When do you cut off side shoots from "cordon tomatoes&q

[WestHamRon]

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 ?

[alan refail]

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

[Tigger]

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.

[alan refail]

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

[Chantal]

Now I'm confused, should that not be "indeterminate (cordon)" Alan?

What other side shoots Tigger?

[alan refail]

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

[Tigger]

I mean not the side growth that will bear the trusses - just the shoots emerging from the axis between those shoots and the main stem.

[alan refail]

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

[WestHamRon]

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.

[Tigger]

In reply to Alan - yes. I just leave the bush tomatoes to get on with it as they wish.

[John]

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