Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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OtleyLad
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When to stop tomatoes?Most of my tommy plants have reached the top of their canes now. I could train them higher with heath robinson strings, etc but was wondering is there a more logical reason to stop them?
Perhaps after a certain number of flowering trusses?
After a certain date (so they have time to ripen)?
What do you do (and does it work  )?
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Mistress Rose
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Think the old rule used to be after 3 or 4 trusses.
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OtleyLad
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Think the old rule used to be after 3 or 4 trusses. |
Maybe I'm greedy but it doesn't sound like many 
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Mistress Rose
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I don't bother with it either, but it was supposed to produce good tomatoes from the trusses you had.
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Shan
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I let them go wild. I like my tomatoes. 
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Bungo
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Depends on variety too, cherrys ,as many trusses you can get  beef tomatoes 4 or 5 ? And on how their planted and what their planted in ?
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Piggyphile
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And time of year and if they are indoors or out. I tend to stop mine a few weeks before the end of the growing season so the ones still small and green have a chance to fatten up and I can pick them before frosts get them
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farmershort
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ooooo great topic! I'd been wondering this too!
If this isn't too much of a thread hijack (apologies if it is):
I'm growing:
Dr Carolyn Pink Larger
Giganti Liscio
Green Zebra
Marmande
All of them in a polytunnel (4.5m long) and all of them growing in 10L pots. The Green Zebra are the shortest of the bunch by a long way, but the Giganti and the Dr Carolyn are nearly at the top of the canes..
What exactly do we mean by truss? Flower stems, or leaf pairs up the main stem?
Thanks
Adam
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tahir
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A truss is a cluster of fruit isn't it?
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OtleyLad
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A truss is a cluster of fruit isn't it? |
That's my interpretation here.
pollyanna
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I usually take the flowers off at the beginning of August; and the green tomatoes I don't think will develop/ripen at the beginning of September.
I think green tomato chutney is the food of the Devil, but I appreciate many people rate it highly!
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Lloyd
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I'm growing two varieties of trailing toms in hanging baskets for the first time this year, and as they are meant to be heavy croppers, am just letting them do their own thing.
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dpack
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some of the older tall varieties are best topped at six trusses ,modern ones often self stop
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frewen
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Truss is such a wonderful word. 
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Nature'sgrafter
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I'm growing:
Marmande
Adam |
adam I hope some one will correct me if im wrong but isn't marmande a bush variety I.E best left to it's own devices.
madcat
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I have ripened green tomatoes off the plant. I theoretically stop them after six trusses but stuff gets away. The cherry ones just get let to go wild.
They all love the manky water from washing fleeces
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DorsetScott
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I'm not saying I've missed taking off sideshoots but 3 of my tomato plants would appear to be dual cordons 
I stopped the rest when they got to the top of the bamboo cane. Don't know how many trusses that is though.
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Finsky
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I never stop mine (that's in greenhouse), but carry on training the plants higher and higher if that's want they want to do....some years they've even poked their heads out of roof vents for 2 ft or so..
And it never had any negative effect for ripening...if its been mild enough weather, I've picked tomatoes until Christmas!
I just think this 'stopping job' too restricting and it reduces one's crop hugely. Now stopping for lack of space is entirely different thing..I'm only talking stopping for sake of it.
Here is my GH last week..all the plants are already grown several inches taller..and bushier  ..tomatoes are flowering their 4-6th trusses and summer is still young!  [im g][/img]
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gregotyn
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It is geared to where you grow them, I'm at 1kfeet north east facing so I was pleased to get 5 trusses, the point where I stopped them. If I left them to carry on they wouldn't have ripened anyway, they were under a barn and grown in large pots, so all against me getting a bumper crop. It is in my opinion better to have less trusses and get generally bigger fruit rather than lots of tomatoes and not all getting to any worthwhile size. Commercially some grow to about 20 trusses I think, but they are in the 'supposed' perfect enclosed environment with the perfect feeds! Dave Cooke from another place used to grow 9 trusses by layering them. I can't remember if it was in or outside, but he was in the south of UK-Dorset I think.
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VM
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I tend to stop at 6 or so trusses if grown inside - supposed to be fewer if outside.Think it must depend on where you are. In polytunnel in Manchester if we let the plants just go on growing we got lots of fruit but smaller and not ripening early - and also tended to get lots of foliage rather than big fruit.
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farmershort
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Ah ok - Didn't realise that about marmande. I've not noticed them growing any differently to the other varieties, so I guess that's why I didn't even consider it! oops!
Hopefully they'll still produce a half-decent crop!
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Finsky
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I - and also tended to get lots of foliage rather than big fruit. |
Too much foliage is sign of too rich growing conditions or too much nitrogen rich fertilizer.
If you keep tomatoes in quite strict diet they won't waste their energy for growing all those lush big leaves but spend more of their effort to produce fruit>>>or seeds.
It is all about 'sex' with plants..they want to produce SEEDS and as much as possible
I'm here in Notts. and it have to be pretty bad summer for tomato crops to be small.
I don't feed my plants as it is said in fertilizer bottle...they recommend giving the doze 'once every so often', but have divided the amount over each and every watering...I find I get much better results..though I have my own 'concoction' what I'm feeding them with too..but still the principal is same.
Other thing that may limit how many trusses one can grow is the available room for the roots....I cannot grow decent toms in growbags!!! They are far too fiddly to look after and stopped using them for yeeeears ago. Now it is deep raised beds with bottomless pots for mine...and toms like plenty of company from other plants too.. Particularly Yacon & tomato seem to like each others...
farmershort
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The feeding is an interesting point actually....
We've recently relocated to hampshire (from leicestershire), and are currently in a rented house. All of that adds up to not having any of our own compost available, so having to make do a bit.
With that in mind, I ended using 10L pots for the toms & Chillies filled with "growmore" compost. This is supposed to be good for flowring & fruiting, so I'm assuming it has a decent potash content.... from the size of the plants vs the number of trusses so far though, I suspect it's Nitrogen heavy.
In an effort to stay away from things like tomorite, I found some UK produced seaweed feed - this is supposed to be great for toms, but all of my research so far suggests that it's high in Nitrogen and trace elements, but naff all potash...
Potash is the key right?
Is anyone using this seaweed based feed?
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Finsky
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| Quote: | | Is anyone using this seaweed based feed? |
Yes I do...but I mix it with comfrey liquid that is potash rich and touch of potash 'powder' to make sure there is some as plant based 'brews' are not always 'what it says in the label' (they do smell very potent though )...and this latest batch I made I had some commercial tomato food samples given so chucked those in too.
Trouble with seaweed is that you need to supply it VERY small quantity at the time or it can start making you plants looking 'sad'...
'too much of a good thing' and all that.
Plain seaweed should not have much nitrogen at all, but some brands do add it as 'norm'.
I've got gallon of triple strength seaweed and that has added 3% of nitrogen..great if you want to 'green things up' but not for regular use for fruiting things.
Generally I don't think as seaweed as 'fertilizer' as such ,but more of 'plant stimulator' that will enhance the effect of other ingredients in a feed...
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