[freebo]

Gardening Gods,

Its my first year growing toms (or anything for that matter) so pls excuse my ignorance, over the last month my tom plants have gone ballistic as you can see HERE

Problem is, I'm getting masses of foliage (having to remove some just so I can get down the middle of the greenhouse) & not that many flowers. I know I should have paid more attention to side shoots  :oops: , and I am gettig rid of them as I find them now, but some have grown quite a bit and have trusses on them. I will definately be more careful next year, but a few of questions for now.

- Should I be removing the tips now? The plants have almost reached the roof of the greenhouse.

- Do I need to feed more? Currently using tomatorite roughly every week. I'm seeing a few flowers, but a fair proportion are dying without setting fruit, I've tried to encourage polination by leaving the door open & giving them a shake now & then.

- Should I be rutheless with some of the branches? Currently its hard to tell one plant from another, and I have a couple of cucumbers at one end that seem to be getting crowded out, they seem happy and are producing cuce's though.

- The fruit I am seeing are not yet ripening, and seem to be growing quite slowly, is this just a patience thing, we haven't had much sun lately.

Thanks all & sorry to ramble on, bit like my tom plants!

Mike

[corndolly]

What type of tomato plants are you growing, bush varieties do not have sideshoots removed , but you can pinch out the tips to stop them putting all growth into foliage.

If not bush type, then you will need to remove sideshoots ,if you leave those with flowers you may get tomatoes setting on these shoots but they will be small.

I spray the greenhouse with water to help with setting of tomatoes.

Do not feed untill you see tomatoes setting , or you'll get more leaves.

When the plants reach the roof , I train them along a horizontal cane and continue sideshooting.

I also remove leaves below any truss where fruit has set.

hope this helps .

[freebo]

What type of tomato plants are you growing, bush varieties do not have sideshoots removed , but you can pinch out the tips to stop them putting all growth into foliage.

I also remove leaves below any truss where fruit has set.

hope this helps .

Thanks for all the helpful info corndolly, can I just ask about removing the leaves below a truss. Does this mean only the leaves below the bottom truss on a plant, or all leaves below any truss?

[corndolly]

What I have been doing is removing the leaves below any truss where the fruit has set.Even if that means you only have leaves on the top half of the plant. I'll post a pic of mine in the next day or two.

[corndolly]

At last ! picked a basketful of ripe tomatoes today !  Here FreeBo you can see how the leaves are removed after the bottom trusses have got tomatoes showing.Once Tomatoes have set on the bottom truss I feed the plant every week with comfrey tea .



I will train the plants to grow along horizontal wires when they reach greenhouse ceiling height. Keep watering every day and feeding once a week, remove sideshoots , remove leaves as each truss sets fruit.



This year we're growing plum and yellow tomatoes . The French marigolds growing in some of the pots will deter whitefly.

[Sally A]

I have never seen such a tidy greenhouse; you'd put Kim & Aggie to shame!

[corndolly]

You should see my bathroom  

[shaun]

You should see my bathroom  

whats in there ?  

[corndolly]

What? next to the coal ? all the sideshoots , blood , sweat and tears !!

[ness]

Oooh you all make me jealous.  My toms got got by the dreaded blight.  Even the ones I have grown at home but then took to the allotment because we were moving house. :?   The worse thing is the fruit had just started turning red before they got it. :?  :cry:
Moan over

[Annie]

I`ve been watching this thread with interest since as soon as I put my greenhouse toms into grow bags they got over excited and with the lack of sun promptly headed upwards taking the emerging flowers with them,result no trusses until 3 foot or more up.So I have been nurturing the side shoots and removing only the stem below each one to encourage flowering lower down.It seems to be working though I am normally fighting the side shoots back this time of year.

[Mitsy]

I am so jealous mine are half the size and just starting to get flowers now lol  :oops:

[wildeone]

I am so jealous mine are half the size and just starting to get flowers now lol  :oops:

If it makes you feel better mine are a 1/3 of the size and not flowering yet!!!