Gardening Forums

This is a question for Edward, the giant tomato grower.
I have grown tomatos intermittently over a number of years with various measures of success. As I didn't have a greenhouse I used to grow them outdoors, sometimes in Gro Bags and at other times in the open soil. I was taught to always pinch out all side shoots. My late father grew his in a greenhouse and removed the side shoots as well.
I have now moved to a property with a greenhouse and have 6 tomato plants in Levingtons giant gro-bags. The instructions on the bag say to fan out the plants to let them get sufficient light, but no mention is made regarding the removal of side shoots. I was wondering if you could advise me as I don't want to compromise my first crop by doing the wrong thing.

Hi Alan, I don't look here every day, so apologies for the delay. I'm very complimented by your question but I'm only an amateur tomato grower like millions of others and I'm always interested to hear what others have to say.So if I say something that anyone can add to, or is just plain wrong, then please comment.

There are the technical terms-determinate and indeterminate.
Determinate means,I believe, that the plant stops growing after about the fifth truss.Commonly we amateurs would call these "bush" tomatoes,and grow these without pinching out the sideshoots.The continental "Marmande" types are like this and are grown usually out of doors,I would imagine that 95% of amateur greenhouse tomato growers in the UK grow the indeterminate type,ie pinching out the side shoots to keep a single stem and making full use of the height of the house.Hope this helps and makes sense.

General tips for what they are worth.

High Potash feed (important for flavour and ripening).
Keep the foliage dry especially when the blight arrives in July.
When it is hot and your plants are say getting to the 4th truss then they can take all the water you can give them.In other words never let them get dry if it is hot. It will badly affect pollination and fruit development even causing fruit dropping. Conversely if there is a summer cold spell lay off the watering for a while.

White fly can be a pain if they get a hold.The best tip I can give on pests and diseases is to begin with a really clean sterilized greenhouse at the start of the season.I always used to mix my own composts when I was younger but in my seventies now I really appreciate the Giant Gro-Bags for the convenience.I would n't bother with normal size bags for toms, They dry out too quick.
Cheers Ed.

Hi Alan, can you tell me when you say truss do you mean the branch, I am trying to grow tomatoes for the first time and haven't got a clue, do I take off all the branches, it says on the label to pinch out (whatever that means) when the plant reaches 120cm thats almost 4 ft tall, when fruit starts to appear do I take take off all trusses (branches I think) below that. Any information would be great. Thanks

The truss is the group of flowers, when it sets it means the flowers have been pollinated and the fruits are forming.

Pinching out is removing the small side shoots which apprear where the branches join the main stem.

All the best

J