How much HID lighting for tomatoes in 5x5 tent? Any other indoor advice?

twalte said:

Hello RIU gardening community,
I’m looking for some tomato guidance as I’ve really never grown them before, and I am trying my first run in a tent this winter. I have my choice of a 400 watt ballast, 600 watt ballast or 1000 watt ballast. I see a lot of tomato growers using fluorescent lighting....very little discussion on using HID (just due to electrical cost I’m sure....I’m doing this as a hobby so the cost efficiency doesn’t matter too much. I’m looking for top quality homegrown tomatoes that I can be proud to share with my family in winter. Do tomatoes simply not require the same amount of lighting as marijuana, or would the higher energy usage provide me with a better crop?

Room: 5x5 tent with Sun System 6” Blockbuster lamp
Lighting: Metal Halide for veg, HPS for flowering. (How much wattage and why?)
Soil: Fox Farm Ocean Forest mixed with about 40 percent chunky perlite
Nutes : Botanicare Kind line, CalMag
Planned germination temp 78 degrees
Crops: 2 determinant plants (Siberian Heirloom), 2 indeterminant (1 cherry tomato, I Black Krim)
Containers: 5 gallon smart pots
Training: tomato cages. (Does topping work the same as cannabis?)
Pollination: planning to use electric toothbrush to agitate pollen

Quick Questions,
What would be the benefit of running the higher wattage HID lighting in a 5x5 for tomatoes.

Should I save the money and run under 400 watts for the entire grow, or increase wattage as I get closer to flowering? What would i gain? More fruit, or better fruit?

Do tomatoes respond to topping the same way that cannabis does?

I welcome any other guidance on how tomatoes are different than growing cannabis.

Click to expand...

twalte said:

Hello RIU gardening community,
I’m looking for some tomato guidance as I’ve really never grown them before, and I am trying my first run in a tent this winter. I have a 400 watt ballast, 600 watt ballast and 1000 watt ballast. I see a lot of tomato growers using fluorescent lighting....very little discussion on using HID (just due to electrical cost I’m sure....I’m doing this as a hobby so the cost efficiency doesn’t matter too much, it I don't want to be wasteful either). Do tomatoes simply not require the same amount of lighting as marijuana, or would the higher energy usage provide me with a better crop?

Room: 5x5 tent with Sun System 6” Blockbuster lamp
Lighting: Metal Halide for veg, HPS for flowering. (How much wattage and why?)
Soil: Fox Farm Ocean Forest mixed with about 40 percent chunky perlite
Nutes : Botanicare Kind line, CalMag
Planned germination temp 78 degrees
Crops: 2 determinant plants (Siberian Heirloom), 2 indeterminant (1 cherry tomato, I Black Krim)
Containers: 5 gallon smart pots
Training: tomato cages. (Does topping work the same as cannabis?)

Quick Questions,
What would be the benefit of running the higher wattage HID lighting in a 5x5 for tomatoes.

Up until a certain point, it would be a waste of money and possibly stress your plants just like with cannabis. Once the plants are mature and flowering though, as Yodaweed stated more energy can translate into bigger fruits assuming you're providing extra water/nutes/etc.

Should I save the money and run under 400 watts for the entire grow, or increase wattage as I get closer to flowering? What would i gain? More fruit, or better fruit?

Definitely run under 400w. To a certain extent, plants act the same. We wouldn't run clones under 1000w at first, we start them off nice and slow at the lowest wattage we can get away with. Let the tomatoes acclimate themselves to their new environment before adding wattage. Think of your light like you would your nutes, start slow and react to what the plant is trying to tell you. Too much light is significantly more difficult to deal with than too little light. 4 tomato plants won't need over 400w of light for quite a while, 400w should be fine even in the first couple weeks of flower. Light = energy/photosynthesis, and budding/producing fruits is where the plant needs the most energy. I wouldn't up the wattage until I started seeing fruits growing for over a week, and even when I did up the wattage it would only be to 75% output. Once the plant starts to bud in abundance, then you can go ahead and deliver 100% output because the plants will actually make full use of that light. If your plants aren't making full use of the light, you're just adding heat to the room and more $ to your electric bill.

Do tomatoes respond to topping the same way that cannabis does?

Just like with cannabis, it will likely depend on the strain. I've never felt a need to top tomatoes, but I've also never done them indoors either. With 4 plants, you may have to look into topping for sure.

I welcome any other guidance on how tomatoes are different than growing cannabis.

Click to expand...

To a certain extent, a plant is a plant. Some plants need more water/nutes than others, some are more picky about the soil medium where as others can grow in anything, it really just depends on what it is you're growing. The advice I always give to people starting off with growing produce is to just start as small as you can with little to no expectations other than to learn. You can't dial something in if you have no experience with how it grows. I recommend starting small and just observing how the tomatoes grow. Eventually, you'll have enough experience/information to be able to make informed decisions as to how to dial things in. Learn how the plants grow first and go from there From what I'm seeing, you have pretty much everything you need to get a good grow going. Perhaps consider getting a grow journal going if you still find yourself unsure throughout the growing stages.

Once you've got more knowledge/experience under your belt you can look into making your own organic living soil. A healthy living soil will produce the best fruits you have ever tasted, just like it will with weed. Once you try your own organically grown produce, you'll never go back. I remember the first time I cut into my first cucumber and it smelled like someone went crazy on the perfume, the smell permeated for over an hour and the flavor was unlike anything I've tried before.