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#1
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Tomato question
I'm growing tomatoes for the first time. Variety "Sweet Baby". They are
small cherry size tomatoes. The plants are around two feet tall now, some are starting to flower. There are a few side shoots coming out too. Should these be cut off / pinched out? I seem to remember this being normal practice for tall growing tomatoes, but what about these smaller growing plants? Are they grown as single stem or as bushes? If the side shoots need removing is it best to pinch them out or to cut them off with pruners / garden knife? I generally avoid using a blade where possible to avoid spreading any diseases between plants. -- David in Normandy. To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the subject line, or it will be automatically deleted by a filter and not reach my inbox. |
#2
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Tomato question
"David in Normandy" wrote ... I'm growing tomatoes for the first time. Variety "Sweet Baby". They are small cherry size tomatoes. The plants are around two feet tall now, some are starting to flower. There are a few side shoots coming out too. Should these be cut off / pinched out? I seem to remember this being normal practice for tall growing tomatoes, but what about these smaller growing plants? Are they grown as single stem or as bushes? If the side shoots need removing is it best to pinch them out or to cut them off with pruners / garden knife? I generally avoid using a blade where possible to avoid spreading any diseases between plants. You need to know if the variety is Determinate (leave it to do it's own thing) or Indeterminate (pinch out all side shoots to keep one main stem) Some of the smaller varieties are determinate but it's not all by any means. I always pinch out the little shoots, make your fingers go green though. Just took a look and yours is what's called a "compact indeterminate" ??? which means yes you should pinch out side shoots. -- Regards Bob Hobden just W. of London |
#3
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Tomato question
"Bob Hobden" writes:
Just took a look and yours is what's called a "compact indeterminate" ??? which means yes you should pinch out side shoots. Where do you find this information? |
#4
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Tomato question
Bob Hobden wrote:
"David in Normandy" wrote ... I'm growing tomatoes for the first time. Variety "Sweet Baby". They are small cherry size tomatoes. The plants are around two feet tall now, some are starting to flower. There are a few side shoots coming out too. Should these be cut off / pinched out? I seem to remember this being normal practice for tall growing tomatoes, but what about these smaller growing plants? Are they grown as single stem or as bushes? If the side shoots need removing is it best to pinch them out or to cut them off with pruners / garden knife? I generally avoid using a blade where possible to avoid spreading any diseases between plants. You need to know if the variety is Determinate (leave it to do it's own thing) or Indeterminate (pinch out all side shoots to keep one main stem) Some of the smaller varieties are determinate but it's not all by any means. I always pinch out the little shoots, make your fingers go green though. Just took a look and yours is what's called a "compact indeterminate" ??? which means yes you should pinch out side shoots. Thanks Bob. I'll pinch them out today. Some of the side shoots are quite big now - almost as big as the main stem. In fact one plant seems to have put out several shoots from ground height making it multi-stem anyway! I'm growing them all outdoors; several in pots against the South facing wall of the house and a row in the veg garden up those metal spiral supports. Those against the house are growing better as you'd expect. They all looked a little poorly a few weeks ago so gave 'em a spray of dithane and they have perked up nicely, with lots of new vigorous growth. They seem to like Miracle grow. Maybe I'll need to switch to a special tomato fertiliser soon, now some are starting to flower? -- David in Normandy. To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the subject line, or it will be automatically deleted by a filter and not reach my inbox. |
#5
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Tomato question
"brian mitchell" wrote "Bob Hobden" writes: Just took a look and yours is what's called a "compact indeterminate" ??? which means yes you should pinch out side shoots. Where do you find this information? Do a search on Google for the variety and look for a seed merchant selling seeds of it, they will usually tell you what the variety is as it's rather important it's grown in the correct way. -- Regards Bob Hobden just W. of London |
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