help with tomatoes & cucumbers

[kerryp]

hi,
im sorry if these are daft questions BUT this is my first year of growing my own

a lot of tomato instructions talk about "trusses" what are they & will they occur without me doing anything? im growing moneymaker & so far ive just transplanted them to growbags... when should i start to support them? will i need to put horizontal supports in the bags as well as vertical?

also. im growing marketmore cucumbers.... when should i plant them outside? any i was growing outside have died so im scared to take mine off the windowsill & put them out (i tried inside & out to see what worked best)

finally, im also growing ophelia aubergines... when should these be transplanted? im also scared of putting these outside!

thanks for any help
kerry

[Paulottie]

Trusses are the stalks with flowers on that become tomatoes. They occur midway between leaves. (the ones in the junction of the leaves and stem are the sideshoots that need to be removed with Moneymaker.) You pinch out the top of the plant after about 6 trusses have formed.

Support after the first truss has formed. Horizontal wire with string tied to the roots (bottom of stem will do) then tie the string to wire and wind tomato round clockwise as it grows. Or just a cane (preferably through growbag into soil as growbags don't offer much of a sturdy base) you could brace them together if you wish.

Cucumbers should be okay now, but need 'hardening off'...taking outside each decent day for 10 days to acclimatise before planting out...any sort of cloche is handy if the weather turns pants.

Aubergines are difficult without a greenhouse at the best of times....and I live down here. They are pretty tender and at least a southfacing wall would help. Again a cloche would be good, maybe one of those office machine waterbottles would do.

[kerryp]

thanks for your reply.... can anyone simplify the 1st bit about the tomatos? i keep rereading it but im still confused, sorry.

[Coldfingers]

hiya. my understanding is that a truss is a number of flowers that will, in turn become your tomatoes. Each tomato plant is capable of a number of trusses (bunch of flowers), but when you have about 5 or 6 bunches of flowers, (tomatoes) stop the plant from growing any more by using your thumb nail to pinch off the growing tip (top) of the plant. This will ensure that the trusses that you already have will be able to use all of the plants energy and nutrients to grow your lovely red juicy toms. Hope this helps.

~Diane

[kerryp]

ah thanks. I thought i had to look out for special growing bits before any flowers were there, no wonder i had confused myself! )

[kerryp]

is this a bit i need to pinch out of my tomato plant?

[sewer rat]

is this a bit i need to pinch out of my tomato plant?

That's the very thing

[NewbieGardenerRow]

Thanks for this useful post. I am flummoxed with my moneymakers (I think thats what they are)
I took my 2 tomato plants out of the mini greenhouse. They are growing too tall and have only 2 trusses on each. They are really leggy and I'm not entirely sure what to do with them. I think they might be ????moneymaker???? variety but they were a gift and my friend can't really remember.
Anyway they are now outside my back door tied to a huge stake as the minute I took them out of the mini greenhouse (which had only one shelf at the top left in place and the tomatoes were growing up supported by the supports of the other shelves) they started to fall over.
Have I done right?

[Michael Johnson]

Yes"- as long as you tie them to the stake every foot or eighteen inches and feed them well with proprioty feed they should produce a good crop-now that they have room to breath and grow,let them grow to five or six trusses of flowers and then pinch out the top-make sure you also take out all the side shoots as they drain strength from the plant and weaken it, feed every ten days with liquid feed (miracle grow) is one of the best-that you mix up yourself in water. and then stop all feeding around late August and allow the plants to ripen the fruit properly in a fairly dry compost or soil that you have them planted in outside your back door, as letting them go a bit on the dry side at this time of the yeaqr helps a lot with the ripening and sweetness of the fruit.

[NewbieGardenerRow]

thanks for the advice.See how worried I am.....I cant even leave the website forums alone when I'm on hols!!! I'm on hols in France at the mo but they had a feed before i left this morning. I'm reassured now.