very late - or take cuttings just before they start getting a bit sad and I'd think that would time about right for Christmas. They didn't seem as happy though, I think they prefer a bit more sun it can be a bit dull by mid-winter.

[Florence Fennel]

I doubt that you could keep a plant going until Christmas - there's not enough light. Nothing to stop you having a try, you might be successful!

[eirish]

I'm growing Micro Tom on a windowsill at the moment. Loads of green fruit but nothing ripe yet. There was a thread about them a few weeks back.

[chris]

I grow minibell on my kitchen windowsil

[Florence Fennel]

I've got minibell at work Chris, but they'll be long gone before Advent

[lukens]

I found this article about growing tomatoes indoors over winter on Pinterest.

Its main tip seems to be not to use the dwarf determinate varieties, and instead go for a slow growing indeterminate cherry or plumb variety.

[GardenNinja]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. My expectations are now fully in check so I'll just try one variety and see how it goes.

Thanks for the link, Lukens. Am I right to presume that indeterminate varieties do better in winter because they are bigger and able to absorb more light than the tiny determinate varieties?

[lukens]

It seemed to be more that their indeterminate nature would mean they would keep putting in the effort, whereas the determinate ones would have a little go at it, then decide they've had enough.

[Two_Sheds]

All the toms & chillies that I keep indoors end up smothered in greenfly, despite daily squishing. I hate them. I've just put the last two plants outside because I'm so fed up of the mess the fly is making

[poly]

I think you would struggle trying to grow anything but the smallest growing tomatoes indoors in the UK during winter. Grown in the house they tend to get leggy and need lots of light to keep them growing and fruiting well. Mini or micro tomatoes should do ok if started early enough. Sweet and Neat are quite a good variety too and will flower and fruit over quite a long period.

[GardenNinja]

Two Sheds, were the flies inhabiting the compost or the foliage of the tomatoes? I was thinking of using a sub-irrigated planter so that I can cover the compost with plastic to avoid insects living on it.

Thanks for the suggestion, poly. Will do more research on sweet and neat.