tomato plants touching greenhouse roof

[christiano]

my tomato plants have grown to 7 ft,and are licking the greenhouse roof(this is only the second time i,ve grown them and did,nt have this before)there are plenty of flowers on them,so do i nip the tops off,or somehow train them across the roof?any help will be gratefully recieved,thanks

[FionaH]

I would nip the growing tips out, but then again I am only little so I would have to I think I read on here that one should nip the tops out to encourage fruiting

[Tomatoking]

my tomato plants have grown to 7 ft,and are licking the greenhouse roof(this is only the second time i,ve grown them and did,nt have this before)there are plenty of flowers on them,so do i nip the tops off,or somehow train them across the roof?any help will be gratefully recieved,thanks

Hi Christiano

It would be a waste to stop the plant this early, as you will get plenty more fruit.
I train my plants across the path and let them cross over. I put in extra wires for support, you could also run a string across to twist the plants around if the head is too close to the roof.
There is a diagram on my blog in the 'tomato training methods' section, which might be of help.

I tend to only stop the plant a month before the end of the season, so Aug/Sept time.

Mr TK

[Snadger]

I stop mine at 5 or 6 trusses whatever the height. For this reason I angle the canes towards the centre of the greenhouse to give me more height (pinched the idea off pigletwillie)
As tomatoking says, it would be a waste to stop them at this early a date, just train em up the ridge by whatever way possible.

[christiano]

thanks for replies folks.

[zazen999]

How many trusses have you got on there already?

[christiano]

hi,ive got nine plants and there,s 6-8 trusses on each plant.

[chris]

What are trusses, I still think I'm not getting the idea.. are they branches fromthe main stem?

[Tomatoking]

Spot on Chris .
mr TK

[chris]

Ah thanks - sorry to hijack the thread :P I wasn't sure if they were the branches, or the little bits that stick out and are furry - of which I've loads, presumably they'll be flowers + toms in turn.

[Tomatoking]

Chris what sort of toms are you growing, some you have to remove the side shoots.
Side shoots grow at the leaf joint on the stem. Some grow from the very bottom which are called suckers.

[Bigmallly]

What are trusses, I still think I'm not getting the idea.. are they branches fromthe main stem?

Here you are Chris.....trusses are the flowers that will then form the tomatoes.

[chris]

Chris what sort of toms are you growing, some you have to remove the side shoots.
Side shoots grow at the leaf joint on the stem. Some grow from the very bottom which are called suckers.

Quite a few.. Green Sausage, Cherry, Black Cherry, Money Maker, Sun Gold, Some other yellow ones I can't remember the name of, and erm another bushy one :P

Ill have to take some pics of each type and post them to make sure all is well.

Here you are Chris.....trusses are the flowers that will then form the tomatoes.

Thanks BM, yeah that's what I was on about above!

[Tomatoking]

[QUOTE=chrismarks;694745]Quite a few.. Green Sausage, Cherry, Black Cherry, Money Maker, Sun Gold, Some other yellow ones I can't remember the name of, and erm another bushy one :P

Ill have to take some pics of each type and post them to make sure all is well.



OK Chris go on to my blog , there is a link for 12,000 tomato types, if you can find on the packet what type they all are.

There are 3 types of tomatoes, which is also explained on a section on the blog as well, but I will outline them here.
1. Cordon / Indeterminate. these you remove all shoots and they grow over 6ft high. Pick fruit all season.
2. Determinate. leave all shoots on, grow to about 2 to 3 feet, all fruit ripens over a few weeks.
3. Semi-determinate, a mixture of the two in a way, some people just leave a few shoot, others leave them all on, these will grow 3 to 5 ft.

If you are stuck, please ask again. But looking for yourself will help you get you head around it.

But I bet you will have a few answers on here before you do LOL


Mr TK

[Tomatoking]

[QUOTE=chrismarks;694745]Quite a few.. Green Sausage, Cherry, Black Cherry, Money Maker, Sun Gold, Some other yellow ones I can't remember the name of, and erm another bushy one :P

Ill have to take some pics of each type and post them to make sure all is well.


Well I have mowed the lawns and pottered around in the polytunnel, so had time now for a quick search to make sure, and as I thought all of those are Indeterminate So to get the best out of them you should remove all the shoots.
The only one I am not sure about is the Cherry, as there are lots of sorts.
You could armpit some of the shoots, but I wouldnt bother with the suckers.

Mr TK