How to - manage your tomatoes
Now is the time to get your tomato plants into shape to improve yields and stop them running riot. Tomato plants are divided into 2 types which need different treatment:
Determinate – These tomatoes, such as ‘Tumbler’, grow to become naturally compact and bushy and it is vital to maintain as much foliage as possible. Any reduction of foliage would reduce the crop, so there is no pinching out of shoots if you are growing determinate tomatoes.
Indeterminate - These tomatoes (also called vine or cordon), such as ‘Gardener's Delight’, ‘Sungold’ and ‘Moneymaker’, are grown taller on a single main stem, resulting in the need for support from a cane and removal of side shoots. This is what you do.
Look for shoots growing in the joint between the main stem and the leaf (1). These should be removed (2) by pinching out if they are small, or by cutting away if they are a pencil width or more. Support the plant by loosely tying the main stem to a cane (3). Continue tying in the stem to the cane as the plant grows (4) and also pinching out any more side shoots that form.
Indeterminate tomatoes grow tall, up to 2 metres. The growing tip of the main stem should be removed once 4 trusses of fruit have formed if growing outside, or after 6 trusses if growing indoors.
Water the plants regularly to keep the plants moist but not waterlogged. Tomatoes planted in pots or bags will require feeding with a tomato feed, while those planted in soil will get all the nutrients they need without extra feed.
Did you know, that if you have any unripened fruit at the end of the season, put them in a paper bag indoors with a banana and some of the tomatoes will ripen. It is all to do with ethylene.