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  • Tomatoes reaching the roof

    My taller tomato plants (Sungold, Gardener's Delight and Shirley) are just about to reach the roof of the greenhouse. Do I just chop off the top at this stage?
    Mostly flowers, some fruit and veg, at the seaside in Edinburgh.

  • #2
    I stop toms after four or five trusses
    My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
    to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

    Diversify & prosper


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    • #3
      I have sometimes let some smaller tomatoes, Sungold or Gardener's Delight (planted opposite the door) come down the apex of the greenhouse fastened to wires but it does make it difficult to get in eventually.

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      • #4
        I'm with greenfishing: if you have space, no need to stop the cherry-type toms. How have you got them tied up? To canes? Up strings? I grow mine up two rows of canes joined at the top to a horizontal cane. This means that really tall plants can extend horizontally along the top or drape down the other side if need be.

        Plus, if your plants are already this tall, I reckon you've got plenty of time for more than four or five trusses of your Shirley toms.

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        • #5
          I learned from the pros that you can lay the cordons along the top wire of the greenhouse or even steer them diagonally once they get 3-4 feet up. That way the picking and side shooting is all at a comfortable height. I do allow the odd shoot from low down to develop (about every 3rd plant), to give more fruit options later in the season.
          I work backwards on stopping the tops. So think when you will be able to ripen the last fruit in your area (for me about 10th October roughly) and take out the tops to maximise the final trusses about that time, so end of August in the greenhouse as i have no crop waiting for that space. Outdoors I expect blight to hit around the end of August early September so I will be taking the tops out about 20th July to maximise yield before then.
          Each locality will have it's own adjustments to that.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Snadger View Post
            I stop toms after four or five trusses
            I do as well, otherwise I have to many green toms to deal witn at the end of the season.
            Location....East Midlands.

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            • #7
              I just let them carry on growing towards the ridge, can make it a limbo dance to get into the greenhouse, but the more fruit the better IMO.
              At the end, any that don't ripen get made into green tomato chutney - not a problem, I'm still eating last year's

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              • #8
                Am I missing out? I've never stopped a tom in my life!
                Like Thelma, I let them do their own thing and extend the strings to grow up the eaves and down the middle.
                Sounds like a square dance instruction.

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                • #9
                  I also let the Tom's do their own thing, especially the cherry varieties.
                  What's the point in stopping them too early when you might get a late crop.

                  And when your back stops aching,
                  And your hands begin to harden.
                  You will find yourself a partner,
                  In the glory of the garden.

                  Rudyard Kipling.sigpic

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                  • #10
                    Thanks everyone for your suggestions and experience. My tomatoes are tied to strong canes. I think I could stop some, and leave some, to see what happens. The growing season is shorter here in Edinburgh than those of you further south, so guessing last ripening may be the end of September.
                    Mostly flowers, some fruit and veg, at the seaside in Edinburgh.

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                    • #11
                      By all means. I’m not stopping any of mine yet. Feels too early but I may do with some of the bigger toms in a month or so if the summer continues to be poor and I’m worried that they won’t all ripen. One year I ended up with a drawer full of green tomatoes that I was trying to ripen.

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                      • #12
                        Unfortunately, I didn't choose my tomato varieties this year due to a badly fractured wrist at the end of March. A kind friend brought me tomatoes and two cucumber plants for my greenhouse but they were in an assortment of yoghurt pots and plastic beakers, unlabelled, so I had no idea what they were

                        They went in Gro Pots on top of Gro Bags, with metal supports and canes and grew very well (in fact, better than those that the friend was growing ...)

                        Some are large tomatoes like Moneymaker but several are cherry tomatoes with a dark purplish colour, I think they're Chocolate Cherry (which, ironically, I had in my seed box ready to sow back in March). They're reached the roof of my greenhouse and some of them were so heavy that they keeled over

                        Fortunately there was little damage done so I cut off about 75% of the foliage, strung them back up on their canes and fed them. They seem to be doing OK and one of the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes has enormous trusses of fruit.

                        Being in a very mild part of the UK (Isles of Scilly) I can prolong harvesting into October if blight doesn't strike. I've even picked the last tomatoes, admittedly from very sad looking plants, at Christmas.

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                        • #13
                          I just looked up the isles of Scilly. Wow! That looks an awesome place to be!

                          There's so many tomato varieties, I struggle to choose! I will taste test mine, and write careful notes for early spring
                          https://nodigadventures.blogspot.com/

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                          • #14
                            My lonely tomato plant is outside. It seems to be thriving in it's 'special' pot, but at the moment, the toms are still green. I am hoping we'll have some more sunshine to ripen them, or else I will have to make green tomato chutney/jam :O

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                            • #15
                              Tomatoes reaching the roof. Here’s a perfect example

                              Click image for larger version

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                              And now the top half ( wouldn’t all fit on one photo)

                              Click image for larger version

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                              Does it matter? No

                              Is it producing toms? Yes

                              Think that covers it

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