In article , p.mc
writes

"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
In article , p.mc
writes
Hi

I read on this group that you should nip the top off your tomato plants
after four trusses have set. Could someone please clarify what this means
please.


No, it means what it says, after four trusses of tomatoes have set.


Well that's not much help is it. I'm new to gardening maybe someone out
there can be more descriptive as the first post implies thanks.


If you look in the supermarket, you will see that they sell 'tomatoes on
the vine' from which you will see that tomatoes don't grow singly, they
grow in clusters. These clusters are called 'trusses' - this is a
general term, not a gardening-specific piece of jargon.

Like any other fruit (by which I mean the part of the plant that has the
seeds in it - botanically tomatoes are fruits, even though for cooking
purposes we call them vegetables), tomatoes develop from the flowers.

So the flowers are also in trusses.

When the flowers are over, the tomatoes begin to develop. They don't
spring to life as full sized tomatoes, they start as less than pea sized
green spheres. The appearance of these spheres on a truss is what is
meant by 'setting'.

The tomato plant will grow steadily upwards, producing trusses at
intervals along its stem. When it has grown long enough to produce four
trusses of flowers which have set, use the fingernails of your first
finger and thumb to pinch off the very end of the stem so that it
doesn't grow any further.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"