My big mistake the first time around was unknowingly growing an indeterminate variety of cherry tomatoes. They kept growing and growing, some were over six feet tall and it was a mess! Just double check and make sure what you are growing is a determinate/bush variety.

For me it's always easy to bite off more than I can chew by keeping 2x as many plants as I should have. Then I end up with a crowded grow space that's nearly impossible to work in and a bunch of poorly yielding tomato plants since they have to compete with each other so much. Sometimes less is more.

Keeping the humidity reasonable has always been a challenge. Your house may be different due to the heating and climate but I have to keep a humidifier running next to my plants 24/7 for the relative humidity to stay above 40%

Fortunately I have never had any sort of problem with bugs or disease, far as my tomato plants go.

It's so much fun and very rewarding!

I'm actually growing two varieties of Indeterminates right now. I'm just planning to pinch off the growth tips when they get too big, and do a bit faster crop rotation as a result. I'll let them reach a certain height, bear fruit, and then once they're just too bushy I'll replace them with clones taken earlier.

At least that's my plan. First I've got to get them healthy again (had some nutrition problems earlier).

LED grow lights look pretty cool, but they're expensive. You can get a lot more light power out of a HID light for less money, typically. Just something to think about. (The HIDs put out a ton more heat though.)

Hydroponica: What indeterminate plants? Can you grow anything with size--say at least 6 ounzes? Why not grow your plants horizontally and let them keep growing, pulling back the single stem as the fruit matures?

Hydroponica, might I suggest that you not use the current plants for clones if they have experienced any nutrient deficiencies? You would be better off growing from seed again and making sure there are no problems with your "mother" plant.

I'm interested to hear of your results with an LED. Tomatoes require lots of light and love the heat. Can an LED setup produce enough light? The vegetative stage is important, of course, but you will find that the light intensity makes a huge impact on whether or not your tomatoes get big and tasty. The leaves have to be able to produce the sugars necessary for the fruits and can only do that with enough light. I, also, suggest avoiding indeterminate varieties in a house. Particularly with an 8 foot ceiling. It's a lot more work and when you constantly have to prune you are stressing your plant. I've heard of people growing sideways like Philos9 suggested, but you will need to be sure you have the linear space for that, too. That is a common method in growing illegal herbs to maintain low profile. Some of you might not have an interest in the plant, but the methods they have come up with to avoid detection are methods proven to also save space and increase yields. I bought a book on growing pot because it was the only thorough book on indoor gardening I could find on the market at that time. Later the same people put out the same book under a different title and with different pictures called the "Indoor Gardening Bible" or something (I think I have the title wrong). The point of that is that all the literature in there applies to all the common vegetables but the info was originally from growing pot. Pot growers, after all, are the ones that really perfected the art of hydroponic gardening.

philos9 - You can definitely grow some serious tomatoes indoors, lots of people have. The main issue with growing inside, though, is having enough room and light. To maximize both most people prefer to concentrate the plants into a small, bushy area.

That's why Determinates are generally preferred. They grow like a bush and stop once they get a certain length. You can grow indeterminates indoors, it's just more work.

joe.jr - Those plants just weren't doing well enough and I cut them down. I've got new ones going now, a bush goliath determinate that is frighteningly healthy-looking and an Ugly Ripe indeterminate that I'm trying to train to grow in a spiral, just to see if that works.