Prune Dem Mators

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by OldHondaNut

I don't grow large tomatoes so with that caveat, I think you might have too much nitrogen. If I have too much nitrogen I get nice leaf development but maybe NO fruit set. True on all my plants - Rutgers, Better Boy, Amish Paste...

Temperatures are important, some of the big varieties are more sensitive to heat than the smaller varieties.

Another trick to get larger tomatoes is to prune down so that maybe 5 or so are left to grow. These get over a pound and it is difficult for one plant to handle 30 1-2 pounders. They guys that try for world records allow but one fruit.

Good luck and have a great tomato Day!

Thanks but I dont think thats the problem unless beefsteaks are more sensitive because I have tons of tomatoes on the other plants... better bush, early girls, the other plant pictured in my original post and the cherry plants. They all get the same treatment and have tons of tomatoes. The other plant in the same container is growing large tomatoes.

Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

OldHondaNut.... My apologies. I didnt see the rest of your post on my phone. So maybe too many tomatoes. I guess I didn't think about that because that other plant I posted has enough fruit on it to make at least 30 beefsteaks... large ones. But this is my first year growing so its all new to me. Maybe I will try gradually pruning more leaves starting from the bottom. I dont really want pluck any of the tomatoes. The one that ripened was so yummy.

Thanks for the help.

Ginny

[Stvrob]

With wispy or regular foliage plants what I often do is let two leaves develop on the sucker and pinch it off above the second leaf. My idea is to get a little more foliage above the flower truss, but still have a fairly tidy pruned plant. I am usually clipping the stems up along a string suspended from a pole about 7' above the plants and shooting for a single growing point.

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Stvrob

With wispy or regular foliage plants what I often do is let two leaves develop on the sucker and pinch it off above the second leaf. My idea is to get a little more foliage above the flower truss, but still have a fairly tidy pruned plant. I am usually clipping the stems up along a string suspended from a pole about 7' above the plants and shooting for a single growing point.

So you keep it to a single main stem?

Ginny

[bughunter99]

Seems like side by side tests in different parts of the world would be pretty easy to do!

I would do it...except I don't prune anything that doesn't touch the ground. It just seems like it opens up additional places for disease to get in.

Stacy

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Stvrob

With wispy or regular foliage plants what I often do is let two leaves develop on the sucker and pinch it off above the second leaf. My idea is to get a little more foliage above the flower truss, but still have a fairly tidy pruned plant. I am usually clipping the stems up along a string suspended from a pole about 7' above the plants and shooting for a single growing point.

I think they call that Missouri pruning and I usually do that above the first fruit cluster on my single stem plants except a very few that have very thick foliage. On most plants it is adequate but on some others it still doesn't allow for enough foliage to protect the fruit. I have found that some plants just aren't good candidates for single stem growth outdoors so I just allow a stem or two more on those varieties. I think in a greenhouse with less direct sunlight it wouldn't matter so much.

Bill

[KarenO]

how hot is it? healthy growth with lots of flowers that do not set fruit sounds like it's too hot for them. perhaps. agree some varieties are more sensitive and drop their blooms in heat more than others.
karen

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Thanks but I dont think thats the problem unless beefsteaks are more sensitive because I have tons of tomatoes on the other plants... better bush, early girls, the other plant pictured in my original post and the cherry plants. They all get the same treatment and have tons of tomatoes. The other plant in the same container is growing large tomatoes.

Ginny

OldHondaNut,

I think you may be right afterall... too much nitrogen. I'm going to try a liquid bone meal fertilizer that I can put down the hatch into the two gallon reservoir and see if that helps the fruit grow.

Will post results.
Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by KarenO

how hot is it? healthy growth with lots of flowers that do not set fruit sounds like it's too hot for them. perhaps. agree some varieties are more sensitive and drop their blooms in heat more than others.
karen

Hi Karen

Not sure if you were asking me or domeone else. Its been in the low 80s or high 70's but soon will be consistently in the 90s. My problem hasnt been fruit set... its been fruit growth but only on the beefsteak plant.

Gonna try a bone meal fertilizer with more "p" than "n".

Ginny

[moon1234]

Pruning is one of those things that is grower/variety dependent. For MOST of my indeterminates I prune to the first strong sucker. This will usually be a few branches up from the bottom. If this strong sucker is removed then yield is affected.

I never prune determinates. They are picked over a few weeks and then they are done. We use drip irrigation only and never deal with foliage issues until rain comes or later in the season. We begin spraying copper when we start to see any hint of foliage issues.

We have thousands of plants so that sort of limits how much pruning we can do. It is hard enough to keep up with tying them when the temps get into the mid to upper 80s. They grow so fast that you just get done tying and it seems that they need to be tied again (Florida Weave)

Spacing can also be a deciding factor. We plant cherry tomatoes 12" apart in the row. A few varieties of grape tomatoes we have to do 18". At this density we only want one strong stem coming out of the ground and not 5 spindly suckers. It becomes a big, un-pickable mess if proper pruning does not happen at the beginning of the season.

The big tomatoes are at 18". Indeterminates are pruned just like about. Determinates we just stake and don't touch.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Hi Karen

Not sure if you were asking me or domeone else. Its been in the low 80s or high 70's but soon will be consistently in the 90s. My problem hasnt been fruit set... its been fruit growth but only on the beefsteak plant.

Gonna try a bone meal fertilizer with more "p" than "n".

Ginny

In my experience most of the large beefsteak varieties are much more heat sensitive when it comes to setting fruit than the smaller fruited varieties. I always try to get my large beefsteaks out in the garden as early as possible so they have a chance to set before it gets too hot.

If you are wanting to improve your fruit set then order some Texas Toamto Food and use it every week to 10 days. I used it for the first time last year and was amazed at the fruit set and the number of large tomatoes that I got. I have been growing tomatoes for nearly 40 years and I had more large tomatoes last year than in any other two year period so I am sold on TTF. Another thing that helps with fruit set in hot weather is keeping the soil under the plants well mulched and give them plenty of water during the blooming and setting stage. If plants are stressed by the heat they will tend to drop blooms without setting so it is important to keep them well watered. After you have substantial fruit set you need to cut back on the watering to prevent splitting of the fruit.

If you leave too many growth tips on a plant they will tend to make lots of blooms and lots of leaves and have generally smaller fruit. I like to limit my large beefsteaks to no more than 4 or 5 stems but I usually limit them to 2 or 3 if they have sufficient foliage cover. This year I am going to grow almost half my plants limited to only one stem.

Bill

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by b54red

In my experience most of the large beefsteak varieties are much more heat sensitive when it comes to setting fruit than the smaller fruited varieties. I always try to get my large beefsteaks out in the garden as early as possible so they have a chance to set before it gets too hot.

If you are wanting to improve your fruit set then order some Texas Toamto Food and use it every week to 10 days. I used it for the first time last year and was amazed at the fruit set and the number of large tomatoes that I got. I have been growing tomatoes for nearly 40 years and I had more large tomatoes last year than in any other two year period so I am sold on TTF. Another thing that helps with fruit set in hot weather is keeping the soil under the plants well mulched and give them plenty of water during the blooming and setting stage. If plants are stressed by the heat they will tend to drop blooms without setting so it is important to keep them well watered. After you have substantial fruit set you need to cut back on the watering to prevent splitting of the fruit.

If you leave too many growth tips on a plant they will tend to make lots of blooms and lots of leaves and have generally smaller fruit. I like to limit my large beefsteaks to no more than 4 or 5 stems but I usually limit them to 2 or 3 if they have sufficient foliage cover. This year I am going to grow almost half my plants limited to only one stem.

Bill

Bill thanks for the info. I have been using Texas Tomato Food also and love it. I found out about it earlier in the season from De Wayne Mater and he told me to read all the posts about it on this forum. I have 20-30 beefsteaks on this plant, plus the plant growing with it (which is some kind of dwarf) has some nice big tomatoes.... not sure how many but over 10. So maybe my problem is just too many tomatoes on the beefsteak for them to grow big. So Im not having a problem with fruit set... my problem is fruit size.... too small. But I might have overdone it with the fert strip and TTF, so going to try some bonemeal liquid fert down the hatch at the recommendation of another grower. If it doesnt help within a week or so ill start pruning some main stems off. Its all good.... we have plenty of tomatoes but just love the taste of these on this plant and want to get them as big as possible. They are definitely growing slower and mturing smaller than they should. One is almost ripe now and when we pick it I will photograph it on the scale and with a tape measurer on it.

Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

Bill I just reread your post im pretty sure that too many growth tips is the problem and too many stems. I'm not sure how people grow big tomatoes on plants like this without pruning. Especially if they use TTF... :-)

Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

Heres a picture of a beefsteak tomato I picked this morning off the plant in question.





Another picture....




The plant in question is the one in the grey SWC on the right side of the picture. It has plenty of tomatoes, but they wont grow up! They are really tasty so Im trying to figure out what to do to get them to grow to full size.

Thanks
Ginny

[ddsack]

Ginny, is it possible that there was a seed or plant mix up, and your plant is not a large beefsteak after all? I do occasionally get a few smaller sized fruits on beefsteak varieties, but they are usually at the end of the season when I've let the plant peter out in fall conditions. Your plant looks healthy enough to support larger fruit, so if all your fruit on that plant are the same small size and shape, I'd be mighty suspicious that the plant could be a cross or a mix-up.