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Tomatoes in the Garden

moyboy

moyboy

Not really chilli related but close to my heart.

I am looking to grow several varieties of tomatoes this year, (9 to be precise).

I know there are people on this forum that grow many different tomato plants in the garden and my question is:

How do you keep them all under control and still get good yields?

Last year i grow 4 tomatoes plants and they just took over the place, and i was snapping branches off all the time. They were planted at a good distance away from each other but ended up becoming one big mess of a vine.

I have more than enough room this year but would like to force some level of control over the tomatoes i will be growing.

Any thoughts and suggestions would be great.

Thanks
 
moyboy,

I use stakes and string. There are close to 50 plants in a 400 sq. ft. space. Whenever necessary, I run the string around the entire plant and pull it tight. Started doing that when they were about two feet tall. A couple have grown taller than their stakes, but I still tie the branches.

But, if I was only going to grow 4-6 plants, I would buy tomato cages. They cost about $6 each for the tall ones around here but last for years. Just keep tucking any branches inside.

Mike
 
I use tomato cages as well. i got some large ones on clearance at Wal-Mart for $2-3 a while back at the end of the season. I'm not so lucky anymore finding those deals! :)

Chris
 
moyboy said:
Not really chilli related but close to my heart.

I am looking to grow several varieties of tomatoes this year, (9 to be precise).

I know there are people on this forum that grow many different tomato plants in the garden and my question is:

How do you keep them all under control and still get good yields?

Last year i grow 4 tomatoes plants and they just took over the place, and i was snapping branches off all the time. They were planted at a good distance away from each other but ended up becoming one big mess of a vine.

I have more than enough room this year but would like to force some level of control over the tomatoes i will be growing.

Any thoughts and suggestions would be great.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Hey Moyboy
Sorry I don't have any specifics on the matter but in the past I have read stuff about drastically cutting back the plants. It depends on what variety it is though. Determinate plants like roma are not supposed to be trimmed while indeterminate tomato plants can be. The people that use this method remove what are called suckers which will not produce flowers. I always wondered about sunscald though. Sorry not really a helpful reply but search cutting back or trimming tomato plants on google and see what you come up with.
 
moyboy said:
Not really chilli related but close to my heart.

I am looking to grow several varieties of tomatoes this year, (9 to be precise).

I know there are people on this forum that grow many different tomato plants in the garden and my question is:

How do you keep them all under control and still get good yields?

Last year i grow 4 tomatoes plants and they just took over the place, and i was snapping branches off all the time. They were planted at a good distance away from each other but ended up becoming one big mess of a vine.

I have more than enough room this year but would like to force some level of control over the tomatoes i will be growing.

Any thoughts and suggestions would be great.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Here, I found a couple sites...
http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/how-to/articles/pruning-tomatoes.aspx
http://www.expertvillage.com/video/25168_low-maintenance-garden-pruning.htm
 
Just a bag filled with compost that you grow plants in like this:

growbag.jpg
 
I used tomato cages this year. They seemed to work for me.
I noticed my 4 heirloom varieties seem to be more "controllable" than the hybrids I'm growing.
 
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