"pammyT" fenlandfowl @talktalk.net wrote in message
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"p.mc" sigadd1to wrote in message
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"Alan Gould" wrote in message
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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.

To be honest I think you need to invest in a copy of Dr Hessayson's 'the
vegetable expert'. You can get it cheaply off ebay and explains everything
about vegetable growing so that even the most dim of novices can
understand,
with pictures and diagrams to illustrate things

**********
For Chappies and Chappesses new to the cult of gardening here is a
dissertation on a typical basic growing of tomato plants.
The normal procedure is, you plant the new rooted tomato in your prepared
greenhouse.
You are going to grow it up a sturdy cane so there will eventually be one
trunk as high as four or five trusses hanging down from the from that
trunk. You will support it by tying the trunk lightly to the cane at
appropriate places to prevent it sagging over. No need to support the
trusses of tomatoes, - (generally)..
When that height has been reached you nip off the next higher node to stop
further growth in height.
Now, let's start from when the plant is just starting to grow. It will
grow stalks carrying leaves. Soon it will grow one shoot which produces a
raceme of flowers. These will eventually mature and the petals will drop off
and then you will see little green blobs where the flowers used to be. the
blobs will grow into tomatoes and ripen. When green they are unripe. when
they go red they are ripe for the table for eating.
Bear with me , I know you are mature persons, but perhaps children may read
this.
You eventually going to end the plant's growth in height - when four, - or
five trusses hang from the main trunk.
Don't panic!, - the tomatoes on some varieties grow down a single truss,
These are the typical ones seen in supermarkets in longish cardboard
packets with cellophane on the top so that you can see the tomatoes. They
look nice so the price is higher- and that's the only reason for them. they
are no different to the breeds which grow trusses in racemes shape or
spread out and not "in line" down one stem.
Caution!. some trusses on other breeds start from the trunk and then divide
into a spray- shape with tomatoes on each end, so don't get caught out on
that difference - it makes no difference to the individual tomatoes on
either type..
As the trunk grows it will try to divide into two trunks, so you cut off the
smaller one, - unless you want to grow a bushy-type plant. This will occur
again, later, up the trunk.
Understand that I am talking about making a one-trunk plant.
As the plant grows upwards it keeps growing a shoot which is not a "truss"
shoot.
You are going to nip these out as soon as they appear, - they are using good
sap which you want for your fruit., - but beware!, take care to examine it
closely and diligently and make sure it is not your next fruiting-truss. Be
particular about it: if there's a fruiting truss extant anywhere on any
plant you can make a comparison and save all the swearing and the reduction
of the plant's trusses by one. It's so easy to make a mistake.
The above is a big blether about a simple subject so I will say simply,
In the above, I have described how to grow a one trunk tomatoe plant to
fruition, because that is the most common way common people like me grow
them.
For your amusement ( amazement?); Here's a little idiosyncrasy I observe
every year.
When my first tomato ripens I wait until it is mature then fondly pick it
and slowly and ritually apply it to my mouth. I slowly drive my teeth into
it and suck the juicy contents.
I say to myself, "Was it worth all that expense and all that work?".
The answer resounds every year.....
"Ya'Betcha!!"
Doug.