Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

Has anyone done this? My boss wants us (myself and colleague) to grow
tomatoes in the greenhouse for him over the winter. We have good heating in
there, and sodium lighting. Has anyone attempted this before, if so, how do
we do it?

TIA

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

The message
from "Janet & Tim Costidell"
contains these words:

Has anyone done this? My boss wants us (myself and colleague) to grow
tomatoes in the greenhouse for him over the winter. We have good heating in
there, and sodium lighting. Has anyone attempted this before, if so, how do
we do it?
/\
Hmmm. Somewhere / \ up there I answered a similar query.
¯||¯
To get good results you have to fool the plants into a belief that it is
summer. The lighting should be daylight bulbs, I don't think sodium
light would be suitable.

'Daylight' hours should slowly be increased until the plants have good
trusses, and then the 'daylight' hours should slowly be reduced.

The ripening of tomatoes is triggered by the shortening days after midsummer.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
horrid·squeak snailything zetnet·co·uk exchange d.p. with p to
reply.

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

The message
from "Janet & Tim Costidell"
contains these words:

Has anyone done this? My boss wants us (myself and colleague) to grow
tomatoes in the greenhouse for him over the winter. We have good heating in
there, and sodium lighting. Has anyone attempted this before, if so, how do
we do it?
/\
Hmmm. Somewhere / \ up there I answered a similar query.
¯||¯
To get good results you have to fool the plants into a belief that it is
summer. The lighting should be daylight bulbs, I don't think sodium
light would be suitable.

'Daylight' hours should slowly be increased until the plants have good
trusses, and then the 'daylight' hours should slowly be reduced.

The ripening of tomatoes is triggered by the shortening days after midsummer.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
horrid·squeak snailything zetnet·co·uk exchange d.p. with p to
reply.

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

"Rusty Hinge" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Janet & Tim Costidell"
contains these words:

Has anyone done this? My boss wants us (myself and colleague) to grow
tomatoes in the greenhouse for him over the winter. We have good
heating in
there, and sodium lighting. Has anyone attempted this before, if so,
how do
we do it?
/\
Hmmm. Somewhere / \ up there I answered a similar query.
¯||¯
To get good results you have to fool the plants into a belief that it is
summer. The lighting should be daylight bulbs, I don't think sodium
light would be suitable.

'Daylight' hours should slowly be increased until the plants have good
trusses, and then the 'daylight' hours should slowly be reduced.

The ripening of tomatoes is triggered by the shortening days after
midsummer.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
horrid·squeak snailything zetnet·co·uk exchange d.p. with p to
reply.

Sodium lighting works just fine (high pressure sodium)
MBS

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

"Mr Blue Skye" wrote in message ...
"Rusty Hinge" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Janet & Tim Costidell"
contains these words:

Has anyone done this? My boss wants us (myself and colleague) to grow
tomatoes in the greenhouse for him over the winter. We have good
heating in there, and sodium lighting. [...]

To get good results you have to fool the plants into a belief that it is
summer. The lighting should be daylight bulbs, I don't think sodium
light would be suitable.

[...]

Sodium lighting works just fine (high pressure sodium)

That's fascinating. My immediate reaction was the same as Rusty's:
without knowledge of the subject, the sodium spectrum didn't sound
plant-friendly at all (it's certainly not map-reader friendly!). Does
this mean that *all* plants, *all* the time, don't need the full
Richard Of York deal? I wonder what the implications would be for
insect-pollination. Information, please.

I'm also interested to know, Blue Skye, why you have that kind of
lighting in the greenhouse. What are the advantages?

Mike.

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

"Mr Blue Skye" wrote in message
.. .

"Rusty Hinge" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Janet & Tim Costidell"
contains these words:

Has anyone done this? My boss wants us (myself and colleague) to grow
tomatoes in the greenhouse for him over the winter. We have good
heating in
there, and sodium lighting. Has anyone attempted this before, if so,
how do
we do it?
/\
Hmmm. Somewhere / \ up there I answered a similar query.
¯||¯
To get good results you have to fool the plants into a belief that it is
summer. The lighting should be daylight bulbs, I don't think sodium
light would be suitable.

'Daylight' hours should slowly be increased until the plants have good
trusses, and then the 'daylight' hours should slowly be reduced.

The ripening of tomatoes is triggered by the shortening days after
midsummer.///////////////////////////////

If this is so why do my tomatoes start ripen in late May to early June when
the days are still getting longer?

Harold W.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
horrid·squeak snailything zetnet·co·uk exchange d.p. with p to
reply.

Sodium lighting works just fine (high pressure sodium)
MBS

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
om...
"Mr Blue Skye" wrote in message
...
"Rusty Hinge" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Janet & Tim Costidell"
contains these words:

Has anyone done this? My boss wants us (myself and colleague) to
grow
tomatoes in the greenhouse for him over the winter. We have good
heating in there, and sodium lighting. [...]

To get good results you have to fool the plants into a belief that it
is
summer. The lighting should be daylight bulbs, I don't think sodium
light would be suitable.

[...]

Sodium lighting works just fine (high pressure sodium)

That's fascinating. My immediate reaction was the same as Rusty's:
without knowledge of the subject, the sodium spectrum didn't sound
plant-friendly at all (it's certainly not map-reader friendly!). Does
this mean that *all* plants, *all* the time, don't need the full
Richard Of York deal? I wonder what the implications would be for
insect-pollination. Information, please.

Mr. Blue Skye did say "high pressure Sodium lamp". High pressure Sodium
lamps contain a few drops of Mercury. This vapourises when the lamp has
warmed up, and produces the typical Mercury spectrum in addition to the
single yellow line-pair of the Sodium. That is what gives the light from
those lamps its characteristic blue colour.Some of the the lines of the
Mercury spectrum are in the regions (more than one photo-reaction is
involved) required for photosynthesis to occur.

[snip]

Franz

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

"Rusty Hinge" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Janet & Tim Costidell"
contains these words:

Has anyone done this? My boss wants us (myself and colleague) to grow
tomatoes in the greenhouse for him over the winter. We have good
heating in
there, and sodium lighting. Has anyone attempted this before, if so,
how do
we do it?
/\
Hmmm. Somewhere / \ up there I answered a similar query.
¯||¯
To get good results you have to fool the plants into a belief that it is
summer. The lighting should be daylight bulbs, I don't think sodium
light would be suitable.

Sodium light is totally ineffective for promoting photosynthesis. Mercury
light has a couple of lines in the spectral regions involved in this
process. A "High pressure Sodium lamp" contains a drop of Mercury. This is
what gives it the characteristic blue colour which swamps the yellow of the
Sodium doublet after the lamp has warmed up.

Franz

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

"Franz Heymann" wrote in message ...
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
om...
[...]
[...]

Sodium lighting works just fine (high pressure sodium)

That's fascinating. My immediate reaction was the same as Rusty's:
without knowledge of the subject, the sodium spectrum didn't sound
plant-friendly at all [...]
Information, please.

Mr. Blue Skye did say "high pressure Sodium lamp". High pressure Sodium
lamps contain a few drops of Mercury. This vapourises when the lamp has
warmed up, and produces the typical Mercury spectrum in addition to the
single yellow line-pair of the Sodium. That is what gives the light from
those lamps its characteristic blue colour.Some of the the lines of the
Mercury spectrum are in the regions (more than one photo-reaction is
involved) required for photosynthesis to occur.

[snip]
Thanks: I didn't know about high-pressure ones with mercury vapour,
and assumed simply a yellow-to-orange light.

I take it, then, that the advantages are low energy consumption and
durability.

Mike.

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
m...
"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
om...
[...]
[...]

Sodium lighting works just fine (high pressure sodium)

That's fascinating. My immediate reaction was the same as Rusty's:
without knowledge of the subject, the sodium spectrum didn't sound
plant-friendly at all [...]
Information, please.

Mr. Blue Skye did say "high pressure Sodium lamp". High pressure
Sodium
lamps contain a few drops of Mercury. This vapourises when the lamp has
warmed up, and produces the typical Mercury spectrum in addition to the
single yellow line-pair of the Sodium. That is what gives the light
from
those lamps its characteristic blue colour.Some of the the lines of the
Mercury spectrum are in the regions (more than one photo-reaction is
involved) required for photosynthesis to occur.

[snip]
Thanks: I didn't know about high-pressure ones with mercury vapour,
and assumed simply a yellow-to-orange light.

I take it, then, that the advantages are low energy consumption and
durability.

I have a feeling that they are actually somewhat outdated, with the advent
of a fluorescent lamp whose spectral output has been designed specifically
with horticultural usage in mind.

Franz

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 22:44:33 +0100, "Janet & Tim Costidell"
wrote:

Has anyone done this? My boss wants us (myself and colleague) to grow
tomatoes in the greenhouse for him over the winter. We have good heating in
there, and sodium lighting. Has anyone attempted this before, if so, how do
we do it?

In short, yes provided you get the day-length and the warmth ok.

A colleague at work grew a tomato plant on the windowsill next to his
desk. It really started to annoy his boss, so instead of ditching it
in the autumn, he kept it going.

It continued to grow and produce tomatoes all through the winter.

Provided you keep your greenhouse watered and make a decision on your
lighting (see other posts too numerous to mention!) you may well be
ok.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Colin
-----
(Sorry - no direct email. Please reply via the newsgroup)

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

"Janet & Tim Costidell" wrote in message
...
Has anyone done this? My boss wants us (myself and colleague) to grow
tomatoes in the greenhouse for him over the winter. We have good heating
in
there, and sodium lighting. Has anyone attempted this before, if so, how
do
we do it?

TIA


you might want to do a search on Hydroponics,
seem a lot of it done under HPS lamps.

Paul

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

"PA" wrote in message
...

"Janet & Tim Costidell" wrote in
message
...
Has anyone done this? My boss wants us (myself and colleague) to grow
tomatoes in the greenhouse for him over the winter. We have good
heating
in
there, and sodium lighting. Has anyone attempted this before, if so,
how
do
we do it?

TIA


you might want to do a search on Hydroponics,
seem a lot of it done under HPS lamps.

Vast numbers of sedlings of all sorts are raised commercially in this way.
(The horticultural equivalent of factory farming)

Franz

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

The message
from "Middleton/Walker" contains these words:

The ripening of tomatoes is triggered by the shortening days after
midsummer.///////////////////////////////

If this is so why do my tomatoes start ripen in late May to early June when
the days are still getting longer?

Harold W.

I thought you - - - oh, as you were, Walker, not Wilson.

Pass, on your question. However, I'd guess that you'll see a rapid
acceleration in ripening after midsummer's day.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
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reply.

Growing tomatoes in the winter?
 

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

Mr. Blue Skye did say "high pressure Sodium lamp".

/snip/

Second time around.....

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
horrid·squeak snailything zetnet·co·uk exchange d.p. with p to
reply.