Removing side shoots on toms

[zazen999]

I know that we do it; on Vine/Cordon/Indeterminate toms. However, from reading up on the topic it seems that the reason for this is because the tomato will produce far too much foliage at the expense of the fruits.

However, on all the armpits that I have potted on, and on the few that I have missed - there are fruits forming on the very next flush of leaves. ie; there is a stem, then a few leaves and in amongst it - tomato flowers.

So, it isn't producing foliage at the expense of fruit, it is just doing exactly the same as the next growth of tomato on the main stem.

So, why do we do it again?

[Crosbie]

I'm glad you asked that question - I was too scared to ask!

Crosbie

[staglioni]

Me too haha

[Flummery]

I think it's because the energy of the plant will not be sufficient to grow on and ripen all the possible fruits you could end up with. If you stop them off and allow say 6 or so trusses, you can feed and water enough to ensure they'll all ripen.

That's what I always thought, any road up!

[Two_Sheds]

I've missed one of the armpits on my Golden Gem, it's now 12 inches long and with a truss of its own

[zazen999]

That's what I always thought Flum - but if you get lots more flowers earlier, rather than remove sideshoots; then there is more chance of them all ripening....then you can stop the full plant at 6 or 8 trusses and let them all ripen - just lower down the stem...

[Snadger]

The annoying thing for me this year is that all my toms were supposedly indeterminate. I relieved them of their sideshoots as recommended (I refuse to call them armpits!) Some of them have actually turned out to be determinate and with no sideshoots left, there growth is finished!

[Bramble_killer]

That's what I always thought Flum - but if you get lots more flowers earlier, rather than remove sideshoots; then there is more chance of them all ripening....then you can stop the full plant at 6 or 8 trusses and let them all ripen - just lower down the stem...

I've been really tired and lazy this year so have grown almost all of them as bush and have just started stopping them. I haven't really seen a difference. I didn't really expect to turn it into an experiment, it was the best I could do as I didn't have time to break of all the sideshoots.

[SarzWix]

For me the main reason I take them off is to maintain airflow. If I let too many sideshoots grow on, it tends to encourage things like botrytis to get out of control in the greenhouse. If I had any growing outdoors I'd probably leave some sideshoots on and 'stop' the plant sooner instead.

[Ooh thats how you do it]

Don't forget you can always use the sideshoots to start new plants. They will not be as big as the main plant due to the time in the ground, but you can still get a kg of toms out of one.

[hamsterqueen]

I presumed it was just so that they grew in an easily manageable shape, needing only one stick!

Every year I start off de-armpitting them, then get sidetracked by life and leave them to run riot, it ends up with me sticking canes all over the place and securing bots of tomato stem to them. I still get a really good yield nd more tomatoes than even i - a tomato addict- can cope with.

[Flummery]

Well the answer is to do a comparison trial. I think the un-armpitted toms would take up far more space and be unlikely to manage ripening all the trusses (which I think would be of smaller fruits.) Just my thoughts.

[lottie dolly]

a few years ago i had a couple of plants outside and let them do their thing,but each had plenty of space for air,very few ripened,there a lot more toms,and bigger,ideal if you want green ones for chutney ext,
if green toms can be eaten fried,surley they would be ideal for the freezer also,

[Alison]

I always thought it was so that the air and light could get through to the fruits. On the odd occaision when I've not pinched out well the plants have run riot, needed more space that I had and generally been a bit of a mess. I don't think it matters if you don't take all of them off but I don't think it's a good idea to let them get out of hand.

[Rabidbun]

The annoying thing for me this year is that all my toms were supposedly indeterminate. I relieved them of their sideshoots as recommended (I refuse to call them armpits!) Some of them have actually turned out to be determinate and with no sideshoots left, there growth is finished!

I did this on one of my varieties this year, and then for one of the two plants, snapped one of two trusses off accidentally along with the growing tip. It's looking rather sorry for itself, a five foot plant with a single truss, half of which has gone already to blossom end rot. Not growing that variety again!

As I'm lazy in checking for side shoots, many of mine had gotten to the stage of producing a shoot with flowers on - I nipped out the growing tip on these shoots rather than lose the flowers in a sudden fit of optimism. It has actually worked out well, as the plastic greenhouses I am growing in are too short to hold the full size tomato plants in many instances along with the foot and a bit high pots they are growing in. By doing it this way I've ended up with the 6 or so trusses much sooner and with the plant around a foot or two lower than it would otherwise have been.

The ones that I missed though are definitely having trouble fitting into the greenhouses width wise again.