When you decide to grow tomatoes indoors, space is a big consideration. Vining, or indeterminate tomatoes, can grow 25-feet tall! I'm guess you don't have that kind of space indoors. Be sure to look for "bush" tomatoes, also called determinate tomatoes.

Determinate tomato varieties are shorter and bushier, growing to 3 to 5 feet and putting on most of their fruit at the same time. Determinate types, like 'Homeslice', are better suited to normal indoor growing spaces. Many new dwarf and mini-tomato plants are quite compact, making them perfect for container growing.

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Growing in a hydroponic system requires different media. Expanded clay pellets, known as hydroton, are often used as a supportive substrate in hydroponic and aeroponic growing systems.

Hydroton is usually held in baskets that are suspended in water, or in pots where water is recirculated. They hydroton creates a support structure for the plant roots as they are bathed in water from the hydronponic system.

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If you're a budding plant collector, you might soon find that your'e running out of prime window real estate for your plants. As you move away from the window, your plant collection ever-expanding, light levels will decrease. That means you may run out of room to keep the types of plants you want to keep, or be able to encourage flowers on your blooming plants in lower-light areas.

Most succulents won't thrive long-term in a standard windowsill, as they typically need brighter light. Creating an area where you can add grow lamps - say a shelf in your kitchen or guest room- can help you deliver enough light to your favorite plant companions. I created this shelving area in my garage to house an overflow of my houseplants and bloomers. I use an 8-lamp HO T5 fixture that hangs above the area, lighting assorted orchids, African violets, succulents, herbs, and more. I can rotate these plants back into my living space when they are blooming, or harvest herbs indoors all winter.

If you start seriously collecting certain types of indoor plants or you want to enter specimens in flower shows and plant competitions, an indoor-light setup will be necessary to stimulate production and force flowering on a schedule.

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The world of LED technology for growing plants has exploded over the past few years. Their growing popularity is based on improving cost and energy efficiency. Most of the self- contained growing units on the market, such as those intended for growing greens or herbs on your kitchen counter or even integrated into your kitchen fixtures, use LEDs.

Small LED lamps and fixtures such as this one are typically affordable. You can use them to grow small succulents, microgreens, small orchids, or low-growing herbs.

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On the seed packet you will find information on when you can expect flowers or fruit from a mature plant, also known as days-to-harvest. Days-to-harvest varies, depending on whether you direct seed or transplant your edible crops.

If you direct seed your crop into the garden or the container in which it will grow indoors, the days-to-harvest number is calculated from the date of germination. For crops that are first grown as a transplant that will be repotted, the days-to-harvest is calculated from the date of transplanting.

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The world of LED technology for growing plants has exploded over the past few years. Their growing popularity is based on improving cost and energy efficiency. Most of the self- contained growing units on the market, such as those intended for growing greens or herbs on your kitchen counter or even integrated into your kitchen fixtures, use LEDs.

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When you're growing tomatoes in containers, it's important to remember that their root systems typically grow wider than deeper. Tomatoes growing indoors will need a good sized container and typically need to be staked. I've been asked about growing tomatoes in fabric containers, which I love for many reasons. Fabric containers do allow plant roots to breath and can help prevent over-watering and root girdling. They are also washable and reusable.

BUT, sometimes fabric growing pots can lose too much moisture too quickly for tomato plants, especially in a warm environment. So I don't recommend growing tomatoes outside in fabric pots if you live in a hot climate. If you're growing tomatoes indoors in fabric pots, under HID grow lights, know that you'll probably have to water them more frequently.

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Many LED grow-light fixtures labeled as full-spectrum may provide a mixture of only red and blue light, sometimes with IR and UV mixed in. Technically they are not full-spectrum, but nanometer-specific. The visible light these lamps produce has the appearance of a distinct color—blue, red, pink, or purple.

This is not a problem for your plants, as they use these spectrums most effectively, but if you don’t want distinctly colored light in your living room, these color-specific LED fixtures are better suited for the closet or grow tent.

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