Tomatoes reached glass roof

Ader1

As the title says my tamotoe plants have reached the glass room of my glass-house.....well a couple of them have and have started to bend because they cannod go any higher. I would say they're now abount 5 feet in height. Should I now cut them down flush to where they touch the glass or at a particular point on the tomatoe plant above a stem or something? Thank you.

jenfa

My neighbour who advises me on all things green has told me in the past to chop the tops off, but my greenhouse is slightly taller than yours. If it keeps growing I think it then doesn't put the effort into making your tomatoes bigger and also ripen them. I know later in the season he has advised me before to chop off some of the leaves again to ripen the tomatoes.

I am sure someone more knowledgeable will be along soon.

wallbash

Well mine have got to the roof, but I never cut the tops off , take a few bits from the bottom to make the watering easier and start stripping from the bottom but that won't be for months.

OT .... Bob Flowerdew says we tend to overwater our toms, we get a bigger crop but poorer taste , any thoughts.

Fruittea

I heard Bob F talking about that and it makes sense to me - I'm trying it out to see if I agree.


On the topping tomatoes question - I'd pinch them out and stop them from growing other wise it might just turn into a tangles mesh at the top and the plant will focus on more flowers and not the fruit - you'll get tonnes of tiny toms.

moments_of_sanity

I topped mine off at about 3/4 ft high as I have about 15 plants and only me and my DD's bearded dragon who eat them. Hoping that will make the tomatoes that I do get a better quality.

trollopscarletwoman

wallbash wrote: »

Well mine have got to the roof, but I never cut the tops off , take a few bits from the bottom to make the watering easier and start stripping from the bottom but that won't be for months.

OT .... Bob Flowerdew says we tend to overwater our toms, we get a bigger crop but poorer taste , any thoughts.

Personally I like to keep mine well watered.

If you let them go very dry then suddenly water then the fruit has a tendency to split. As to the taste thing I believe I've read Flowerdew saying that he doesn't feed his tomatoes as feeding them lessens the taste.

I feed once a week with tomorite (other brands are available) and my homemade stingy nettle/seaweed drink.

safestored4

Just pinch the tops out at a joint below the glass level as suggested. They will try to put out side shoots and keep pinching these out as they appear. As regards watering the most important point with tomatos is regularity. Reduce the amount of water applied by all means, but if you water at irregular intervals this is likely to result in blossem end rot - black spots develop at the base of the tomatos, they will not ripen, pick them off and throw on the compost heap.

Ader1

Thank you for all your replies. Pinch them out it is then. :-)

Mojisola

Ader1 wrote: »

Should I now cut them down flush to where they touch the glass or at a particular point on the tomatoe plant above a stem or something?

Leave a couple of leaves above the top truss when you cut back.

Waterlily24

We've always pinched the top off when they get to four lots of trusses.