Growing Tomatoes Indoors in the Tower Garden? Here’s What You Need to Know!
Tomatoes and Tower Gardens go together like summer and sunshine… but what if you're growing indoors? Can you really get juicy, vine-ripened tomatoes inside your home? 🤔 Yes—but there are a few things you need to know first! From lighting to pruning, pollination and space requirements, let’s break down the juicy truth about growing tomatoes indoors.
- Know Your Tomato Types: Determinate vs Indeterminate (and the Dwarfs in Between)
- Pruning: The Secret for Indoor Tomato Success
- Let There Be Light... A Lot of It
- You're the Bee Now
- Make Space for the Tomato Takeover
- Tomatoes are Thirsty and Hungry
- Pest Patrol (Yes, Even Indoors)
🍅 Know Your Tomato Types: Determinate vs Indeterminate (and the Dwarfs in Between)
Before you drop a seedling into your Tower Garden, it’s important to understand what kind of tomato you’re growing. Not all tomato varieties behave the same—especially indoors!
TL;DR?
👉 Choose dwarf varieties for easiest indoor growing.
👉 Save indeterminate and determinate types for outdoor setups where they can go wild (in a good way).
🌿 Determinate Tomatoes
These are your more compact, set-it-and-forget-it tomato plants!
Grow to a set size and then stop (usually 4–6 feet)Produce fruit all at once (great for batch harvesting or sauces)Easier to manage indoors due to size
- ✅ Our favorites: Washington Cherry, Oregon Spring
📏 Best for growing outside as they still get pretty big. View our Determinate Seedlings here.
🌱 Indeterminate Tomatoes (a.k.a. Vining Types)
These are your ambitious overachievers—growing tall and producing continuously.
- Keep growing and producing until removed or killed by frost
- Need strong support and regular pruning
- Can reach 6–10 feet tall 😲
- ✅ Our favorites: Black Cherry, Everglades, Sungold
🌿 Best grown outdoors on the Tower Garden FLEX with a support cage or trellis. Here are our Indeterminate Tomato seedlings.
🪴 Dwarf Determinate Tomatoes
The perfect match for small spaces and indoor growing!
- Stay under 2 feet tall (yes, really!)
- Determinate by nature, so they fruit all at once
- Still offer real, flavorful tomatoes
- ✅ Try: Tiny Tim. Even though they should produce once and be done. We've found when grown in a Tower Garden that they keep producing form months!
📦 Small plant, big reward—perfect indoor Tower Garden setups!
🧗 Dwarf Indeterminate Tomatoes
Think of these as the “middle child” of tomato types.
- Stay compact but produce fruit continuously like full-size vining types
- Great balance between space-saving and extended harvest
- ✅ Varieties: Tidy Treats
🌟 Great for indoor growers who want ongoing harvests without jungle-level growth.
✂️ Pruning: The Secret Sauce for Indoor Tomato Success
If you want healthy, high-yielding tomato plants indoors, pruning isn't optional—it's essential! Tomatoes love to grow big, but in an indoor space, that can get out of hand quickly. 🌿
Here’s how and why to prune your indoor Tower Garden tomato plants:
🌀 Why Prune?
- Improves airflow 🍃: Reduces the chance of mildew or pests
- Maximizes light exposure 🔆: Helps all leaves (aka “solar panels”) get the light they need
- Boosts fruit production 🍅: Directs energy to fruit, not just leaves
✂️ What to Prune:
- Suckers: These are the little shoots that grow between the main stem and side branches. Pinch them off when small!
- Lower leaves: Remove older leaves near the base as the plant matures—especially if they’re yellowing or shaded
- Crowded growth: Thin out overlapping branches that block airflow or light
🚫 What Not to Do:
- Don’t go overboard! Pruning too much at once can stress your plant
- Avoid cutting off flowering branches—those are your future tomatoes!
🌿 A little weekly trim goes a long way in keeping your plant happy, healthy, and productive—especially indoors where space and light are limited.
Here's a video to help you through it.
☀️ Let There Be Light… A Lot of It!
Tomatoes are sun-lovers. When growing outside, they bask in 8+ hours of direct sunlight. Indoors? That means suitable grow lights are non-negotiable.
- Minimum light: 14–16 hours a day of strong, full-spectrum grow lights. The Tower Garden LED Grow Lights are perfect for indoor growing, especially fruiting crops like tomatoes 🍅
- Placement matters: Keep lights close enough to avoid legginess.
- Grow lights for the win: Tower Garden grow lights are excellent, but large fruiting crops like tomatoes may benefit from additional side lighting for optimal yield
🌞 Think of the leaves like solar panels. Each one absorbs light to power the plant and grow those juicy tomatoes.
If your lights are too far away, not on long enough, or your plants are shading each other because they’re overgrown, those “solar panels” won’t get the energy they need—and your fruit production will suffer, if it gets started at all!
🚨 Insufficient light = spindly plants and sad tomatoes. No light, no fruit. Make sure your setup shines! If your tomatoes aren’t thriving or producing flowers, it’s usually a lighting issue.
🐝 You’re the Bee Now (Pollination Help)
Outdoors, bees and wind do the work. Indoors? It’s up to you, friend!
To successfully grow tomatoes inside your Tower Garden, manual pollination is a must:
- Gently shake the plant’s flowering trusses daily
- Use an electric toothbrush or small paintbrush to simulate pollination
- Do this mid-day when flowers are open and ready for love 💕
💡 Pro tip: A small oscillating fan helps mimic a natural breeze AND strengthens your plant stems.
🧱 Make Space for the Tomato Takeover
Tomato plants are enthusiastic growers. Indoors, you’ll need to manage:
- Vertical space: Indeterminate varieties will climb and climb—support cages or trellises are a must
- Airflow: Crowded plants can lead to mildew and pest problems. Prune for shape and space
- Tower location: Choose a spot with plenty of breathing room so your tomato jungle doesn’t take over your living room!
🌿 Determinate (bush) varieties like Patio Princess or Tiny Tim are great for indoor growing if you're short on space.
💧 Tomatoes Are Thirsty and Hungry
These plants need more water and nutrients than leafy greens:
- Top off your reservoir often (they'll drink more than you expect!)
- Monitor pH levels and empty the reservoir every 1-2 months to avoid Nutrient Lock
- Consider a Tower Garden FLEX if you're growing lots of fruiting crops—it holds more water than the HOME model
🥫 Expect to refill that reservoir more often once your plants are flowering and fruiting!
🐞 Pest Patrol (Yes, Even Indoors)
While growing inside reduces pest risk, it doesn’t eliminate it. Aphids, spider mites, and whiteflies can still sneak in:
- Inspect new seedlings carefully
- Rinse with a neem oil + gentle soap solution before planting
- Wipe leaves regularly and keep airflow strong
A healthy, stress-free plant is less susceptible to pests. Light, airflow, and pruning all play a part.
💡 So, Can You Grow Tomatoes Indoors on a Tower Garden?
Absolutely! With the right setup, pollination habits, and a bit of pruning and pampering, you can enjoy fresh tomatoes from your living room, sunroom, or even your kitchen corner.
They may take up more room than your leafy greens, but the reward of vine-ripened tomatoes in the middle of winter? Totally worth it. 🍅💪
🍅 Want to Start Strong?
We’ve got tomato seedlings ready to go—shipped straight from our farm! Choose from compact indoor-friendly varieties or go big with classic beefsteaks for outdoor towers.
👉 Shop Tomato Seedlings Now »