How do you grow tomatoes!?

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maddave

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How do you grow tomatoes!?
« on: July 20, 2014, 21:22 »
For the last few years I've had a few toms in pots on my sunny patio.  Every year I try and grow them properly and pinch out the side shoots, trim the tops to stop them growing, and every year they look like the pictures below - a mass of tomato jungle!! I'm not complaining about the yields I get, but as the fruits swell, they do seem to weigh the branches down and I end up trying to support them, but some do snap.

I realise it's too late to improve the plants below, but would be good to get tips for next year!!



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mobilekat

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Re: How do you grow tomatoes!?
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2014, 21:26 »
What varieties are you growing, as you treat bush tomatoes differently from Cordons.
Also you may have punched the tops out a tad soon?
Very often quite lost- would be more lost if I could work out where I was!- But always find my way home.....

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mumofstig

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Re: How do you grow tomatoes!?
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2014, 21:27 »
What varieties do you grow?

The ones in the pics mostly look like bush varieties doing what they should  :)

If they are cordon varieties then they should have had better pruning/pinching out, to grow up one long cane.

If we start with the varieties first and then the correct pruning advice can follow.............


SNAP

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maddave

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Re: How do you grow tomatoes!?
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2014, 21:34 »
Ah! Bush varieties you say?  I thought tomatoes were tomatoes!   :) :ohmy: Now you know my level of expertise!

There are two sun golds on the black tray on the middle left, with a money maker and tumbler ( I think) that my neighbour gave me, either side of the sungolds. I couldn't tell you which is which though!

Last year I grew sungolds and tigerella which looked similar, but I find my main problem is they send out really long side shoots, which I cannot control.  I am sure there is a 7 truss rule isn't there, but I find I just get branches everywhere!

Thanks for your help!

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mumofstig

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Re: How do you grow tomatoes!?
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2014, 21:43 »
Sungold and Moneymaker should really only have one stem.
The tumbler are the bush ones that you just leave to do their thing  ;) so no probs there

I'm off to find the video.................

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mumofstig

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Re: How do you grow tomatoes!?
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2014, 21:55 »
This one looks nice and clear

bD3ecdl9qwY

Probably too late to snap any big side shoots off, from the bottom, without doing too much damage, so you may just have to let those grow - but support them with canes and string.

You could probably remove some further up, and deffo any new ones that grow - good luck  ;)

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maddave

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Re: How do you grow tomatoes!?
« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2014, 18:36 »
Thanks for the advice. That's a great video.

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spuriousmonkey

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Re: How do you grow tomatoes!?
« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2014, 10:26 »
I grow my tomatoes in three different ways.

on my patio (with plastic clear roof) I grow indeterminates using the string method. I attach a string to the roof, and wrap it around the main stem of the plant and attach it to the pot. I prune away all suckers to have only one main stem. Plants can grow easily to above a height of 2.5 meters like this even in finland. Most of my plants have actually already hit the roof.

Here are two plants in the corner: Both are sweet one million F1, a common cherry type indeterminate tomato plant. They are about 1.5 meters in the picture (18 july 2014). Not my tallest. They were my spare plants.

As you can see I always put a tray underneath the pot and water from below. It's easier and I think better for the plants. I give liquid feed on the top.

A detail of the tray system.



On my allotment I grow everything just with the basket weave/florida weave. Two or more poles with tomato plants between them and you weave a string between everything. I mix bush and inderminates/cordons like this. Inderminates will grow taller but the season is so short here that it doesn't matter.

This is an older picture.

An overview:


And then I also have bush type tomatoes on my patio. I just put them in a sunny spot in a bucket and move them around. If it rains I put them underneath a roof. I do not prune them except to take away damaged or suspcious looking leaves away.

Here is an example of that. In the foreground there is a dwarf variety in a smaller pot. In the back there is a bush type tomato in a bucket.

« Last Edit: July 24, 2014, 10:33 by spuriousmonkey »

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maddave

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Re: How do you grow tomatoes!?
« Reply #8 on: July 24, 2014, 17:59 »
Amazing.  Thanks for that. I had no idea there was so many ways to do it!  Definitely up for some experimenting next year!



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