Not sure how it will do but hey since it is already growing what can it hurt to try. You may be able to help it along for under $10...I bought a "shop light" from Lowes this spring for starting seedlings and it worked great. It is a simple flourscent light fixture that is about 4' long. You won't get fruit but you may be able to keep it alive until next spring. The light will also be very handy next spring to start more tomatoes and other seedlings.

It would be a good experiment. I'd like to hear in the spring how it went :^)

It's not the light itself that will break my budget, I'm just worried about how much it will hurt on the electricity bill. I'll look into it though, thanks.

And I'll definitely let everyone know how it went. No sense starting all over in the spring, if we can just bring a few in and have them fully grown for next year, eh?

I've kept some alive with only natural light in the cloudy, dark Michigan winters. I trimmed them back and they didn't grow much but they stayed alive. Insects and other pests can be a problem. They seem to come in on the plants and then later have a population surge. If you have some ladybugs or spiders around you can put those on the plants and it helps some.....of course depending on who your human visitors are, they may think you are crazy to encourage spiders and ladybugs in the house.

I'm still undecided on whether overwintering is worthwhile. Last year the house was taken over by plants that came in and seeds that were started very early. This year I'm cutting way back......yeah, sure......we'll see if that really happens. Frost is predicted for this weekend by me so I'll have to make my decision one way or the other soon.

You can easily give the natural light option a try. If it doesn't work, pitch the dead ones and start over. If you start a few seeds early you can baby them along for an early crop..... You did save seeds, I hope. If you ferment them, you'll have another thing for some people to wonder about.....

I think you'd be whipping a dead horse! Tomatoes are annuals, therefore they only live so many weeks before dying off. I learned this the hard way by starting seeds the end of january this past year in an attempt to get an eary start on some nice ripe tomatoes. Unfortunatly many of my plants began fading by Sept, where they normally last until the end of Oct. You can try, but I'm afraid your heading towards a disappointment. Better off starting seeds a couple weeks before your last frost in the spring.
Camo

My understanding was that tomatoes in their natural environment live for up to 5 or 6 years. They're only annuals because people grow them in cold climates instead of tropical.

As for seeds, I still have seed packets I've purchased, but this was my first attempt, and none of the seedlings managed to fruit before getting squashed by stray kittens, or dying of one thing or another. Though, I do intend to save seeds once I finally get some.

I believe that if they don't fruit or freeze, they will keep going. Kind of like pinching back annual herbs so they won't seed. I have to keep my stevia plants pinched back to keep them from seeding or they will be like annuals and die off in our climate. I could be wrong, but it could be a helpful experiment to see. Most annuals will continue to grow until they complete their life cycle. At least that's been my experience. Camochef, you could be right, but I've never had tomatoes die off after a number of weeks. Only when the plants have fruited and the weather changes.

I wonder if pinching off the blossoms (if there are any) will make a difference as well.

This year I actually took cuttings (when I transplanted my tomatoes into the garden) and started them. They are thriving now, while the others that have fruited are dying back. So I'll be trying the same thing, in order to see if they can actually survive. It will be fun :)

Tomatoes are perennials but we're growing them in a temperate climate.