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Pinching tomato plants: Determinant vs. indeterminant
My container tomatoes are over 4' tall and at the tops of their
stakes. I wondered If I could pinch them back, so Googled on "pinching tomatoes" but that left me more confused as I stumbled onto "determinant" vs "indeterminate" plants. The determinant plants apparently fruit once and they're done and the indeterminant plants produce all season. Sounds like I have indeterminant plants, but they are also described as "vine tomatoes." Mine are not vine-like. So, which do I have and how do I pinch them back? I want them to grow fuller and not so tall. Dick |
#2
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Pinching tomato plants: Determinant vs. indeterminant
On Jun 7, 4:54*pm, wrote:
My container tomatoes are over 4' tall and at the tops of their stakes. I wondered If I could pinch them back, so Googled on "pinching tomatoes" but that left me more confused as I stumbled onto "determinant" vs "indeterminate" plants. The determinant plants apparently fruit once and they're done and the indeterminant plants produce all season. Sounds like I have indeterminant plants, but they are also described as "vine tomatoes." Mine are not vine-like. So, which do I have and how do I pinch them back? I want them to grow fuller and not so tall. Dick Yes, you could have been selectively pinching all along. Some folks think keeping to fewer branches allows the plant to put more energy into producing tomatoes. If they are 4' now they will be 8' and touching the ground before fall. I think that gets them the term viney. Most I plant are indeterminate I think. I know that they keep growing until frost unless they get wilt and die. I think determinate ones are mostly for commercial growers that want a lot of tomatoes on at once for market then they can recrop with more tomatoes or a later fall crop of something else. My problem with indeterminate plants is they keep putting on more branches (again vine like). If I get too many branches I just go in and cut some off. I generally plant in 5 foot concrete reinforcing wire cages about 2 feet in diameter and I htave had them grow back to the ground and try to start climbing thin air again before fall. I have not found anything better than concrete reinforcing wire to grow tomatoes in. The holes are easy to reach through and if a branch escapes I can pull it back into the cage. I generally get 5-10 years out of each cage. It takes a fair amount of muscle power to make one. I now have a bolt cutter to cut it, and Sears robogrip pliers to bend the wire for making the circle. I used to have a photo of Dan Martin on a ladder with his doubled up 10 foot tall cage. I think I lost it when the yahoo photo section went away. |
#3
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Pinching tomato plants: Determinant vs. indeterminant
On Jun 8, 7:03*pm, WesD wrote:
On Jun 7, 4:54*pm, wrote: My container tomatoes are over 4' tall and at the tops of their stakes. I wondered If I could pinch them back, so Googled on "pinching tomatoes" but that left me more confused as I stumbled onto "determinant" vs "indeterminate" plants. The determinant plants apparently fruit once and they're done and the indeterminant plants produce all season. Sounds like I have indeterminant plants, but they are also described as "vine tomatoes." Mine are not vine-like. So, which do I have and how do I pinch them back? I want them to grow fuller and not so tall. Dick Yes, you could have been selectively pinching all along. *Some folks think keeping to fewer branches allows the plant to put more energy into producing tomatoes. If they are 4' now they will be 8' and touching the ground before fall. *I think that gets them the term viney. *Most I plant are indeterminate I think. *I know that they keep growing until frost unless they get wilt and die. *I think determinate ones are mostly for commercial growers that want a lot of tomatoes on at once for market then they can recrop with more tomatoes or a later fall crop of something else. My problem with indeterminate plants is they keep putting on more branches (again vine like). *If I get too many branches I just go in and cut some off. *I generally plant in 5 foot concrete reinforcing wire cages about 2 feet in diameter and I htave had them grow back to the ground and try to start climbing thin air again before fall. *I have not found anything better than concrete reinforcing wire to grow tomatoes in. *The holes are easy to reach through and if a branch escapes I can pull it back into the cage. *I generally get 5-10 years out of each cage. *It takes a fair amount of muscle power to make one. *I now have a bolt cutter to cut it, and Sears robogrip pliers to bend the wire for making the circle. I used to have a photo of Dan Martin on a ladder with his doubled up 10 foot tall cage. *I think I lost it when the yahoo photo section went away. Yahoo photos is flickr so you may have luck if you look there |
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