This is my first year of growing these and I have a query.
The seed packet says remove all side shoots as they appear, leaving one main stem. However, the nice weather has encouraged early growth and I did not get around to removing some side shoots until they were getting a bit big, but I noticed that they have flowers on the side shoots. I have removed the side shoots from two of the four oldest plants and left the other two. Guess which are covered in flowers and which are just leaves? These 4 plants are taken from cuttings of a plant that I over wintered in the kitchen.
I have a further 24 plants grown from seeds, which are nowhere near as advanced but I was wondering what policy I should adopt with pinching out, when the time comes?
Has anyone grown these before and is it best to grow them as cordons or bushes?
Tomato - Idli
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Primrose
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vivie - am fascinated by your post because I've never heard of anybody taking cuttings from a tomato plant before and overwintering them indoors (or in a greenhouse). Is this something you regularly do, and how do you take the cuttings. I've never heard of this particular variety of tomato before. Is there something unusual about it?
As a general rule when growing my tomatoes I always pinch the side shoots out. However, occasionally the odd one gets missed and I've sometimes come across the odd side shoots which is flowering. In these cases I can't bear to deprive myself of a few extra fruits, so just ensure that I give the plant some extra generous applications of Tomorite to help it bear its extra burden.
As a general rule when growing my tomatoes I always pinch the side shoots out. However, occasionally the odd one gets missed and I've sometimes come across the odd side shoots which is flowering. In these cases I can't bear to deprive myself of a few extra fruits, so just ensure that I give the plant some extra generous applications of Tomorite to help it bear its extra burden.
Hi Vivie - are Idli the tiny yellow cherry toms? If so, they are the ones I grew last year from a free packet of seeds I got from somewhere or other. I didn't pinch out any side shoots, (because I didn't realise I should have done) and got huge bushy plants which were absolutely laden with little tomatoes. I am sure my crop would have been much reduced if I had pinched them out. It might be a good idea if you left a couple of plants "unpinched" just to see if there is a significant difference.
Regards, Lyn
Regards, Lyn
Thanks Lyn,
Yes they are the yellow cherry toms. I must admit that I bought them as I wanted a yellow cherry tom for the polytunnel and bush tomatoes take up a lot of ground space, but don't utilise the height. As mentioned before the T & M instructions are to grow them as cordons, but the plant seems 'happier' as a bush......Well I will continue with my experiment...Maybe the cordon ones will produce a good crop eventually.
Primrose,
I once kept a strain of Gardeners Delight going for several years just taking cuttings in the late summer and bringing them into the kitchen. The actual reason was to restrict the view into my kitchen as the window faced the neighbour's house and she was a bit nosy! If the plant got too leggy I would prune it down in Early January and I always got some fruit off in April.
To take a cutting just allow a side shoot to grow about 6 inches then snap or cut it off and put it in a moist compost, about half the length should be in the compost. It may wilt for the first day or so, but will soon send out roots and recover. This can be done any time during the growing period, but obviously the earlier the better if you want it to crop that year, or later in the summer if you want to over winter them. You don't need that many to over winter as you can take several cuttings in February from your 'donor' plant. By the way my kitchen is quite cool as I do more cooking on the woodburner in the living room.
I also noticed that Idli can be harvested on the vine and hung in a cool dry dark shed for weeks without fruit drop....very handy if you get a glut one week!
Yes they are the yellow cherry toms. I must admit that I bought them as I wanted a yellow cherry tom for the polytunnel and bush tomatoes take up a lot of ground space, but don't utilise the height. As mentioned before the T & M instructions are to grow them as cordons, but the plant seems 'happier' as a bush......Well I will continue with my experiment...Maybe the cordon ones will produce a good crop eventually.
Primrose,
I once kept a strain of Gardeners Delight going for several years just taking cuttings in the late summer and bringing them into the kitchen. The actual reason was to restrict the view into my kitchen as the window faced the neighbour's house and she was a bit nosy! If the plant got too leggy I would prune it down in Early January and I always got some fruit off in April.
To take a cutting just allow a side shoot to grow about 6 inches then snap or cut it off and put it in a moist compost, about half the length should be in the compost. It may wilt for the first day or so, but will soon send out roots and recover. This can be done any time during the growing period, but obviously the earlier the better if you want it to crop that year, or later in the summer if you want to over winter them. You don't need that many to over winter as you can take several cuttings in February from your 'donor' plant. By the way my kitchen is quite cool as I do more cooking on the woodburner in the living room.
I also noticed that Idli can be harvested on the vine and hung in a cool dry dark shed for weeks without fruit drop....very handy if you get a glut one week!
I don't suffer from insanity .... I enjoy it!
Vivianne
Vivianne
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Primrose
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vivie - that's fascinating. This business of taking tomato cuttings is a completely new area for me and I'll try to experiment late summer to see if I can over-winter at least one. I don't have a proper greenhouse though - only a 4 shelf one with a plastic cover which I probably won't leave up over winter because it's not very stable in the wind, and in anhy event, probably too cold. I might try to over-winter a couple of my garage window sill, or even my lounge window sill, but I do find my main problem with trying to over-winter cuttings indoors is aphids, which I've never really resolved. I tried to over-winter a couple of chilli plants last year, got a couple of tiny chillis and then the plant was overcome by aphids.