Bush Tomatoes

[veggieginger]

Last year all our bush toms grew absolutely huge, taking over and blotting out the sun from other veg. What I would like to know is this; is it OK to pinch out some of the sideshoots in order to stop them spreading so much ?
Thanks in advance.

[veg4681]

Could you not grow them in pots? At least you can move them around. Then there are smaller bush variety of tomatoes. What variety toms were they? From what I heard, bush toms don't need side shoot pinching unless someone can correct me there.

[momol]

You are right Veg, Bush(determinant) toms don't need shoots removing.

Would you consider growing other small bush type which is easier to handle Veggieginger ?
plus with smaller bush, you can just grow them in pots and it will not cast any shade to other vegetable you are growing.

[Vecten]

Last year all our bush toms grew absolutely huge, taking over and blotting out the sun from other veg. What I would like to know is this; is it OK to pinch out some of the sideshoots in order to stop them spreading so much ?
Thanks in advance.

You can reduce the height by taking out the growing tip although this will encourage it to bush more.

[veggieginger]

I know they don't need sideshooting. I want to know what, if any problems may accrue by doing some.

[Rocketron]

May I point out that this thread was made by me, not veggieginger, before I realised that I could create my own account using the same ISP. I'm veggieginger's OH, BTW.

[smallblueplanet]

Hi Rocketron, all I can say is when we accidently treated a bush tomato as a cordon it affected/lessened the amount of tomatoes grown. Why not grow cordon toms then?

[Cutecumber]

You can cut off any side-shoots you fancy to reduce the size of the plant. It will still grow, and you will have to keep cutting it back, but you will inevitably reduce the crop because they produce on side-shoots, not just off the main stem.

[momol]

You can cut off any side-shoots you fancy to reduce the size of the plant. It will still grow, and you will have to keep cutting it back, but you will inevitably reduce the crop because they produce on side-shoots, not just off the main stem.

I read about it too. As they are program to grow to certain height and at certain leaf axil they bear their fruit. If you happen to cut too much, you are actually removing the future flowers.

[Cutecumber]

They can be monster plants, so I do sympathise - the giants like Big Boy and Super Marmande are hard to control and support. They do prefer to be left to their own devices - that's when they seem to produce their best crops.

[momol]

Best option will be choosing the smaller bush . This way you won't have extra problems with it's size. My last year Marmanda reach to 1 meter (no kidding !).
It is a bit too tall for a bush (for me) but again some other bush type grow even taller than that. If I grow it again, it will be in pot fo sure.

[Rocketron]

Thanks for all your replies. Having re-read the seed packets I have seen my stupid mistake. Indeterminate = cordon, not bush !

[veg4681]

Best option will be choosing the smaller bush . This way you won't have extra problems with it's size. My last year Marmanda reach to 1 meter (no kidding !).

So did your tomato crop match with the size of the bush? Does that mean it's safer to grow vine tomatoes in the ground and if they have to be bush then go for compact bush variety. So all non-compact bush tomatoes should ideally be grown in pots...but I'm wondering what effect this has on tomato yield.

EDIT - Totally confused now but it doesn't matter!

[smallblueplanet]

Thanks for all your replies. Having re-read the seed packets I have seen my stupid mistake. Indeterminate = cordon, not bush !

Lol! In which case, then yes its okay to take out the sideshoots!

[Cutecumber]

So did your tomato crop match with the size of the bush? Does that mean it's safer to grow vine tomatoes in the ground and if they have to be bush then go for compact bush variety. So all non-compact bush tomatoes should ideally be grown in pots...

Wha? How did you come to that conclusion??

Any tomato can be grown in the ground or pot.

I would avoid using the term "bush" - there are big bushes and small bushes (can't believe I wrote that ).

Tomatoes are either determinate or indeterminate in nature. Within the determinate subset, there are dwarf, tumbling and large sprawling types.