Support for tomatoes

[Camile]

Hello,

We've transplanted our toms in the polytunnel over the last 10 days or so ... and they didn't seem to mind ... and they were only a couple of centimetres high, but with 4 or so true leaves ... and done with disturbing as little as possible of the roots ...

as for support, what sort of support would you have for them ? if any

.. altough I know you can tie them to ropes coming down ... so I was thinking to attach them somewhow to the crop bars ... I believe they only need some when they are fruiting ...

and I've planted some yesterday in some milk container, attached to the crop bar, the idea behind is that they won't need any support ...

and would anyone think there is a need to pinch out the side shoots ?


Thanks
Camile

[john4703]

I grow tomatoes in a greenhouse and have several wires fixed along under the glass. I tie string to these and tie the tomatoes to these strings. I find it is better to tie them up before they get heavy and fall over as it seems to cause less damage to the plants.

[tim&fatima]

I agree with John, it is better to tie them up before they get heavy and fall over. I also use wire and string, i have a two horizontal wires one at the bottom, "inch or so above the growbag", and another as high up as i can. then i have vertical strings attached to the top wire coming down in line with the plant and attached to the bottom wire. and use little bits of string to attach the plants to the string"not too tight"
I think it is important to take out the side shoots as it gives th plant better structure and keeping the side shoots just slows down the plants performance. I tend to nip the top off after five or six trusses (fruit branches) or when the plant reaches the top of the greenhouse.
also this is not to everyones taste, but I read some where that a tom plant only needs a few leaves to grow. so i do tend to "nip out" the big three leaves at the end of the branches. after all your supposed to be growing tomatoes not leaves.
but everyones different. thats the beauty of it. enjoy yourself.

[Thurston Garden]

I grow mine up strings which are secured to my crop bars too. My crop bars don't lie directly above the beds so I have run strings across the tunnel - end to end, looping the string around each crop bar in turn directly above each row of plants.

I then tie the 'growing-up-string' to the root ball of the tomato plant as I plant them out and pull up enough string to tie to the strings looped around the crop bars.

You might be able make out the (white!) strings in this photo - the ones running end to end and wrapped round the crop bars and then the vertical ones up which the toms climb.



And yes, pinch out the side shoots (a never ending task in my case last year with 70 plants!) if they are cordon plants - which I assume they are of you are trying to grow them up strings. This lets the light in to the fruit and the air circulate better preventing disease. It alsoensures that the plants energy goes where you want it, rather than producing a mass of greenery at the expoense of toms. You are not supposed to pinch out bush tomatoes but I have never had much luck with them in the tunnel.

[tim&fatima]

fantastic setup there TG. puts my 6x6 greenhouse to shame. what a great crop,
what varieties do you tend to go for?. that one in the picture has a really thick stem.
how long is your growing season in the tunnel?
I only started growing toms last year so it was more experimental. different varieties here and there, (wasn't keep on beef toms ) watering, pruning methods. I must admit I really enjoy the nurturing and care that goes into the whole life of the plant. i reckon I had a good 60% fruit to 40% plant. definitly got the bug.

[Thurston Garden]

Thanks!

That lot are Gardeners Delight. I had 20 plants that time and 50 Tigerella. If I remember rightly I got about 25 stone of toms from them. The soil ir very very poor though.

I grow year round in the tunnel, but it is drastically reduced in the winter. Leeks, turnips, lettuces, onions, all do well. There's a pic of the tunnel taken yesterday in this thread.

Note the bolting cabbages! (And thistles )

[Mrs Moustoir]

Gosh - 25 stone of toms!

Not much if you say it quickly...

What did you use your tomatoes for? Lots of pasta sauces?

[Thurston Garden]

Most were sold either direct to customers or to the local veggie/wholefood shop.

We did make one or two jars of sauce though...Saturday night was pizza night for weeks....no, months!

[Mrs Moustoir]

Very healthy though - all that lycopene.

[Camile]

Hi again,

Now that's the perfect answer to my needs ! thank you very much ..

will have to get plenty of baler twine now !

Camile

[Jules]

I grow tomatoes in a greenhouse and have several wires fixed along under the glass. I tie string to these and tie the tomatoes to these strings. I find it is better to tie them up before they get heavy and fall over as it seems to cause less damage to the plants.""

John4703 - thats exactly what I do and it works a treat.