When do you cut off side shoots from "cordon tomatoes&q
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I'm sorry if this is fairly basic but I'm confused. We have grown 2 types, Legend and Ruby. I cut off side shoots when they were 5 to 6 inches high and they don't seem to be growing any higher. was I too early ?
Last edited by WestHamRon on Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- alan refail
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Don't know about Ruby, but Legend comes up on a search as determinate, ie bush. Leave it alone and it should grow on.
Alan
Alan
Cred air o bob deg a glywi, a thi a gei rywfaint bach o wir (hen ddihareb Gymraeg)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
WHR - it's the shoots that appear in the axis between the main stem and the side branches/leaves that you pinch out, rather than the side shoots as such.
If you look on the T&M website, there's a guide that describes it in more detail.
If you look on the T&M website, there's a guide that describes it in more detail.
- alan refail
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Ron
There seem to be a few misunderstandings here. You say you "cut off" the side shoots when "they" were 5-6in high. What were 5-6 inches, the shoots or the plants? What did you cut them off with?
Tigger is correct in saying that you pinch out (finger and thumb) the shoots which will appear in the leaf axils. I'm not sure what is meant by "rather than the side shoots as such" - what you are pinching out are the side shoots.
The main point is that on an indeterminate (cordon) variety you don't really want the sideshoots, on a determinate (bush) variety you definitely do as this is where they fruit, and the main top shoot will stop growing. You really have to know what sort of tomato you are growing - bush or cordon.
I finally found Tigger's T and M help at:
http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/ ... s/tomatoes
You may also find this one useful:
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg ... tomato.asp
Alan
There seem to be a few misunderstandings here. You say you "cut off" the side shoots when "they" were 5-6in high. What were 5-6 inches, the shoots or the plants? What did you cut them off with?
Tigger is correct in saying that you pinch out (finger and thumb) the shoots which will appear in the leaf axils. I'm not sure what is meant by "rather than the side shoots as such" - what you are pinching out are the side shoots.
The main point is that on an indeterminate (cordon) variety you don't really want the sideshoots, on a determinate (bush) variety you definitely do as this is where they fruit, and the main top shoot will stop growing. You really have to know what sort of tomato you are growing - bush or cordon.
I finally found Tigger's T and M help at:
http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/ ... s/tomatoes
You may also find this one useful:
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg ... tomato.asp
Alan
Last edited by alan refail on Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
Cred air o bob deg a glywi, a thi a gei rywfaint bach o wir (hen ddihareb Gymraeg)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
- alan refail
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Many thanks Chantal
It should be and it now is.
"I wondered who'd be the first to spot that" as Captain Mainwaring used to say.
Alan
It should be and it now is.
"I wondered who'd be the first to spot that" as Captain Mainwaring used to say.
Alan
Cred air o bob deg a glywi, a thi a gei rywfaint bach o wir (hen ddihareb Gymraeg)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
- alan refail
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Tigger
Are you talking about bush or cordon?
If cordon, then I asssume you are differentiating between sideshoots between leaf and stem and actual flowering trusses.
Alan
Are you talking about bush or cordon?
If cordon, then I asssume you are differentiating between sideshoots between leaf and stem and actual flowering trusses.
Alan
Cred air o bob deg a glywi, a thi a gei rywfaint bach o wir (hen ddihareb Gymraeg)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
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- KG Regular
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- Joined: Mon Oct 16, 2006 6:46 pm
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alan refail wrote:Ron
There seem to be a few misunderstandings here. You say you "cut off" the side shoots when "they" were 5-6in high. What were 5-6 inches, the shoots or the plants? What did you cut them off with?
Tigger is correct in saying that you pinch out (finger and thumb) the shoots which will appear in the leaf axils. I'm not sure what is meant by "rather than the side shoots as such" - what you are pinching out are the side shoots.
The main point is that on an indeterminate (cordon) variety you don't really want the sideshoots, on a determinate (bush) variety you definitely do as this is where they fruit, and the main top shoot will stop growing. You really have to know what sort of tomato you are growing - bush or cordon.
I finally found Tigger's T and M help at:
http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/ ... s/tomatoes
You may also find this one useful:
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg ... tomato.asp
Alan
Many thanks for your reply. It was the picture from the second link that confused me.I don't know my "X" from my "arrow".
It's good to hear no lasting damage has been done and I won't do it again.
I seem to have read "plant does not require sideshooting" to mean it doesn't require the sideshoots rather than it doesn't need them removed.
Some of the more vigorous bush toms do respond well to a bit of careful pruning. This is just cutting out some of the unwanted growth. If unchecked they can ramble a bit and produce masses of green toms that haven't much hope at all of ripening.
John
John
The Gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives, the hours spent fishing Assyrian tablet
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal