Trimming tomato plants

[jonohanson]

I pinch out all side shoots on cordons, and I also remove all lower leaves that want to be removed upto the first truss, the way I tell if they want to come off is to gently snap the leaf upward if it snaps off its ready, if it feels its going to bend its not.

This increases airflow in the GH. I always get a bumper crop per plant.

[Vixen218]

Ah I think I get it now...
Thank you for the advice and pictures... I unfortunately have loads of tim plants that have suckers on them that need to be removed... Also I now have an underground wasps nest in the garden that I need to deal with before the BBQ on Saturday, and I have to start hand pollinating my summer squashes in the horrible plastic greenhouse... Hoping for a real one next year...

[Two_Sheds]

why are the squashes still in the gh?

[MrsCordial]

Kathy those photos have made all the difference. Tbh I'd never even noticed those tiny side shoots starting, but I spotted a few this afternoon and have whipped 'em off

[esbo]

I didn't notice it until it had lots of tiny tomatoes on it, and then I couldn't bring myself to remove it .

I know how you feel, I find it really really hard to cut bit off my plants, yes a little sucker an inch or two long is fairly easy to pinch out but anything bigger leave me feeling really guilty

[esbo]

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

It is confusing isn't it, whilst cutting out suckers may mean there is less fruit to feed, but then there is also less green stuff to catch the suns energy (and make sugar/carbohydrate).
Green stuff does not drain the plants energy, it provides the plants energy.

Removing immature fruit which has no chance of maturing seems fairly sensible though, if you
can bring yourself to do it that is!! I mean I may have another 2 months of frost free weather yet which is quite a while. However my plants got hit by disease in September last year so I am in two minds about what to do, I am kind of expecting the same thing to happen this year but as this is only my second year growing I really don't have enough evidence to have a strong opinion either way about what to do.

Hence I am more leaning to letting stuff grow as once I have cut it off I can't change my mind can I? If I let it grow I can always cut it off later even if it is a pretty big piece by then.
However I think I would just cut off the fruits on that piece as I fail to see what chopping off green can achieve. It would be like ripping off your solar panels off the roof to get more energy!!


But others may disagree!!!

[MrsCordial]

I'm thinking of rigging up a quasi-cold frame for mine in a couple of weeks, if they *still* haven't ripened. I have so many tomatoes across nine plants but not a single one with even a mild blush, although some are going a little yellow. All mine are planted outside.

[Vixen218]

why are the squashes still in the gh?

Well the seed packet said to grow them in the greenhouse... So I have, although on really hot days I have been opening it up to allow access to any passing bees and to stop it from getting too hot in there. Should they be outside then, they are summer squashes (sunburst or something similar in name)

[esbo]

I'm thinking of rigging up a quasi-cold frame for mine in a couple of weeks, if they *still* haven't ripened. I have so many tomatoes across nine plants but not a single one with even a mild blush, although some are going a little yellow. All mine are planted outside.

Mine are outside too, I have far too many plants lol about 20 but I could not bring myself to bin the surplus. Only 1 red and 1 orangish cherry tom so far, all the bigger ones are green. The cherries reddened first last year. I had plenty of red cherries whilst all the bigger ones were green,
by the time there was a sign of ripening on the bigger ones they were hit by disease, which is what I fear happening again this year.

I read damaging the plant may shock it into ripening, ie pulling the root up a bit or putting a spade through part of the root, but that sounds rather crazy but it might work if you have the guts to do it.

I think a damaged plant produces ethylene, a gas which triggers ripening (that is what a ripe banana produces and why people use a banana to aid ripening).

Also I just had a look at the (poisonous) cherry tree in the from lawn, all it's cherries are still green and not full size, but it produces masses of red cherries eventually. That makes me think it is early days yet but the tree can cope with cold weather and has an iron constitution as far as disease if concerned unlike the rather fragile tomato plant!!

[veggiechicken]

The first toms to ripen this year, for me, have been on a pathetic plant that didn't deserve a place in the GH. So I stuck it outside and ignored it. Those toms ripened about 2 weeks before any of the GH ones.
Also, I've always found that cherry toms ripen earlier than their larger brothers - so this year, I'm not growing anything above medium size.

[esbo]

Seems the more you neglect a plant the more ripe toms you get.

Pity I can't put mine in the fridge!!!

[Potstubsdustbins]

Not quite if you neglect a plant it will try to reproduce before it dies. However you will get very little return for your efforts it is far better to give them what they need.

Potty

[Bill HH]

I always thought there was no need to pinch out bush types. But the answer is simple, pinchout the suckers on one and dont pinch them out on another. Let us know what happens.

[kathyd]

You don't normally pinch out bush types Bill HH, just the indeterminate varieties...