Troublesome Cherokee Purple ;-)

FreyaFL · November 9, 2012

I have a beautiful cherokee purple growing in my rain gutter system. However, in the past week, the top of the plant divided into four "main" branches! And here I was, preparing to keep my indet. plants all nicely pruned this time. I've never seen this before. (But, I've only grown tomatoes for a few years now, and only a few a year at that. This is my first year of planting MANY.) Is this common? I'm thinking I'll just let the plant have 4 main stalks, at least for now.

Freya

OddBall · November 9, 2012

Freya,

I had a Cherokee Purple that divide into two main branches, That thing grew to be a monster, I wonder how yours going to be.

FreyaFL · November 9, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by OddBall

Freya,

I had a Cherokee Purple that divide into two main branches, That thing grew to be a monster, I wonder how yours going to be.

Yikes! I hope it's happy and healthy and produces lots but, a monster? Maybe my placement of it in a narrower spot between the screen and the pool might have been been a mistake. Hmmm.... I just started rooting 3 suckers, I may have to warn whoever I give them to, or maybe not.

FILMNET · November 9, 2012

Suckers? Looks like suckers were not taken off early? Just cut of off.

OddBall · November 9, 2012

Mhm, it was a happy kind of monster, but also I left the suckers so it branched a lot, and it produced a lot of tomatoes

The suckers might surprise them, hope they get planted in a bit spacious place

FILMNET · November 9, 2012

This happens some times in pots, i cut the 2-3 stems out for the 2-4 weeks only 1 stems.

FreyaFL · November 9, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by FILMNET

This happens some times in pots, i cut the 2-3 stems out for the 2-4 weeks only 1 stems.

I don't think these are suckers, not with the way the stem looks. (I could be wrong.) So, Filmnet, you'd just cut 2 or 3 of the stems?! (I'm going to hyperventilate.) I can't pinch a sucker without rooting it. (GUILT!) Not sure I'm capable of this one.

LOL!

FILMNET · November 12, 2012

Those are very early suckers, possibly near the bottom looks like 1 stem.

Cole_Robbie · November 12, 2012

Not that this answers your question, but out of curiosity, what size of a container are they in? Do your gutters grow algae?

FreyaFL · November 12, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by FILMNET

Those are very early suckers, possibly near the bottom looks like 1 stem.

Huh. Well, that could be. It's totally fused now, though, if it was. (So far, I'm just letting it go. I'll regret this later, I'm sure. LOL)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Not that this answers your question, but out of curiosity, what size of a container are they in? Do your gutters grow algae?

They're all in 5 gallon buckets. (I've been assured by people who have used this over the summer up north that this will work out fine. Some awesome videos by "Nikki Counts" on YouTube showing her dozens of very productive tomato plants growing and producing amazingly.)

As far as algae goes, when I first set it up, yes, it grew algae but I didn't have all the buckets on for another week, so it was getting quite a bit of light. In a week or so, I had all the buckets on, covering it pretty well. Now, 24 days since I set it up, no algae at all. I'm thinking that when I first set up a bucket/plant, because I top water for a day or two, the fertilizer from the potting mix along with the excessive light caused the algae growth. Now I don't top water at all and there isn't any algae.

FreyaFL · November 12, 2012

This is how my purple cherokee is doing on my rain gutter system. For some reason I've been taking pictures every 6 days. The first is after transplanting on 10/18 the last is 24 days later on 11/10. (The water is a little brown because I just put mulch on the tops of many of these and was a bit messy about it.)

As a note of interest, it took the seeds 7 days to germinate and I planted it in the bucket 20 days after germination. So, the last picture is of a plant, 44 days from germination. I've no idea if this is good or not. Seems pretty amazing to me though.

Redbaron · November 12, 2012

Looks like a healthy plant to me.

Cole_Robbie · November 12, 2012

I grow in 5-gallon buckets, too, but not indeterminates. Even with semi-indeterminate Early Girl, it worked great at first for me, but as the plant kept setting more and more blooms, it seemed like each tomato got smaller and smaller. The fruit went from tennis ball to golf ball-sized. I hope it goes better for you, but I'm sticking to determinates.

FreyaFL · November 12, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I grow in 5-gallon buckets, too, but not indeterminates. Even with semi-indeterminate Early Girl, it worked great at first for me, but as the plant kept setting more and more blooms, it seemed like each tomato got smaller and smaller. The fruit went from tennis ball to golf ball-sized. I hope it goes better for you, but I'm sticking to determinates.

Maybe this is why the advice is to always prune/pinch out the suckers. (I'm not very good at this yet.) Maybe I should experiment and grow two of the same variety, pinching the one viciously, and not so much with the other. Maybe something for next year? (Has anyone done this?)

kilroyscarnival · November 20, 2012

I have noticed two of my chocolate cherry plants seem to have twin stems of equal height and vitality, with leaves running perpendicularly across... a perfect split and not a sucker beneath the main stem. They are just five weeks old. I was wondering how to ask if they were prone to twinning, before I found this topic. (I'll have to get some photos.)

The rest of the chocs and the other varieties are normal single-stem. It's the Mexico Midgets which seem to be suckering feverishly at this stage. Didn't expect that till they were bigger. It's not too early to pinch those little things off, is it?

November 9, 2012	#1
FreyaFL Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: SW FL Posts: 152	Troublesome Cherokee Purple ;-) I have a beautiful cherokee purple growing in my rain gutter system. However, in the past week, the top of the plant divided into four "main" branches! And here I was, preparing to keep my indet. plants all nicely pruned this time. I've never seen this before. (But, I've only grown tomatoes for a few years now, and only a few a year at that. This is my first year of planting MANY.) Is this common? I'm thinking I'll just let the plant have 4 main stalks, at least for now. Freya

November 12, 2012	#12
Redbaron Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 4,488	Looks like a healthy plant to me. __________________ Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture

November 9, 2012	#2
OddBall Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Bahrain (Zone 11) Posts: 102	Freya, I had a Cherokee Purple that divide into two main branches, That thing grew to be a monster, I wonder how yours going to be.

November 9, 2012	#4
FILMNET Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: North Charleston,South Carolina, USA Posts: 1,803	Suckers? Looks like suckers were not taken off early? Just cut of off.

November 12, 2012	#9
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Not that this answers your question, but out of curiosity, what size of a container are they in? Do your gutters grow algae?

November 20, 2012	#15
kilroyscarnival Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 614	I have noticed two of my chocolate cherry plants seem to have twin stems of equal height and vitality, with leaves running perpendicularly across... a perfect split and not a sucker beneath the main stem. They are just five weeks old. I was wondering how to ask if they were prone to twinning, before I found this topic. (I'll have to get some photos.) The rest of the chocs and the other varieties are normal single-stem. It's the Mexico Midgets which seem to be suckering feverishly at this stage. Didn't expect that till they were bigger. It's not too early to pinch those little things off, is it?