Supplemental lighting

Im thinking the winter sun will be enough with the added 4 hours of supplement,I can always add a bit more through out the day when I'm home.On a sunny day they'll be getting 10 hours sun and electric light a day the other 3/4 hours dappled light.

 

Locally, in the winter, many of the greenhouse grown tomatoes in the markets are grown in Canada. I am sure that they are using supplemental lighting and heat. Our problem in December is that there are so many cloudy days the light does not do much. Somewhere there are charts by month and location. For us, November is the worst month for light, getting only about 30 per cent of available light.

 

I've grown Toms and chilli and I doubt they had 6 hrs direct sunlight a day and I've had a good crop?

 

I can't speak to the conditions in the UK. Light is the reason I grow indoors in the winter where I control the conditions. Light is equally as important as nutrients to plants. I have a friend with an identical greenhouse, using the same methods and nutrients. His greenhouse receives light from early morning till sunset, mine is shaded by a hill and receives direct light for about six hours. His tomatoes are at least 25% larger than mine. The only difference is the light.

 

Thanks I maybe a bit slow as I'm new to all this green house lighting.I have grown hydro about twenty years ago indoors when it was newish.
I'm thinking or hoping I will get results but not the best.

 

Oh I am sure you will, the size and amount may not equal the summer crop, but they will taste better than what you can get in the market. My family raved over my indoor tomatoes last winter. I got sixteen from the plant; they were not huge, but they tasted fantastic. Good luck and give us a post with the results. It should be interesting.

 

If you have never grown tomatoes indoors before you should also know that it helps to pollinate them. You simply tap the truss to shake the pollen down onto the pistil. It is best to do that when the flower is open like the bell on a trumpet.

 

Thank you Hydro,much appreciated.

 

Winter time, or summer time?

Winter sun has about 90% less useful energy for the plants than Summer sun, which means it is as good as useless. If you want to supplement the daylight I would suggest that you light during the dark hours, not during the daylight ones as less of your energy will be wasted if you light when there is no sun at all, plus the bulb will contribute to the heat requirement at a time when temperature is coldest.

But I feel we've had this conversation before ...

 

Does anyone know the best temperature for growing Tomatoes,many thanks.

 

@JWK That's rather low overnight temps for tomatoes!