Enough sun for my tomato plant?
Question:I’ve planted a tomato plant (Early Girl variety) outside on my north-east facing balcony. I only get about 4-5 hours of sun – from dawn until about 11-11:30ish (and that’s provided there are no clouds, of course). I’ve read that tomatoes CAN actually grow with that much sunlight, and I’ve also read that they absolutely need anywhere from 6-8 hours up to a whopping 10-12 hours! It’s still in the seedling stage, but it’s been out there for 6 days now and so far it looks pretty happy. What are your experiences with tomato plants?
Answers:
tomatoes LOVE sun and lots of heat. the more sunlight they receive, the more fruit they bear, and the faster that fruit ripens. if you have any more sunlight available, move the plant, or you could end up eating green tomatoes at harvest time.
need more but if sun is strong enough should be ok but need lots of water all the times, no dry.go die
ask the plant if it is getting enough sun (i know, you may feel silly at first but do it anyway, you have only a breath to loose)
be open to a response of any kind (you may even hear it's "voice" respond)
chances are, if it looks "happy" then it is.
the real truth will come in the form of green fruits that either blush red or not. if not, pick them green and ripen them next to some bananas in a sunny spot. (the banans release a gas as they ripen that encopurages the toms to ripen as well)
Try to move it around to get more sunlight. The more light they get, the better and quicker they grow ! But it'll grow with limited light, too. Are you growing it in a pot ?? That's how I grow mine, and you can't believe how well they grow.
That's plenty of sun. Just one little lonely tomatoe? I have 25, but then I have a big veggie garden,
I've grown tomatoes on 5 hours of sun. Make sure you have great soil and you'll be fine.
Without knowing your daytime temparatures it is hard to answer but bottom line is that Tomatoes need heat and sunlight about 8 hours a day. You will get some tomatoes but probably not much. If your average summer temparature in the balcony exceeds 85 degrees that will help otherwise try setting up growing lights and/or reflective mirrors.
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