[itsallabouttheworms]

Hiya,

I'm fine pinching out sideshoots on my Red Cherry plants but my beefsteak and brandywine are confusing me.
There seem to be 2 main growing points...do I just pick one?  There's the truss in the middle and then two big stems either side of it...
Not sure if this picture is clear enough...

[GrannieAnnie]

I get that at times.  The main shoot splits doesn't it?  I usually take one off, but you can let them both grow, not sure if it would get too heavy that way though.

[itsallabouttheworms]

Yeah - the main shoot splits into 2...and then they both seem to form trusses and then I'm in a whole lot of tomatofusion Mine are all pretty much doing that (not the red cherry), so I may do half and half...?

[GrannieAnnie]

We can only try these things to see what works best for us!  Good luck with them!

[DD.]

If you let them both grow, the plant is trying to support more tomatoes and the size can be affected.

You also have the space issue and the problem of supporting both shoots, as you can't tie them up on the one support.

[mumofstig]

My Rio Grande toms can never make up their mind whether they are cordon or bush and I tend to let just 2 stems grow and give them a cane each - like this
http://tomatolover.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Suttons-Double-Cordon.jpg

It can look strange when the plants divides higher up, but it works for me  They do need a lot of watering and feed though

[GrannieAnnie]

Our friend in the village only has a small greenhouse.  He puts about 9 tomato plants in there, doesn't know what variety they are and he never takes the side shoots off.

He gets lovely tomatoes and never gets any pests or disease problems.  Does he lead a charmed life do you think?   

[8doubles]

I gave up trying to grow toms 'by the book' years ago ! If the plant is a convenient shape i let it grow but i do not hesitate to remove excess shoots or any branches or leaves that are in the way.
Letting the light in and allowing good ventilation is a good thing.
Toms are tough and can stand heavy pruning 

[Auntiemogs]

My Rio Grande toms can never make up their mind whether they are cordon or bush and I tend to let just 2 stems grow and give them a cane each - like this
http://tomatolover.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Suttons-Double-Cordon.jpg
It can look strange when the plants divides higher up, but it works for me  They do need a lot of watering and feed though

Very useful, thanks Mum.     I'm growing Rio Grande this year, I do love my plum toms! 

[itsallabouttheworms]

Thanks GrannieAnnie - it's VERY exciting as a first year grower to see trusses forming...and starting to set. Looking forward to my first tomatoes soon~Just bought my organic feed too for when they have started to set.

Mumofstig - that's an awesome looking plant - I may do that with a couple myself...I've got 24 plants a lot of which are the bigguns, so I'd best choose one stem on most of them.

I do fear they'll grow too big and I'll have space issue like DD says - I'm borrowing the corner of a greenhouse so kind of tightly packed in as it is 

[Totty]

One of those shoots looks lower, I'd remove it and treat it like a cordon. Many of the older varietys tend to do this, more so than the new f1s which seldom, if ever seem to do it. Some of the black prince plants I grew last year were chucking out leaf shoots that ended up with flowers on, then it would have trusses of flowers that decided to turn into a leaf stem. Books can only tell you so much, plants are individual and so often don't go by the rule book.

Totty

[itsallabouttheworms]

Yes, you're right, Totty: The right shoot is almost coming from the axis so I was considering taking that one out at first...and then I got confused.
Cool - I'll take that one out and see how I go with the others :-)
Cheers for the help!