Bush Tomatoes - Advice

[susieq100]

I grew Gardener's Delight tomatoes last year - mixed success, being a newbie I let them grow all over the place and as a result they were quite jungly! OH and I had to get the machetes out.

So, this year - some bush toms and some cordon/indeterminate and some danglers. But ... to stop the bushes growing too tall do I pinch out the growing tip at the top? How tall should they be IF I do this?
The dangly hanging basket ones - do I just leave them and let them take care of their own dangling? Do I need to remove bits?

I love tomatoes - the ones last year tasted so good, but I know I made lots of mistakes. Any advice would be welcome. I have a variety of books but they all seem to assume a certain level of knowledge. What I need is Tomatoes for Dummies .. like the ICT beginner's books.

[tulip]

glad to know that i wasn't the only triffid grower last year.

[SarzWix]

The bush ones shouldn't need to have the tops pinched out, if they're getting really tall then they arent a bush tomato - the other name for a bush tomato is determinate which means that the plant has a pre-determined height. If it's still growing tall then it's either a cordon/vine/indeterminate type with too many side-shoots, or, it's known as semi-determinate which means it will stop growing at a certain height (taller than a normal bush though) and put energy into side-shoots.
You can prune off any bits of the plants if you think they're getting too unruly, but make them clean cuts, and check carefully that you're not cutting off flowering shoots.

The basket tomatoes can be left safely to their own devices.

[helanuels]

I was supposed to 'nip' bits of my gardeners delight but nowhere says what bits I nip off, my next door neighbour says that when they flower I can just take off any shoots that dont have flowers and a few leaves, is he correct?

[susieq100]

Thank you Sarah. That helps a lot.