Kitchen Garden Forum

This is an old dodge, but I've tried it for the first time this year and am very pleased with the results. I've got 8 tomato plants in my 6x6 greenhouse, and have grown them all as double cordons. That is, I left one of the bottom side shoots to develop, staking it when it was big enough, but removed all the other side shoots in the usual way. The aim was to increase the yield and also extend the season, because the trusses on the side shoot are a little slower in starting than they are on the main stem. However, I think it could be very well worth trying this technique for cordon tomatoes grown outdoors, as a way of getting more ripe tomatoes before the dreaded blight strikes. I've got 2 plants each of 4 varieties - Gardeners Delight, Sungold, Dr Carolyne, and Olivade. Just as one example, I've got 12 trusses on one of the Olivade plants - 7 on the main stem and 5 on the side shoot.

Evening Ken, a very good idea, especially on light cropping varieties.
Did you find that you needed to up the feeding at all?

Thanks, OH. I didn't deliberately up the feeding because I was growing double cordons, but I think they have been quite well fed and the plants are being very productive. This is a new greenhouse, and the border soil was poor - yellow clay. So last autumn/early winter, I buried several bucket loads of bokashi in the borders to rot down. That seemed to get them off to a very good start, although I haven't seen any analysis of typical bokashi, and it might have been a bit nitrogen-rich. Other than that, I've been giving them liquid feed twice a week, mostly Chempak potash feed, but occasionally Miracle-Gro for a change. The bigger problem has been supporting the weight of fruit. I've had to insert extra canes. Next year I think I'll use tree/shrub stakes...