Tomtastic...

[Holly]

Hello everyone!

Does anyone have any tips for coaxing tomato plants into bumper yields once they've started to grow a bit more? What sort of feeds do they need and how does pinching out work?

I'm already getting excited about a summer of tasty toms so would love to hear any of your advice or favourite methods!



Your comments may be edited and printed in the June issue of Grow Your Own magazine

[taff]

give them what they need
right conditions of heat, water and feed will give you a better result than haphazard watering, irregular feeding, and make note of whether they're inside or outside toms.
they need a high potash feed when they start flowering, and it's best to keep whatever they're growing in damp, you avoid BER doing this.
Pinching out concentrates the plants energies on the flowers you leave, so you basially stop the plant producing as much fruit as it wants by limiting your harvest in favour of toms [depending on the variety] that will ripen in time in this climate.
Give them regular water, regular feeding [ shop bought or your own make] and pray for sun

[SueA]

I only grow outdoor toms & living in the north west my tips are to pinch out the growing tip at the top after about 4 or 5 trusses have set to give them a chance of ripening before frosts/blight strike otherwise they will continue to produce flowers which won't have time to develop. With cordon types you also have to pinch out the side shoots which appear in the axils where the leaves grow from the stems otherwise you end up with a lovely bushy, leafy plant with fewer fruits. Watering at least once a day & feeding with a liquid organic veg. food keeps them happy & when I grow them in a grow bag I use grow pots which you push into the bag & fill with compost so that the tomatoes can develop a better root system, you can make your own by cutting the bottoms out of old plastic plantpots.

[salilah]

If you are growing cordon tomatoes, you really should pinch out the side shoots! Last year (first in greenhouse) I missed a few (only a few, honest!) and the plants went backwards and up, no chance of reaching them and completely filled the greenhouse with leaves! I still had loads of wonderful tomatoes, but it was a bit of a jungle getting in to pick them... This year, fewer plants (one of each variety) and RIGOROUS sideshoot pinching - they grow so fast, ideally you should check daily or every couple of days, otherwise by the weekend they are huge...
cheers
Salilah

[buzzingtalk]

I didn't really pinch mine out much - 4 outdoor tom plants. One of them grew to 7ft, and produced a LOT of fruit! I pinched out leaves blocking the fruit so worked up the plant, let them get to head height then pinched the tops so I could reach...was experimenting as I don't have much space at all and wondered how big the plants could get! They were in massive 40L pots though

Fed once a week with tomato feed, watered daily (sometimes twice daily) only feed/water in early morning or evening, not in middle of the day.

[sarahspatch]

I use an all-purpose feed before the toms have flowered, then switch to a tomato feed.

I pinch out most of my toms but I usually leave one of the Sungold plants to it, its like a triffid full of tasty fruit, albeit slightly smaller fruit.

On hot days I try to damp down the greenhouse floor too, if I remember!

[Mr Purple]

Hi

Pinching out refers to 2 things, removing sideshoots that grow where the leaf joins the stem (cordon varieties). This must be done cleanly to avoid any disease, don't leave any stubs. Also nipping out the growing point so the top tomatoes grow to full size and have time to ripen before the end of the season. When nipping out the growing point, always leave 2 leaves above the last truss to encourage the plant to grow the toms to full size.

David

[jackyspratty]

Always stick the side shoots that you pich out into a pot of compost= free tomatoeplants!

Also hoover bags emptied onto the top of compost seem to aid a good yield

[Aberdeenplotter]

Hello everyone!

Does anyone have any tips for coaxing tomato plants into bumper yields once they've started to grow a bit more? What sort of feeds do they need and how does pinching out work?

I grow my plants on in a 3"-4" pot until the first flowers develop. I then pot on into 12ltre pots filled with compost from some of the jumbo sized tomato grow bags. I stake with bamboo canes tied to a cross wire and every time I enter the greenhouse thereafter, I give the first cane a shake which being connected to the others by the cross wire means that every tomato plant gets a shake which helps pollinate the flowers leading to healthy sized trusses. With full sized tomatoes, I thin the trusses down to 6 or 7 fruits per truss which leads to larger more uniform trusses.

I remove all side shoots and stop the plant by pinching out the growing point after 7 trusses have set. That is the maximum I can riped in this part of the country. Feeding is started after the first truss has set using Tomorite or similar high potash products at half strength and used at every watering. I water morning and night from a bucket kept in the greenhouse so that there is no shock to the plant from cold water. Regular watering is essential to avoid a problem with blossom end rot which is caused by a shortage of calcium.

Towards the time the fruits are ripening, I remove the leaves from the bottom of the plants to help keep the plants airated and to maximise the sunlight.

I find whitefly is the major indoor pest and I counter that by growing French marigolds in every bucket. (T&M's colossus)

It really is as easy as typing it, it just takes longer.


I don't pinch out cherry varieties, I just leave them to get on with it but otherwise my methods are exactly the same.

[Holly]

On hot days I try to damp down the greenhouse floor too, if I remember!

Hi Sarah! That's interesting - what does this do to help the tomatoes? Is it something to do with humidity?