Tying tomatoes etc to roof in greenhouse

[Containergardener]

I see some people have toms tied up to the roof. Is there some attachment you can fit as I've nowhere to tie mine?

[Stan79]

I ran wires from the fixing bolts across the length of the greenhouse and then have strings coming down from the wires to wooden pegs in the ground at the base of each plant.

I just undid one nut slightly, lopped the wire around behind it and then tightened the nut back up.

[Containergardener]

Oh great thanks . I will have a look and task OH with that

[burnie]

I used those cropped head bolts and drilled holes for the stainless steel wire, then ran strings down, word of caution though. I used jute string and a couple snapped after getting wet whilst watering, proper mess, so use some decent string. I now use bamboo canes with cross ones that I will use to support the trusses as they grow.

[Stan79]

Oh great thanks . I will have a look and task OH with that

Let us know how you get on!

[Urban]

I did that last year, I got some of that metal stretchy cable you use for window nettings, and fixed it the whole length of the greenhouse in the apex, then doubled up lengths of jute strings down from the apex, to each of the plants, It worked well, but I found it tricky getting in the greenhouse to be honest, its 8ft wide 12ft long

I wasn't sure if i would do it again this year, but my tomatoes have already reached the eaves, so I might have to (welcome to the jungle lol)

I think I am going to raise the greenhouse next year on some sleepers, to get some more growing space vertically

[bramble]

I use bamboo canes and hemp twine.
Instead of trying for too much height on my plants I let each plant develop two lead shoots.
It seems to work well for me.

[Urban]

yeh, using the jute twine, you can just cut it off at the end of the year, and chuck it and the whole plant in the compost bin, make sure you use at least 2 lengths of it though, going into your greenhouse in the morning to find one of your plants on the floor is horrible

I'm also doing 2 stems on most of my plants this year, about 50% of them have split into two stems anyway, so not got much choice really

[Twinsane]

I use these greenhouse insulation extender clips and insulation corner clips. You can just push and twist them into the channel where you want them and then either attach the twine directly to the clip or, as I do, attach a cane across the length of the greenhouse to the clips and tie the twine to the canes.

[ESBkevin]

My father grew tomatos commercially, the wires ran end to end suported every 20 ft by the structure. Jute string with a loose reef knot around the stem then twisted as the plant grew. Other end was thrown over the wire and spliced three times in the 18" tail end (untwist the string and poke the end through). This enabled you ro increase or decrease tension later if required.It was very rare to have a string break even with the considerable heavy cropping.
In my tiny greenhouse I drilled holes in the aluminium frame and tied wire end to end. The rate of string breakage is far greater, the string quality is just not there and I can't find better/commercial jute anywhere. I wont use the plastic stuff, I'm fed up uf pulling bits of plastic from the earth.
Up on the plot the outdoor toms are tied to a fram (think 12 Ff wide swing type frame). This year I decided to try two new things 1) bundle the srting in the hole rather that tie it around the stem. 2) Use duble thickness strin to avoid the breakage problem.
Well the string in the hole lasted about 3-4 weeks and rotted off so I ended up tieing them all anyway. The weight of fruit is not great yet but there have been no breakages, some of the strings are too tight or way too loose and there is no way to adjust that because it's looped (twice) ovewr the cross bar.
I have tied to canes in the past and it was hard to get a decent cordon length, I'm back to string methods.

[Stan79]

Mine are tied onto the wire at the top and wound round a wooden peg at the bottom. You can adjust the tension when you set them up each season by winding or unwinding the string off the peg. Pushing the peg into the ground at 45 degrees prevents the string from unravelling.