[andyw]

Luckily not all the plants have grown this way!  Is it too late to remove one of the stems?  I don't mind having to create additional suuports but I would hate this to stop the fruits from growing.

[andyw]

Just had a thought, I was only ever advised to remove suckers from the arm pits of stems and nothing else.  I thought if I just left these then you get extra flowers and nothing else, the shoots that have grown have no produced trusses so now I'm confused.  So are you supposed to remove the extra shoots as well?

[JayG]

Not entirely sure I understand your question but the process is that if allowed to grow, side shoots (suckers) grow into stems which produce flowers, which produce tomatoes.

There is an overlap between some bush (determinate) and cordon (indeterminate) varieties, but basically bush tomatoes only grow to about 3' and therefore need all the stems they can produce to deliver a good crop, which tends to mature over a relatively short space of time.

Cordon tomatoes can grow to 12', although not very often in this country, and certainly not in my greenhouse! 
The idea is that they will set trusses of fruit at intervals during the growing season as the plant grows taller, but they do need "help" to stop them bushing out by removing the side-shoots.

[andyw]

Ok thanks for the information.  I will just make sure that I nip out anymore.  I sould find the packet and double check what I am growing, I just know that they are Cherry and Money Makers.  Hopefully I will have better luck next year.

[JayG]

Don't get too downhearted - you'll still get a crop this year! 

[GrannieAnnie]

(GA's canes are 18' tall!  )

Silly, I've never seen an 18' tomoato plant DD! 

But, Andy, if the side shoots that were allowed to grow are taken off, you can plant them and get more tomato plants!  I've only done it once to try it out, but other members on here have done it more than once!

[mumofstig]

They are such big shoots GA that it might damage the stem where it was cut off 

I wouldn't chance it in case mould started in the wound 
You can easily do it with the smaller ones though

[andyw]

Thanks all for your replies really helpful, I will now leave alone and just take off any new ones.  Can I just verify that there is no longer a need to remove the tops at all or should I still do this once 4-5 trusses have set?

[mumofstig]

As you now have at least a couple of main stems, I would only let each stem carry 2 or  at most 3 trusses.
6 fruit trusses on a single cordon stem is probably what you would hope for in the greenhouse, but yours will be spread over a few stems, if you see what I mean 

If they're going outside they probably won't get that many anyway

[andyw]

Thanks mumofstig, yes that makes sense.  I will keep an eye on them and see what happens.