[Potterer]

Hi. I grew crimson crush and blush tomatoes last year both indoors and out. They were both tall and very bushy plants and my outdoor supports ( tying in to bamboo canes) didnt work well. The plants just seemed to grow in different directions!

Anybody have suggestions and/or experience of supports that work? Thanks

[Kleftiwallah]

Good afternoon Potterer,  if you approach Sainsbury's management they may let you have a few of the large black flower pots the flowers come in.  Fingers crossed.
Cheers,  Tony.

[hasbeans]

I use heavy duty stock fencing for bush tomatoes, with holes big enough to get hands through, bent to create a tube about the same size as the pot the plants are in and fastened to canes stuck in the edges of the pot.  The fence holes are nice and big to get to fruit and stems can be eased through them as they grow.  I had the fence lying around though.

[Subversive_plot]

I just posted about using rebar for plant stakes, over in the Equipment Shed section: https://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=134852.0. Hasbeans livestock fence option also works well.

[Growster...]

I found 'Crimson Crush' had a similar habit when I grew some a year or so ago, so let them clamber all over a kid's climbing frame!

It looked a bit of a mess, but they loved it there, as you could tie in the strays in lots of positions!

Some more info here, for what it's worth...

https://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=125424.0

[New shoot]

I grew both of those last year outside on the plot.  They had a sturdy post each - some were half height round posts from B&Q that were out in the gardening section for about £3 each and some had a metal post from some odds and sods of stuff I found buried in the grass next to my plot years ago.

I just tied them in roughly with twine as they grew, to keep the branches from trailing on the ground.  They were hardly neat, but it worked and I got loads of fruit.

[Potty Plotty Lotty]

Hmmmm.... I thought they (Crimson Crush at least) were cordon rather than bush and grow them as such....  I grow them up a tepee of 3 sturdy bamboo (?8ft) canes. One plant at the base of each pole and that works for me.

[Potterer]

Thanks so much for all this advice. It’s great to have different ideas to try - I’m going to see what sturdy poles I have !

[New shoot]

Hmmmm.... I thought they (Crimson Crush at least) were cordon rather than bush and grow them as such....

I think you are right, but I let the outdoor plot tomatoes go their own way for the most of the time.  I don’t always get there as often as I should to keep them side shooted 

Mine produced a decent sized plant with several branches and a ton of fruit.  The seeds are pretty pricy so I was happy to let single plants hog a bit of room, if they were going to pay me back for it.

Crimson Blush produced fewer but larger fruits.  They were also pretty ungainly specimens, but did not take up too much space.  I make mini ‘bean’ trenches over the winter, plant the tomatoes on top and them usually have something sprawling around at their feet.  Last year it was courgettes and pumpkins, which I trained to run along the fronts of these areas.  Messy and untidy gardening, but productive