Trimming tomato plants

[MrsCordial]

Oh good, I thought, upon reading the title of this thread. I'll get the advice I need about how to nip out shoots on a tomato plant. I am now thoroughly confused and need a lie-down!

[veggiechicken]

Never ever doubt the word of Potty - he knows what he's talking about it
I'm a Laissez-Faire tomato shoot nipper If a plant looks as if it wants to grow tall, I let it and nip out a few side shoots along the way (and root them up for more). If it looks like it wants to be short and bushy I leave it alone. I've long since stopped worrying about whether they're cordons, bush, determinate or indeterminate or just can't make up their bl@ddy mind

[esbo]

On a kind of side note I was surprised how well my cucumber plants did in fairly small restrictive pots, indeed they seem to produce fruit better than the ones in bigger pots!!Weird eh?

Which leads me to another thing.

I was puzzled as to why one of my tomato plants had no tomatoes on it at all, it was over 4 feet tall, taller than some with fruit, indeed I had one in a pot about 2 foot high if that and that gad tomatoes on it.

OK it was one of the last plant to go in the ground nut even so a plant put in after had toms on it.

It seems to me this plant has a lot more space than the rest more room for root and folliage, so maybe it felt the best plan was to grab as much space as it could before fruiting.
Whereas the one in small pots began to panic when they realised they were in a tiny area of soil and hence realised they better get fruiting ASAP or they would run out of nutrients if they continued to grow green stuff.

[esbo]

Esbo.

What can't speak can't lie, one days harvest within the last week. More or less the same again today, SWMBO's making puree for the winter as I write.

Don't worry you'll catch up one day.

Potty

However I notice you have a green house - I don't mine are grown outside so I expect your plants had quite a head start on mine? When were yours planted?

Do you have any plants outside in the cold?????

Furthermore there is another point here, are yours grown in the ground? Or on pots?
My theory is plants in pots fruit earlier when they realise they are running out of soil.

Hence cutting off suckers may make for sense if in pots???

Anyhow if you can tell me those tomato were grown outdoors then you have a strong point, if not it's a bit more complex.


I have been removing suckers for the past month or so, perhaps I should have started earlier, but the issue is they already had a few shoots, only one variety was more single stemmed and straight naturally (tigerella) that has a lot of unripe fruit on it. (but some of the bush ones have a fair bit too).

Anyway complicated stuff but I am outdoors so I am at a huge disadvantage!!

[Potstubsdustbins]

All the red cherries you see came from 2 Tumbler plants in hanging baskets. These two hanging baskets. As you can see they are outside. Only the Sungold and Black Cherry are in the GH.

By the way growing in green house helps but I managed without one until 4 years ago.

Potty

[esbo]

All the red cherries you see came from 2 Tumbler plants in hanging baskets. These two hanging baskets. As you can see they are outside. Only the Sungold and Black Cherry are in the GH.

By the way growing in green house helps but I managed without one until 4 years ago.

Potty

Interesting!! they are hardly a bean pole shape though are they, so it is hard to see where suckers have been removed. Indeed there seem to be several separate stalks?
So how that is an advert for removing suckers I am not sure?? Seems to make the opposite case.

However what it seems to me to be is that they are growing in a restricted amount of soil and this is what you are getting ripe tomatoes early, perhaps?


Anyhow when were the plants started? Presumably pretty early in a green house? Or grow outside form scratch?

I actually do have one ripening cherry tomato!!!


SO I see your huge basket of tomatoes and raise you one small semi ripe cherry tomato!!!



You do seem to have a huge amount of toms compared to the area of leaves.

So you use a fertiliser and if so which one and what is in it.
Mine is mainly natural nitrogen fertiliser which may make it produce more green.

Also my north east facing garden is rather shaded, but that does not appear to hinder green growth much.

Clearly I have a lot to learn but I am hoping to see some signs of the bigger toms ripening in the coming weeks. Last year quite a few of the cherries ripened before disease hit the plants.

[Potstubsdustbins]

These are a bush tomato but if you look carefully you can see where leading stems have been trimmed to make the plant bush and produce fruit which then ripens of course.

The plants were started on my lounge window sill in modules on the 16th March, 21/03 showed signs of germination, transferred to 3" pots on 02/04 then to 6" pots on 18/04, outside in shelter 24/04 brought inside if bad weather forecast 18/05 first toms. Can you tell I keep a log?

As to your theory about lack of soil or compost it would only stress the plants if they are not watered or fed correctly. If fact you don't need any soil/compost at all if the roots can get the needed amount of water and feed. And they can be in the biggest plot of land you can think of but if there is no water/feed they will not produce. Simples.

Potty

[zazen999]

Interesting!! they are hardly a bean pole shape though are they, so it is hard to see where suckers have been removed. Indeed there seem to be several separate stalks?
So how that is an advert for removing suckers I am not sure?? Seems to make the opposite case.

However what it seems to me to be is that they are growing in a restricted amount of soil and this is what you are getting ripe tomatoes early, perhaps?


Anyhow when were the plants started? Presumably pretty early in a green house? Or grow outside form scratch?

I actually do have one ripening cherry tomato!!!


SO I see your huge basket of tomatoes and raise you one small semi ripe cherry tomato!!!



You do seem to have a huge amount of toms compared to the area of leaves.

So you use a fertiliser and if so which one and what is in it.
Mine is mainly natural nitrogen fertiliser which may make it produce more green.

Also my north east facing garden is rather shaded, but that does not appear to hinder green growth much.

Clearly I have a lot to learn but I am hoping to see some signs of the bigger toms ripening in the coming weeks. Last year quite a few of the cherries ripened before disease hit the plants.

A - don't compare any year to last year, it was an unconventional one and you just can't use it as a baseline.
B - you need to change your feed to one high in potassium.
C - 2 summers ago I left 4 toms to ramble over an area in Coventry and when I got back after the summer, I was taking trugs of them home each week. I only used up the last of the passata a few weeks back. You just never know what the summer will be like.

[esbo]

A - don't compare any year to last year, it was an unconventional one and you just can't use it as a baseline.
B - you need to change your feed to one high in potassium.
C - 2 summers ago I left 4 toms to ramble over an area in Coventry and when I got back after the summer, I was taking trugs of them home each week. I only used up the last of the passata a few weeks back. You just never know what the summer will be like.

Thanks, I did use a proper (shop bought) tomato fertiliser last year, but I felt I might have been over doing it, I though some of the leaves near the bottom were turning black and the fertiliser caused it. Been only using natural liquid fertiliser this year, but I did give the water a cap full of the shop stuff last week.

[esbo]

So... it maybe that it is the stressing of the plant that causes it to ripen.

I will try and go through the thought processes of plant in a number of conditions.

1) Restricted growth in pot.

So the plant is thinking "Oh no some idiot has put me in a tiny post, I better start producing fruit before he kills me altogether"

2) Pruning suckers.

So the plant is thinking "Oh no!! Some nutter is coming out every day and chopping off all my suckers!!! I better start producing fruit before he kills me altogether"

I mean this is what happens with plants isn't it? When they are stressed they bolt ie go to seed, and for a tomato plant to go to seed it must produce tomatoes?

[esbo]

Update on that cherry tomato, this is a newer picture (today as opposed to yesterday I think).



So one day on and it looks redder and you can see a hint of red in the one next to it, so things
are looking good there as there is no major sign of disease yet.

Also have these in the pipe line.



Lower ones are cherry, above that there are two trusses of Tigerella, the stripes
are much more pronounced on one truss, the older one, so I am hoping that is
not to far off reddening, but I expect I have a good while to wait yet.

[Vixen218]

Wow... What a range of thoughts and there was me thinking I had asked a fairly standard and normal question which would only produce one answer.
I think I am even more confused than usual. I think that I do not have bush varieties but tall growing ones. Still confused as to where I am supposed to snip off the suckers?
Ok well... Loads more green tomatoes then... More green Tom chutney for me then

[kathyd]

Wow... What a range of thoughts and there was me thinking I had asked a fairly standard and normal question which would only produce one answer.
I think I am even more confused than usual. I think that I do not have bush varieties but tall growing ones. Still confused as to where I am supposed to snip off the suckers?
Ok well... Loads more green tomatoes then... More green Tom chutney for me then

Lol, well if you will ask interesting questions!! I've take a couple of photos to help you identify them, but sadly I don't seem to be able to upload at the moment - probably going too slowly due to the really annoying scrolling advert on the right hand side of the page . I'll try again later... alternatively if you send me a private message I could email them to you if all esle fails.

[veggiechicken]

. I think that I do not have bush varieties but tall growing ones. Still confused as to where I am supposed to snip off the suckers?

You snap them out where the leaf joins the main stem (in the armpit!!). Make sure its a side shoot and not a fruiting truss before you do

[kathyd]

Lol, well if you will ask interesting questions!! I've take a couple of photos to help you identify them, but sadly I don't seem to be able to upload at the moment - probably going too slowly due to the really annoying scrolling advert on the right hand side of the page . I'll try again later... alternatively if you send me a private message I could email them to you if all esle fails.

At last! Couple of pics, hope they help.

1. shows a new 'sucker' in an 'armpit' - ie where the leaf joins the main stem - it's the one in the middle of the group of 3. This will be nipped out later.

2. shows one that got away! You can see the leaf bending downwards, and the sucker stem growing happily upwards. I didn't notice it until it had lots of tiny tomatoes on it, and then I couldn't bring myself to remove it .

Just hold the sucker at the base, and bend sideways until it snaps off.