Tomato Side Shoots Help

[Jane0o0]

Please can anyone tell me if this is a side shoot. Its quite big and thick and also are these the trusses appearing.

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[happyhumph]

Yep, looks like it to me. What variety is it though, as some you want to pinch it out and grow them as cordons, whereas others (e.g tumbling types) that's the growth habit you want.

[veggiechicken]

Yes, that's a side shoot. or, as we call them, an "armpit". Could be a flower bud in the last photo but the photos not very clear.
What type of tomato is it? Bush/determinate or cordon/vine/indeterminate?
This is important as it will tell you what to do next.

EDIT Snap, HH.

[Jane0o0]

Yes, that's a side shoot. or, as we call them, an "armpit". Could be a flower bud in the last photo but the photos not very clear.
What type of tomato is it? Bush/determinate or cordon/vine/indeterminate?
This is important as it will tell you what to do next.

EDIT Snap, HH.

It's Moneymaker. Wasn't sure about it being a sideshoot so didn't want to remove.

[Jane0o0]

I'll hold off till tomorrow and try and get better pictures in daylight as I'd hate to do something wrong.

[veggiechicken]

This diagram shows where "suckers" grow - from the axil/armpit.
Flower trusses grow from the main stem, unless the "suckers" have grown too much when you're not looking. (it happens.)

[Vince G]

Agree VC, that last one looks like a stem with flowers on it. Pinch the others out on a Moneymaker.


Good diagram, that.

[Jane0o0]

So are these all sideshoots or stems

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[veggiechicken]

They're sideshoots!
In the last photo, there are small leaves in every "armpit" - these should be nipped out before they grow to the size of the one near the top ( of that photo).
If you leave the large sideshoot on, it will turn into another Main stem and fruit, but you will have problems supporting it.

There are a few threads about "Forking tomatoes" https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...7-a_93639.html. Unfortunately the photos are missing.

[Jane0o0]

Is the one here a side shoot also.

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[nickdub]

Sometimes you get a flower truss and a side-shoot emerging side by side which looks like what you may have in the last photo.

I wouldn't stress out about it - if they are small shoots with leaves, which most of them are, just pinch them out - if you think they might be flower-shoots leave them a bit longer and see how they develop - you wont kill the plant and eventually you'll find it easier to tell one from the other.

PS don't tell anyone, because its considered bad form, but I sometimes leave two or three large sides shoots on, and just let the plant do its thing :-)

[veggiechicken]

The tiny leaves are the sideshoot, the one to the left is the main stem and should be straightened up to the cane.
The big leaf, extreme left, that is growing upright is just a leaf and will be at a normal angle once the main stem is tied to the cane.
Hope this makes sense.