Topping off the plants?

markd42 · July 18, 2012

Hello All, I am considering topping off (cutting back the main growth branch) a few of my sungolds this year, in hopes of keeping the plants 6 feet tall or so. I figured it would make the plants bush out a bit more, rather than grow to 10 feet and become unmanageable. Kind of like the idea of a hedgerow of sungolds. Is this a bad idea?

TomNJ · July 19, 2012

I topped off growing tips above 6' because the branches were bending down and some broke. My 5' stakes are 4' tall, and when the plants get too big I try to arrange them to lean on each other for support, but if they get out of hand some topping off of the tallest tips makes sense. Of course the better solution is taller stakes, which I'll do next year.

TomNJ

feldon30 · July 19, 2012

Sungolds can handle a certain amount of topping and keep on producing.

bower · July 21, 2012

I topped my plants this year, and it worked really well with the cherries - I let them grow lots of branches lower down and only pinched suckers above eye level. Then I topped most of them, whenever they get a few feet above trellis height, leaving one leaf above a cluster of flowers. Every time I did this, the plant set a nice full cluster of fruit at the end. I used garden wire to attach the vines along the trellising and give the cluster some support.

July 18, 2012	#1
markd42 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: New York Posts: 60	Topping off the plants? Hello All, I am considering topping off (cutting back the main growth branch) a few of my sungolds this year, in hopes of keeping the plants 6 feet tall or so. I figured it would make the plants bush out a bit more, rather than grow to 10 feet and become unmanageable. Kind of like the idea of a hedgerow of sungolds. Is this a bad idea?

July 19, 2012	#3
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	Sungolds can handle a certain amount of topping and keep on producing. __________________ [SIZE="3"]I've relaunched my gardening website -- [B]TheUnconventionalTomato.com[/B][/SIZE] * [I][SIZE="1"]*I'm not allowed to post weblinks so you'll have to copy-paste it manually.[/SIZE][/I]

July 19, 2012	#2
TomNJ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Floyd VA Posts: 771	I topped off growing tips above 6' because the branches were bending down and some broke. My 5' stakes are 4' tall, and when the plants get too big I try to arrange them to lean on each other for support, but if they get out of hand some topping off of the tallest tips makes sense. Of course the better solution is taller stakes, which I'll do next year. TomNJ

July 21, 2012	#4
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	I topped my plants this year, and it worked really well with the cherries - I let them grow lots of branches lower down and only pinched suckers above eye level. Then I topped most of them, whenever they get a few feet above trellis height, leaving one leaf above a cluster of flowers. Every time I did this, the plant set a nice full cluster of fruit at the end. I used garden wire to attach the vines along the trellising and give the cluster some support.