[andyw]

My plants are doing really well and most have at least two stems with flowers growing, on two of the plants I can see a tiny tomato growing.  What I'm not sure of is when do you take the tops off the plants?  On some of these plants I can see another 3 stems where flowers will grow and I've read that once you have 4 trusses you stop the plant growing.

[mumofstig]

First, a question - are your plants cordon/indeterminate plants or bush/determinate plants. If you don't know then the variety name would help

That way, we can tell if the other stems you can see should be left to grow or nipped out.

[andyw]

They are cordon tomatoes.  I am growing cherry and money makers.
Thanks

[mumofstig]

right, are the new stems coming out of the join between the leaf stems and the main stem?
 (think of them coming out of armpits )

If they are then they need to be nipped out.




You only ever want the one main stem with leaves and flowers coming directly from that.

If you're growing in a greenhouse then don't worry about taking the tops off until autumn when the plants have reached the roof

[andyw]

Thanks for the photo, yes I have been removing these shoots for a while now, I think some people call these the armpit shoots.  The ones that I was referring to are the stems that area going to flower.  Ok so the ones that are going in the greenhouse I will not top off until he autumn.  But what about the ones that no outside?

[GrannieAnnie]

When I have outdoor tomatoes, I take the top off when they reach the top of the cane.

[DD.]

(GA's canes are 18' tall!  )

[andyw]

So can you take the tops out even before the trusses have been established?

[mumofstig]

Do you mean that your plants are already tall enough to have made 3 trusses already?

That would be very unusual this early in the year, unless you sowed them very early and you've been growing them in a heated greenhouse 

Any chance of some pictures? I think most of ours are way behind yours 

[andyw]

Yes I think so, they were planted in feb and kept in the greenhouse with the heater on.  Not home right now.  Will take a pic later.  On two of the plants one of the flowers have finished and there is a tiny green ball in place.

[andyw]

Here is a photo showing one of the plans with a least 2 trusses on, this plant alo has a very small tomato growing.

[andyw]

Another plant from the greenhouse.  This one now has 3 trusses.

[mumofstig]

By not pinching the armpits out properly you've allowed them to grow as bush toms, with several stems instead of just one.

Nothing you can do now, just let them grow as they want, they'll just be a bit harder suppost.

[andyw]

I did this routinely but while I was away in April I brought all the plants into the house, came back and they were double the size, so I think this is where it happened.  It's amazing how fast this shoots grow!  Will this affect the growth now?

[JayG]

As the person who has overseen the "Home grown tomato survey" on here for the past two years I should have known better than to let my Sweet Million toms grow as bushes last year! 

The two main problems are that they took up much more space than I had allocated for them, plus with more than one stem they tried to produce more trusses than the plant had enough strength to develop and ripen properly.

Having realised my mistake I tried to grow the strongest stem as a cordon, and also made sure the other stems didn't themselves produce further side shoots and thus make the problem even worse.

They did OK in the end, but the plants were definitely over-reaching themselves in every sense - as Mum suggested they will require extra support, which can get a bit messy!