One of my favorite hobbies is organic gardening. Because I had to move this Spring I missed out on having a garden and decided to start some tomatoes in the fall to harvest in winter.

I have never grown an indoor food crop before this, so much of the process has been learning and experimenting along the way. As I said in the video, I used regular household florescent lighting and I estimate the electricity cost to be about /month, give or take. In addition to the tomatoes, I also use the tomato leaves for culinary use and the lights also support various other herbs/spices such as rosemary, basil and cilantro. We also had some salad greens earlier in the year that we have since harvested.

While the tomatoes are growing, before they flower, I recommend an organic fertilizer high in Nitrogen such as Happy Frog Tomato and Vegetable: http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Tomato-Vegetable-7-4-5-Pounds/dp/B0001YC3EQ/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&keywords=happy%20frog&linkCode=ur2&qid=1389974484&sr=8-3&tag=030812364706-20

When the tomatoes begin to flower, you will want to add in some fertilizer higher in Phosphorus such as this organic fertilizer: http://www.amazon.com/FoxFarm-FX14002-Liquid-Concentrate-0-01-0-3-0-7/dp/B0002KHDLW/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&keywords=big%20bloom&linkCode=ur2&qid=1389974622&sr=8-1&tag=030812364706-20

Grow Bags are a very cheap pot for your indoor plants and you can find them in hydroponics shops or you can order them online and I am using the 1 gallon size, although I would recommend larger for tomatoes: http://www.amazon.com/Gal-Grow-Bag-10-ea/dp/B002JLJEQO/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&keywords=hydroponic%20grow%20bags&linkCode=ur2&qid=1389975470&sr=8-7&tag=030812364706-20

I use a very cheap moisture/light/PH meter to monitor the needs of my plants and it works great. I highly recommend this one for the price and function: http://www.amazon.com/Plant-Flowers-Tester-Moisture-Meter/dp/B0085J1N6I/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&keywords=ph%20meter%20moisture%20meter&linkCode=ur2&qid=1389977276&sr=8-3&tag=030812364706-20
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Urban Farming: Growing Indoor Winter Tomatoes

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20 Comments

  • Mark Cees

    Great video. Thanks. Some of the "Pro" gardeners might think that your setup is not up to their standards, but you grew tomatoes and have some beauties. More than a lot of us can say. I have not yet tried to do this, but I will in the near future. The only thing I read that you might consider is to use T8 or T5 bulbs – the are apparently better for tomatoes than the T 12 you are using. Thanks again!

  • Mani Mansourian

    Hi thanks for this video, can My tomato grows and give me tomato indoor? Just With growing light ? And please tell me what kind of lamp in suited.

  • taz man

    Thank you so much for sharing this experience. I have been researching this for a few weeks and like you have found very little info about winter tomatoes with grow lights in the basement.

    There is a incredible amount of info for growing pot or weed but if A guy wants vine ripened tomatoes in the winter theres not much out there.

    Thanks again and well done.

  • Loren's Garden (Garden Diary)

    Great eperiment, I've also grown snack sweet pepper indoor since 2013 and now autumn 2015 thesame plant is still alive and now have baby pepper in it.Thank you for this video. Gr. Loren

  • Puddy Tat

    When i do this im well aware i look like a divvy but i gently blow raspberries on my flowers it vibrates them ,it seems to be working i only do the indoor ones

  • yes350yes

    Flipping definitely not a good way,  shaking , or what I do is use an electric toothbrush which will vibrate and pollenate.  I have read that when the flowers open up completely they are ready to be pollenated.  BTW  very nice and well-done video.  I myself am trying to grow or have started from seed and cutting a couple of tomatoes  one a cherry tom and one of a larger brand.  Steve

  • Juan L

    quick question, can you switch over to flower with an hps bulb after a certain amount of veg growth or is their a specific time period to switch over?

  • Jenn S

    Nice video. Exciting to see the end result! I am curious to find out how many months you can get tomatoes off the plant once they start producing? Thanks!

  • jackatube

    How many lumens of light do you have on stage 2 (when you pay $12/mo)? Or, if you don't know the lumens, how many watts are all lights combined?
    Tip: next time put aluminium foil around and above so it reflects more light to the plants.

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