February had come. We still had cold winter days. During the day we felt warmth where we could catch the sunlight, but as soon as the sun was gone we felt really cold. I think the cherry tomatoes also endure severe temperature changes throughout the day. How will the changes affect the plant’s growth? The plant’s survival was what concerned me most but I haven’t yet seen anything to worry about. All the tomato plants in different settings were growing well.
Please compare this picture with the previous one. You can see they are growing. I see growth every day.
The flowers are blooming vigorously, too. I hoped they would bear fruit. Here, I was concerned with pollination. Unlike plants in the wild, these were grown indoors with no insect to pollinate them. Also, there was no wind to assist in pollination. What could I do to help?
To pollinate cherry tomatoes, you need to shake them. Please take a look at the picture of the flowers. In the center of the petals there is a cylinder including a stamen and pistil. Pollination can be achieved just by shaking the flowers. Since there is little wind in an indoor environment, you have to shake the flowers artificially. I had a strong feeling for the flowers that bloomed for the first time, so I lightly patted the flowers each time I watered them. In the future, when the plants have a lot of flowers, I plan to study the pollination results between shaken flowers and unshaken ones.
Other tomato plants have had flowers and buds.
The plants of the above picture are the “dense” ones. I haven’t seen any flowers or buds in this setting, but the plants were growing steadily. However, here I noticed differences in growing rates among the plants. Some seemed to absorb nutrients well, others didn’t. “Will the slow-growing tomato plants wilt and die?” I wondered. Their growth was too thick to be captured in a picture. They also absorbed a greater amount of water.
It’s only February and we still had a lot of cold winter days. The time of bloom and fruition of these tomatoes was in the middle of the cold winter. What worried me most was whether they were pollinated safely. It is amazing that the plants have grown to that big from seeds, and I was deeply impressed to see little yellow flowers bloom. I hadn’t put extra effort into cultivating these plants. Hydroponic culture allowed me to grow them conveniently. Please join me in watching the future growth of these cherry tomatoes.