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, I'm sure it doesn't mean after four branches off the main stem??

--
Regards
p.mc

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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, I'm sure it doesn't mean after four branches off the main stem??

No, it means what it says, after four trusses of tomatoes have set.
Doing that helps the ripening of tomatoes already on the plant. We do it
because by that time, outdoor tomatoes will be cropping, so we are able
to clear out indoor tomato plants to make space for overwinter crops.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In message , Alan Gould
writes
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, I'm sure it doesn't mean after four branches off the main stem??

No, it means what it says, after four trusses of tomatoes have set.
Doing that helps the ripening of tomatoes already on the plant. We do
it because by that time, outdoor tomatoes will be cropping, so we are
able to clear out indoor tomato plants to make space for overwinter
crops.
--
I don't miss very much about the years I lived near New York - but oh
my, how the tomatoes ripened there! Hundreds of them on each plant! And
never, ever, a sign of tomato blight. Sigh

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

"Klara" wrote in message
...
In message , Alan Gould
writes
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, I'm sure it doesn't mean after four branches off the main stem??

No, it means what it says, after four trusses of tomatoes have set. Doing
that helps the ripening of tomatoes already on the plant. We do it because
by that time, outdoor tomatoes will be cropping, so we are able to clear
out indoor tomato plants to make space for overwinter crops.
--
I don't miss very much about the years I lived near New York - but oh my,
how the tomatoes ripened there! Hundreds of them on each plant! And never,
ever, a sign of tomato blight. Sigh

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

And in a good summer as many as a dozen hands or more of tomatoes will
ripen outdoors....H

"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.



--
Regards
p.mc

In article , p.mc
writes

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.

A tomato plant will send out a number of branches or stems which will
carry leaves only and will not bear fruit. It will also send out stems
which will carry a group of flower buds. Those buds will open up to be
pollinated, then they will die off and tomatoes will form into a truss
on the stem. Four or at most five of those trusses are usually
considered to be enough for one plant to carry and the top of the plant
is pinched out to prevent more of them forming. In addition, side-shoots
will form in the axils between the main stem and side stems. Those would
develop their own leaf and fruit bearing stems if left on, so they are
usually also pinched out unless a bush type of growth is intended.
All pinching out is optional and is dependant on the gardener's own
concept of how best to grow tomatoes.

Is that clear now?
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

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"

"p.mc" sigadd1to wrote in message
...

"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.

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.

Original post

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.

Reply

Snip

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"


Thanks to all, now that's perfectly clear...... "We've all to walk before we
can run."

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

"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.

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.