My tomatoes are a mess !

[lakelady]

My plants are too tall (I told you they were gonna be huge Mudman! ). They are now falling over their cages, which are 5' tall, many of the plants are 7' tall (some more!) and most of the flowers are at the top! I lost so many blossoms with the heat we've had this summer but they are trying to recover and I want them to try and push out a few more fruits before Fall. What do you do? I went around tonight trying to tie up anything I could to anything else I could but it's a jungle now! When I think back to the quality of plants I used to grow prior to learning from you all here, well, I feel dumb complaining about this "problem", but here it is.

Guess I got my wish, but wasn't quite prepared for the ginormous plants and having no plan to accomodate such long vines (my teenage boys favorite word, which I looked up and Merriam Webster has declared it really IS a word!). I thought I'd let them "gracefully" grow over the cages, but it ain't happening. They are bending awkwardly and look like they'll rip right off. So much for the natural look.

Yep, I used 7' posts for some (pounded in as far as I could) and cages for the rest. Didn't have the manpower to help me setup a weave system, that might have been a good idea.

Suggestions? It really is starting to look like a jungle in the main tomato garden!

[Mark0820]

I just let mine naturally fall over the top. They will look awkward at first, but once tomatoes start to form at the top of the vines the tomatoes will weight the vines down.

It will always be jungle. How much of jungle it is depends on how close you spaced the tomato plants. The closer, the more of a jungle. But look on the bright side, all of that shade will help keep the moisture in the ground around the roots.

[RobinB]

I'm only 5'1", so I usually keep mine trimmed at 6' or so. I just start pinching off the growing tips. They usually start filling out sideways instead. So far, I don't have that problem, except for one Malachite Box plant, and, of course the cage broke on that one. Not all by itself mind you, a curious 7 year old boy was responsible. For now, it's being kept at 5' tall, and I've got a bunch of 6' bamboo stakes in there with the plant tied to them. Talk about a mess! Great tomatoes, though!

[marc_groleau]

I have battled the same problem for years This year I tried a modified Florida weave. I started off staking and pruning as usual. After the first fruit set, I stopped pruning and continued a combination of tying to stake and also supporting with florida weave from stake to stake. I now am afloat in a sea of green but without the chaos. I still have a garden with well defined rows and nothing caving in yet. Maybe it's not too late for you to add some stakes that are taller than your cages and start tying off the tops of your plants. See the link after the last photo.





There's even room for me and this little critter if I suck it in when walking between rows. I don't know how long that will last though. The rows and I seem to be expanding at the same rate.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=23867

[tjg911]

i just let them flop over the top of the 5' crw cages, who cares? the more growth, the more flowers, the more tomatoes. i do top vines on labor day to encourage them to finish up but right now it's all about growing.

tom

[greyghost]

Beautiful baby and garden! Darlene

[Father'sDaughter]

I used six foot stakes and failed in my attempt to single stem them. Now all of my plants are at or above the tops of the stakes as well. I've started pinching the growth at the top of any plants that have well developed, but shorter, additional stems, but some of my pastes have most of there flower trusses up at the higher levels. I guess I'll be living with floppy, messy plants as well!

The worst of the bunch is the Franchi cherry. Last year I had two plants in those plastic snap together cages and they stayed fairly compact and contained. This year my one plant is easily the tallest in the garden and yesterday blew out the cross supports on one side of the cage when it flopped over sideways. Luckily it fell into to path next to the bed and not onto any other plants!

[kurt]

Think horizontal,arbor.Join poles with horizontals.

[FILMNET]

today after 2.5" rain

CUT, CUT stems off under fruits or stems without flowers or fruit on top
I don't know why new growers are not told to cut off a lot of useless branches on tomato's plants, I was told this for the last 30 years from old friends who had gardens in 1930s.
Just follow some branches Lakelady, you will find some on each plant possibly as long as the plant itself with nothing on them. Every time I see other gardens they are so tight the plants are planted to close and a mess with very little fruit, some are the plants i gave them.

[PA_Julia]

Most of my varieties are over 5ft with two heirloom varieties Uncle mark Bagby and Paul Robeson reaching past 6 ft.

The monster of all are the Burpee Sweet Cherry 100 tomato plants all beyond 6.5 ft with one reaching past 7 ft now.

Someone here at Tomatoville asked me in a thread how my cherry tomato plants grew so tall.

I don't know the answer to that but there they stand.

They are also extremely bushy.

Most parts of the plant have tomato filled trusses at various stages of growth so this hybrid is a tomato factory for sure.

I have added on two extensions to my 5 foot stake for the tallest one.

I thought about topping it but instead I'm going to eventually allow it to fold over due to a truss close to seven feet growing tomatoes.

I would just let your plants fold over and continue growing in the jungle.


Julia

[FILMNET]

I agree Julia for cherries a few years ago i grew Sungold, and Black Cherry to only 1 stem after the 7' stick was topped off i added smaller ones. Of course I know cherries grow from bottom to top, so i got a ton on top which were not ripe, bagged taken inside for ripen with bananas

[RebelRidin]

Originally Posted by lakelady

My plants are too tall (I told you they were gonna be huge Mudman! ). They are now falling over their cages, which are 5' tall, many of the plants are 7' tall (some more!) and most of the flowers are at the top! I lost so many blossoms with the heat we've had this summer but they are trying to recover and I want them to try and push out a few more fruits before Fall.

I am having some similar problems her on MD shore. Lots of early fruits (fortunate) which are now coming in fast, middles sections of plants without fruits and new fruits setting at the tops. I also have some wild and woollies out there. Matt's wild cherry has hit ten feet, the tops have flopped over onto its neighbors and it's still going.

I think they are a bit like old hippies... once we let our hair down.... forget it... WE ARE OUT OF CONTROL!

(But we are worth it )

[meadowyck]

Hay folks just wanted to pass along a tip from a gal who lives in texas (DG forum) who said that onces hers got so high she started laying them horizonal and the tomatoes just took off and she is still harvesting tomatoes, not to mention the fact that the dense top provided shade for her up coming cucumbers.

So maybe start yours horizonal, it sure makes it easier to pick ripe ones....

[pooklette]

I'm still looking for a fool-proof method for keeping my tomato plants from taking over the whole block. My first year growing indeterminate tomatoes, I had them in 5' cages. They grew over the top of the cage, over our 6' privacy fence, and down the other side into the neighbor's yard.

The next year, I tried tying them to 8' stakes. They grew to the top of the stakes, started to flop over and eventually snapped the stakes. Another year I tried giving them room to sprawl and ended up with a messy, diseased tomato jungle. Clearly, you aren't alone in your search for a better method for managing your plants.

[tom-ato]

The Lone Tomatillo,

I have had the same issue lately, trying to load photos.