clueless Tomato Grower

redmalc

Hi All i have decided this year to grow Tomatoes from seed and to my amasement they seem to be doing very good.I have a dozen plants in pots and have taken all the side shoots out and we have flowers and little tomatos on each plant,the majority have 4 trusses and i have been reading that you take the tops of the plant ! I am not sure what to do and which stem to chop because the majority of the plants fork out at the top into a V shape ,Any help or pictures would be appreciated give i have got this far without any major problems????

westiea

hi
do you know the variety of your tomatoes? As if its a bush variety it may not need 'stopping'

redmalc

No idea they are currently about 4 Foot high

Farway

redmalc wrote: »

No idea they are currently about 4 Foot high

Can you not look on the seed packet? Or is this a lesson to be learned, put a label in with the variety on it

Jake'sGran

I have just been counting trusses on my four plants. There seems to be a lot of growth before the first truss but every year we have a lot of tomatoes. Some growers stop the plant after four trusses. The existing toms will then get larger and ripen quicker.

It's nice to grow cherry tomatoes as you get so many and they are easier to grow I found. I've sometimes made mistakes with the watering and some toms have split on the vine. Did you feed your's with tomato food?

Incidentally, two of my plants are from seeds saved from Morrisons "on the vine"
tomatoes. You will find that you pick up lots of hints and tips over time.

tb4100

Jake'sGran wrote: »

I have just been counting trusses on my four plants. There seems to be a lot of growth before the first truss but every year we have a lot of tomatoes. Some growers stop the plant after four trusses. The existing toms will then get larger and ripen quicker.

It's nice to grow cherry tomatoes as you get so many and they are easier to grow I found. I've sometimes made mistakes with the watering and some toms have split on the vine. Did you feed your's with tomato food?

Incidentally, two of my plants are from seeds saved from Morrisons "on the vine"
tomatoes. You will find that you pick up lots of hints and tips over time.

Hi this happens to mine is this the reason?

Farway

tb4100 wrote: »

Hi this happens to mine is this the reason?

Yes, what happens is the skins harden to keep moisture in, when you water then the fruit swells & skin splits

It is a bit of a constant battle between too much & not enough, normally once or twice a day is OK, but sometimes we forget, or are fooled by dull days etc

oldreekie

Farway wrote: »

Yes, what happens is the skins harden to keep moisture in, when you water then the fruit swells & skin splits

It is a bit of a constant battle between too much & not enough, normally once or twice a day is OK, but sometimes we forget, or are fooled by dull days etc

I am pretty clueless too! Is this why my developing tomatoes are hard and misshapen? Am I not watering enough? They are in the greenhouse (unheated) but there has not been much sun recently - in fact it is rather chilly (Scotland!). I have been watering every day and feeding every other day.

It is years since I grew tomatoes and seem to have forgotten everything I knew then except that it was a bit of a chore and that we had lots of green tomatoes as our season is so short.

So, should I give them masses of water even though there is no sun or warmth?

Primrose

If you've got four trusses of flowers/fruit, it's time to snip out the main growing point of the plant. This will allow all the plant's energy to be concentrated on producing fruit now. Continue to pick out any side shoots which grow out from the main stem between the leaves as soon as you spot them as letting these grow will sap the plant's energy.
It's important to keep the plants well watered, and give them a dose of liquid Tomorite every other day. The compost in pots rapidly becomes exhausted of nutrients when the plants are growing so quickly and if you don't do this your plants will only produce tomatoes as small as marbles (although some varieties of tomatoes only produce small cherry sized tomatoes anyway.