Kitchen Garden Forum

I thought I'd get in early with this one. Mostly I grow cordon tomatoes, but I also grow the very early bush variety Latah (recommended!). However, I'd welcome ideas on the best way to support bush tomatoes, to keep the fruit off the ground, etc.

They don't usually need any but a short cane will do the trick if they're toppling over.

i usually use 3ft canes with a few horizontal strings, if they do collapse in wet weather you can end up with a mouldy wet rotting mess. prevention is better than cure.

I don't find they need support but a good thick mulch and then some straw to keep the fruits clean is an advantage.
Red Alert is my variety and early to ripen to.

Beryl.

Hello Ken
Like Beryl I use straw and find this works very well - in fact its just like growing strawberries. The straw keeps the fruits clean and I think it helps ripening as well. I sprinkle slug pellets around before putting down the straw and also mark the position of the plants with a stick. It helps a lot with watering later on if you have marked the planting place of each tom - you can water and feed in the right place.

John

My experience with bush toms is that even with a good straw mulch they get rapidly slug-eaten if there is rain and the straw gets wet.

I therefore intend to use short Y-shaped twigs such as apple-tree prunings to hold the tomato stems off the ground; with luck that will keep the fruit off the ground and allow rain to drain off them.
mike

Hi Mike,
Now that there is a type of slug pellet that carries organic accreditation surely they are worth a try. Instead of faffing about!
JB.

Thanks, everyone. In the past, I've staked them and then had multiple strings holding up the various branches, but it has never been 100% satisfactory. Prhaps I should go and get some straw - and what I don't use to mulch the tomatoes I can mix with the grass cuttings on the compost heap (to pick up on an earlier discussion).

Quite right, JB, but I never remember to bring the slug pellets with me whenI go to the plot, and there are quite a few twigs about because I use them for peasticks. One day it will occur to me to get another tin of slug pellets and keep it there.
mike