Pruning tomatoes

BUDFORCE

BUDFORCE

BUDFORCE

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I've grown tomatoes for several years, I have a polytunnel, I usually grow chilli's as well and mainly concentrate on those and neglect the tomatoes if I'm honest.

This year I decided against chilli's and got some plum tomatoes growing.

I know lots of people prune or pinch som e of the stems, I've watched a couple of not great YouTube videos.

And tips or advice?
 
I trimmed the buds and stems that grew from between the main and branching stems last year and had a huge constant haul of tomatoes (mix of cherry and gardeners delight) from a 2 * 1m patch. I will be doing the same this year.
 
If you want an easy life cordon train them i.e. take out all side shoots i.e. those that emerge from the leaf axis and leave the leader to grow up. Much easier to tie in to a cane as it will require support

If you don't they will grow into a shapeless bush which is much more difficult to support and you'll have trusses on the floor when the stems collapse under their own weight.
 
Ok so forgive me, but....

You have a main stalk growing up, fine. Then you have ones growing sideways, and you leave them?

The ones between the main stalk, and the ones going sideways you take out?

I will tie them to a cane, I normally do. It's just in previous years I've tried to tie them up (without pruning) and I end up with ginormous plants. As for crop, some years I've had more than others but I do specifically remember last year having huuuuuge plants with not that many tomatoes.

I've seen in people's greenhouses that have nice straight organised plants which is what I'll attempt this year. I haven't got the biggest polytunnel it's only 4x6 ft so it'll make it better as some years I've barely been able to get in it.

I'm growing plum tomatoes this year, as I much prefer those, see what happens
 
BUDFORCE said:
You have a main stalk growing up, fine. Then you have ones growing sideways, and you leave them?
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Take 'em out. Just leave the main stalk to grow up if they're standing outdoors you can pinch the top out in August, under glass/polytunnel you can do it a month later. To let it put all its energy into swelling and ripening the existing tomatoes anything flowering later will never grow big enough to harvest.

And yes under glass they have a longer season and can easily reach 5-6 feet in height. Keep 'em well watered especially during hot dry weather some kind of irrigation like a seep hose is easiest and preferably automatic with a timer. If you're getting masses of flowers but not much fruit set they're not getting pollinated, tap the flower stalks during the day to distribute the pollen and make sure its not too dry in there as pollen is less viable then.
 
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Thanks for all that.

I'll give it a go this year.

I have been growing chilli's for years, some years very successfully, I grew a load of Dorset Naga chilli's one year and got tons of fruit and they were ferociously hot.

But I find with chilli's if you get a bad batch of seeds your screwed and you won't know until the end of the season plus they are a little more sensitive to the weather I think.

My tomatoes have always done ok, other than I end up with giant uncontrolled plants in my polytunnel.
 
BUDFORCE said:
I've grown tomatoes for several years, I have a polytunnel, I usually grow chilli's as well and mainly concentrate on those and neglect the tomatoes if I'm honest.

This year I decided against chilli's and got some plum tomatoes growing.

I know lots of people prune or pinch som e of the stems, I've watched a couple of not great YouTube videos.

And tips or advice?
Click to expand...
it depends if you have a bush type tomato or a vine.

its not the same for all tomatoes,
some give more fruit if you don't pinch, others give more if you do pinch.

just google whatever type you have.

I'm growing sweet millions F1 and romano peppers


if you want to train them the best way is to get a piece of string and tie it to something high above the plants and bury it a bit in the soil, loosely wrap it around the plant as it grows.

(tie the bit in the soil to a stick as an anchor if you must, but don't have the string under tension)
just to keep the plant more stable and not swinging around, but I guess in a greenhouse/poly its not windy enough
 
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Hello All. I need help identifying a type of tomatoes - the label says ASDA Vine Ripened Tomatoes, they taste great and i am building a greenhouse and i want to cultivate this exact type of tomato. Does anybody know the actual name of this fruit so i can buy the proper seeds?

ugh is this picture even showing ?

<img alt="Qries" src="https://ibb.co/jL569GG" width=150" height="70" img>

9RY0BLHr
 
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TomatoJoe said:
Hello All. I need help identifying a type of tomatoes - the label says ASDA Vine Ripened Tomatoes, they taste great and i am building a greenhouse and i want to cultivate this exact type of tomato. Does anybody know the actual name of this fruit so i can buy the proper seeds?

ugh is this picture even showing ?

9RY0BLHr
Click to expand...

You need to host the image on a website such as Imgur and link to it with the IMG tags.
 
alexakasloth said:
The host is quite slow to load, is the tomato a small or larger variety?
I've had good amounts and quality from the variety 'gardeners delight'.
Click to expand...
i guess medium size and they so good and really tasty. I want to plant them but i need to know the name to buy the seeds. If you google "ASDA Vine Ripened Tomatoes" then the first link should be the one.
 
TomatoJoe said:
Hello All. I need help identifying a type of tomatoes - the label says ASDA Vine Ripened Tomatoes, they taste great and i am building a greenhouse and i want to cultivate this exact type of tomato. Does anybody know the actual name of this fruit so i can buy the proper seeds?

ugh is this picture even showing ?

<img alt="Qries" src="https://ibb.co/jL569GG" width=150" height="70" img>

9RY0BLHr
Click to expand...
Take some seeds from the Asda tomatoes and dry them on kitchen roll for a week or so, then grow them.
 
I doubt they are available at retail and the ones you buy in the shops are likely to be a number of different verities depending on where they were grown and the time of year they were grown.

E.g a few months of the year they’ll be from the U.K. but the rest of the time they are likely from Spain or even further afield or one that can be grown in a glass house.
 
JaffaJedi said:
Take some seeds from the Asda tomatoes and dry them on kitchen roll for a week or so, then grow them.
Click to expand...
Bad advice. Firstly they are likely F1 hybrids, so won't grow true from seed you save. Secondly, tomato seed have a germination inhibiting coating so just drying isn't enough. Need to soak them in water for 3 days then rinse - this fermentation stage removes the coating letting them germinate. I've saved tomato seeds for years with 100% germination rate.
 
Vine ripened means simply that they were left to go red on the plant it gives nothing away about the tomato variety, if you're really lucky you might be able to contact Asda who might put you in contact with the grower who may give you the name but its a very long shot.

clv101 said:
Bad advice. Firstly they are likely F1 hybrids, so won't grow true from seed you save. Secondly, tomato seed have a germination inhibiting coating so just drying isn't enough. Need to soak them in water for 3 days then rinse - this fermentation stage removes the coating letting them germinate. I've saved tomato seeds for years with 100% germination rate.
Click to expand...

This, you could get anything from saved seeds regular varieties will come fairly true if grown alone but F1's not at all. If you like taking chances it might be worth a try but don't expect too much.
 
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