Tomato Ailsa Craig

[noidea]

I was given a bought tomato plant (ailsa Craig) months ago and it had a little name tag with instructions which were, don;t remove side shoots till 120cm high.

So I left it alone and it's now 120cm high and about 100cm wide!!!! Oooooops.

Should I do anything to it? It actually looks hilarious as it's so huge and there are some trusses on it which haven't been doing too well but I have started putting it outside for the day over this week.

It's enormous compared to the plants that I have that are meant to be bushy!

Thanks in advance

C

[Flummery]

Maybe it should have said DO remove side shoot till 120 cm high! Don't know the answer to this. You'll get some toms for sure - might be interesting to weigh the total crop and see what happens!

[noidea]

I will try and take a pic later. The kids think I have grown a tree.

C

[Cutecumber]

those instructions are not what you would normally expect, that's for sure.

Ailsa Craig is always (unless you are deliberately experimenting) grown as a cordon. It's been bred to produce its best crop in this way. The problem is that by putting on lots of green growth, the plant is putting less energy into flowers and fruit. You'll definintely get tomatoes, but I doubt if the plant will be able to support as many as it otherwise would.

Are you growing any other cordon varieties?

[noidea]

I have alicante too which is doing great.... much better than anything else actually.

I think I might go check the advice on the other 2 varieties I have and run it past you all as they were from the same place!

C

[Cutecumber]

Ailsa Craig should be grown just like Alicante - I can't imagine why the advice would be any different.