Tomatoes

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colinc

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Tomatoes
« on: July 05, 2011, 20:20 »
My tomatoes have grown to about 4ft high, do I need to stop them growing they have a lot of fruit on them.

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mumofstig

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Re: Tomatoes
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2011, 20:26 »
You usually only do this towards the end of the growing season so that the plant ripens the fruit it has already set, rather than carry on making new ones.

Are they outside or in the greenhouse?...this'll make a difference to how may can be ripened :unsure:

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colinc

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Re: Tomatoes
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2011, 20:32 »
they are in the green house

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mumofstig

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Re: Tomatoes
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2011, 21:03 »
I'll move this over to 'Greenhouses and Polytunnels' then  ;)

Are they up to the eaves already, cos some people do stop them then, but I leave mine to follow the roof-line until the end of August/beg September before I stop them............the more the merrier for me.

What doesn't ripen goes in green tomato chutney :lol:

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Hobnails

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Re: Tomatoes
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2011, 21:45 »
I find that greenhouse varieties giving heavy yields in the first two or three trusses rarely make anything worthwhile in subsequent trusses and are not worth bothering with.

For that reason I already have replacement plants growing on the bench and will grub out existing plants that show no great promise in later trusses in favour of new plants that will ( hopefully) take me well into Autumn.

I'll rely on the outdoor growing crop for supplies until the new greenhouse plants come into bearing- which should coincide with the end of the outdoor crop.
That's the plan anyway!
Little by little a bird makes its nest!

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japagow

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Re: Tomatoes
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2011, 22:30 »
You can cut the growing tips out to stop the vertical growth but if the tomato plants have taken over the greenhouse - as in my case with Gardeners Delight- and are flowering all over the place you  retreat to a safe area and take cover.

Grubbing out sounds sooo merciless. Tomato growers are a ruthless bunch of wild crazy people.

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AndrewV

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Re: Tomatoes
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2011, 17:51 »
You can cut the growing tips out to stop the vertical growth but if the tomato plants have taken over the greenhouse - as in my case with Gardeners Delight- and are flowering all over the place you  retreat to a safe area and take cover.

Grubbing out sounds sooo merciless. Tomato growers are a ruthless bunch of wild crazy people.
I'm quite new to this, can someone give me a heads up on what grubbing out means please?

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arugula

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Re: Tomatoes
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2011, 18:21 »
Grubbing out means digging up. :)
"They say a snow year's a good year" -- Rutherford.

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Headgardener22

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Re: Tomatoes
« Reply #8 on: July 12, 2011, 17:44 »
I can't say that I agree with hobnails about grubbing up tomatoes. I always let my tomatoes grow to four or five trusses and never have any problems with lower yields on the higher trusses. It all depends upon the varieties. I tend to grow a mixture of varieties and they require different treatment.

Last year, I alternated the plants, stopping every other plant at 4/5 trusses at the eaves of the greenhouse and letting the others grow up to the roof with 6/7 trusses.

This worked well with the cherry tomatoes where the higher trusses had lots of fruit and when I cut the foliage back later in the season they ripened well but I had difficulty in supporting some of the beefsteak varieties (mind you a truss of six fruits at 1.5lb per fruit is a large thing to manage anyway.

The polytunnel is more difficult as it is quite hard to put up supports for the fruits.

This year I am going to try "laying down" the plants. I have a small hydroponics kit growing two plants and I'm going to let them keep growing and lower the plants towards the ground as they reach the top of the greenhouse.

Its all experiments and what suits you.

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Growster...

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Re: Tomatoes
« Reply #9 on: July 12, 2011, 21:06 »
I can't say that I agree with hobnails about grubbing up tomatoes. I always let my tomatoes grow to four or five trusses and never have any problems with lower yields on the higher trusses. It all depends upon the varieties. I tend to grow a mixture of varieties and they require different treatment.

Last year, I alternated the plants, stopping every other plant at 4/5 trusses at the eaves of the greenhouse and letting the others grow up to the roof with 6/7 trusses.

This worked well with the cherry tomatoes where the higher trusses had lots of fruit and when I cut the foliage back later in the season they ripened well but I had difficulty in supporting some of the beefsteak varieties (mind you a truss of six fruits at 1.5lb per fruit is a large thing to manage anyway.

The polytunnel is more difficult as it is quite hard to put up supports for the fruits.

This year I am going to try "laying down" the plants. I have a small hydroponics kit growing two plants and I'm going to let them keep growing and lower the plants towards the ground as they reach the top of the greenhouse.

Its all experiments and what suits you.

That's very interesting HeadG. I knew about layering the bottom section, but not the top!

Let us know how you get on eh?

One thing I've noticed this year, is that the stems of ours, all Alicante, have been incredibly thick - even woody, and very sturdy. It's the first time I've given them more liquid manure feed than ever before, and I'm wondering if that's the difference.

The trusses are pretty hopeful, but seem to be slowing at about 4 or 5, which doesn't bother me, as we have about 50 odd plants all over the place, like in the greenhouse etc.

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Hortic

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Re: Tomatoes
« Reply #10 on: July 28, 2023, 10:19 »
I grow my toms much the same as Headgardener22. But I have found this year the plants have stopped initiating flowers with the dull days and cold nights. Nor are my beefsteaks ripening. It's like the plants are waiting for summer to resume.



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