[Glosterboy]

My greenhouse tomato plants are now well established. Four or five trusses and touching the greenhouse roof. No ripe ones yet though. Previous years I've generally let them keep growing into a tangled mess!!! So please, what is the general consensus regards controlling the growing height of greenhouse tomato plants? At what stage, if any, is it best to pinch out/stop the growing tip? Thanks.

[AndyRVTR]

I tend to cut the growing tip at 5 trusses, though it's sometimes 4, depending on how high the plant has reached!

[KalisDad]

My greenhouse tomato plants are now well established. Four or five trusses and touching the greenhouse roof. No ripe ones yet though. Previous years I've generally let them keep growing into a tangled mess!!! So please, what is the general consensus regards controlling the growing height of greenhouse tomato plants? At what stage, if any, is it best to pinch out/stop the growing tip? Thanks.

I've been along the same train of thought as you, let them grow in to a tangled mess and I've always enjoyed lots of tomatoes. Sunday last week due to an almost constant blight forecast I decided it would be easier to keep them healthy if thinned them abit to help keep the greenhouse clear of condensation and allow some airflow.
I'm one plant down as I broke the main stem, the rest look OK but dont think I'll enjoy so many tomatoes this year. Tips are pinched out as they are at the top of the greenhouse.  Next year its either do things properly from the start or have the courage of my convictions and see it out as I normally do.

[Snow]

I always let my greenhouse tomatoes have two stems, means you almost get twice the number of flowers  so you have twice the chance to set fruit. This was quite useful this year due to the heatwave in early june, some got so badly frazzled in the heat that they lost a growing tip and some trusses didn't set. However they have recovered well. It also means they don't grow quite as tall, only the most vigorous are coming close to the top of the greenhouse. Normally I'll top them at the start of August.  You do need to do more sideshooting though

[Alank]

Once my tomato plants have four trusses set I trim off the bottom leaves up to the first truss then after a week or so I pinch the tops out.
Then I top up the pots to the top with fresh compost and increase the feed as required.

[mumofstig]

I always let my greenhouse tomatoes have two stems

I've been doing that years, as well https://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=110263.msg1244752#msg1244752

[Nobbie]

I just let mine keep growing into the apex of the greenhouseas it means they keep cropping into November. Not sure what the benefit of stopping them is apart from tidiness.

[hasbeans]

Large fruited plants need stopping earlier than Cherry types in my experience.  I think you would be doing yourself out of a lot of toms stopping cherry tomatoes this early.  I grow outdoors and would leave cherry tomatoes to run until early September if blight stayed off and the weather...

Can you run a wire at roof level and let one or two plants continue horizontally?

[wighty]

The only tomatoes I've had that run amok in the greenhouse were the grafted ones I bought at the Island's Garden Festival that we took my visiting Mum to. (Quite a few years ago now).  We could hardly get in the greenhouse with out machetes to fight back the foliage.   Our tomatoes in pots on the decking are very small and this year just don't seem to want to grow.  We've fed them and watered, but I don't think we'll get much of a crop.

[Nobbie]

Large fruited plants need stopping earlier than Cherry types in my experience.  I think you would be doing yourself out of a lot of toms stopping cherry tomatoes this early.  I grow outdoors and would leave cherry tomatoes to run until early September if blight stayed off and the weather...

Can you run a wire at roof level and let one or two plants continue horizontally?

That makes sense, it’s Sungold and Gardeners delight that I grow, although I find the Brandywine pretty much give up themselves and don’t need pinching out.

[Growster...]

Ours grow in pots in trays but up a string, wound around every few days, so when they get to the apex of the GH, I pinch out the tops - whatever trusses are there - say five or six, then tie the whole lot up with string so they don't start to fall all over the place.

I do the same outside but as they're up against a wall, they finish up shorter, but still cropping!

I've noticed that the trusses seem to have started further up the stems this year, possibly because of the hot spell we had a few weeks ago, when everything looked weird! And also, the side shoots don't seem to be as prevalent this year as well!

[Glosterboy]

Thanks to you all for your interesting comments. Certainly "food for thought". I've a mixture of cherry, salad and beefsteak tomato types. It appears each type requires different attention to gain the maximum fruiting results. Thanks again.

[goose]

i have been restricting my greenhouse grown ones for weeks now as they had reached the roof...great yield, but yet to ripen ...howeven, the so called 'runts of the litter' that i shoved down the allotment to see if they would survive,  are lower in height but are already ripening and giving me a good crop....go figure?