When you say NE where do you mean and what would you estimate that the temps might be in a glassed in terrace throughout the winter?

I had a friend who used to send me Red Robin plants every Thanksgiving but those were grown inside by me on a south facing windowsill where the temps were OK for tomatoes.

Please see the link below; Red Robin is a very compact dwarf/

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Robin

Thanks for your reply. The terrace is heated and is only a bit cooler than the rest of the house, having all those windows. Thanks for the link to the seeds. I'm so disappointed in Containerseeds.com as they seem to be dishonest, or at the least have no regard for their customers and just ignore them after they take the money. They won't even answer an e-mail. They seems so nice though talking to them, so I just can't understand that, and other people have had the same experience. My "compact" Tumbler they sold me the seeds for is over 4 ft. and staked and still growing taller. They must have given me the wrong seeds on top of everything else.

If you give me the go ahead, I will order the seeds from there. Thanks so much!

Tumblers are just what you are experiencing. They are not the small compact plant. The ones I raised this year are larger than my wife's hanging basket ferns. But, the taste is outstanding. Red Robins and Tiny Tims will be much smaller and won't "bush" you over.

If you give me the go ahead, I will order the seeds from there. Thanks so much!

*****

It's not for me to give you the go ahead, it's strictly your decision. ( smile)

I guess all I can say is that the fruits of Red Robin are very small and aren't going to produce all winter and you might consider some other dwarf/compact varieties as well

And with anything you grow inside you have to shake the plants when the blossoms are out b'c outside it's the wind that helps with self pollenization. Or you can run a fan aa well.

I've never heard of that seed source you refer to and as I said in another post to you I'd forget about them completely and move on.

To see some other compact varieties I'd go to tomatogrowers.com which is where I got the REd Robin info for you as linked to above.

Good luck!

Carolyn

blondelle

If you'll click on my name for my email address and contact me, I'll send you some Red Robin seeds. Once you grow them, you can save the seeds yourself and grow them whenever you want. They're awfully cute sturdy little plants.

Container Seeds has a pretty bad reputation. I had a lot of trouble with them last year. Take a look at these reviews of Container Seeds on Dave's Garden Watch list. I think they're a very small operation and don't have anything organized.

I have grown Red Robin's many years in a sunny windowsill and they produced all winter. I have since moved on to growing bigger tomatoes through the winter.

Red Robins get about 18 inches tall and 16 inches wide tops. I grew them in 8 inch containers which were fine.

Thanks so much for all your responses on this. So tomatoes are different than hot peppers which are self pollinating? The Red Robin sounds nice. Much smaller than the Tumbler which has become much too large for our space. I had seen a photo of it before ordering and it seems to be a smaller bushier plant.

Does RR keep growing and producing, or do you need to start fresh plants each season? Never understood the determinate and indeterminate thing. Thanks again!

RR keeps producing all winter long. One year I kicked it outside on my deck in sping and it kept producing another few months before I neglected it to death...:)

For my indoors winter toms I start new seed each August. My plants never go outdoors. No bugs, disease, etc. I just have to remember to shake the plants and water them on time. This year I'm growing 'New Big Dwarf' indoors.

So tomatoes are different than hot peppers which are self pollinating?

*****

No, both tomatoes and peppers, all kinds, as well as eggplant and potatoes are all self pollenizing. All in the same family of Solanaceae.

But the rate of x pollination is much higher with peppers than it is with tomatoes meaning that self pollenization is not as complete with peppers as it is with tomatoes.

Carolyn