Tomato questions

[Tdog]

Our tomato plants are loaded, but so far the only ones to ripen have been some 'patio' tomatos my wife bought at the nursery with lots of fruit already set. The plants in my garden are all indeterminate species for sure - - they are getting taller than I can support. I've been using t-posts, driven in just far enough to bury the blade end. Are you supposed to clip off the tops of tomato plants to keep them from getting over 6 - 7 ft. tall?

Also, my wife wanted some Roma tomatoes & we planted a few - - does anyone know how tall Romas get? Are they indeterminates??

Thanks,

Jack

 

[MossRoad]

There are two types of tomato vines... I think they are called determinent and indeterminent or something like that. What it means is one is a bush and one is a vine. The bush type should never be pruned, but the vine type will keep sprouting new shoots and can be trained to a trellis.

Read about it here.

 

[Egon]

Romas should be a determinate tomato.

 

[farmerjim]

i grow roma vf and san marzano plum types they grow to about 2ft and are heavy producers.also somejuliets,sweet 100's and grapes, as well as some supersteaks. all are heavy producers, for me any way. the supersteaks and others i do trim some of the suckers off and have to cage them as they like to grow rather large. by trimming the suckers off it allows the plant to concentrate on bearing more quality fruit. i'm experimenting this year by growing some on the red plastic mulch, supposedly tomatoes like the red.

 

[jinman]

The plants in my garden are all indeterminate species for sure - - they are getting taller than I can support. I've been using t-posts, driven in just far enough to bury the blade end. Are you supposed to clip off the tops of tomato plants to keep them from getting over 6 - 7 ft. tall?

Jack, I think you need wire cages instead of just the t-posts. With lots of rain and the right conditions, you may need a ladder to pick the top fruit. You could trim, but the tomatoes bloom and produce on new growth for indeterminate types. I'd just let them grow.

 

[KaiB]

Jim is on the money here. The taller, vining plants will keep growing-and producing as long as there is new growth and conditions which allow bloom and set.

We have had heirlooms which grew over 7'-I will admit that they are a pain at times as they take a lot of space.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

I've grown Roma's for may yrs. In my garden they've never gotten more than 4' yet get large yield. None of my indeterminate get more than 5' and most don't even get that tall. Maybe it the NOrthern location. The tallest is the brandywine but as soon as fruit set on and get some size to them they weigh the plants down closer to 3-4 ft, they size of my wire cages.

 

[Tdog]

Thanks - - I should probably have used cages for the indeterminates - - they are so loaded with green tomatoes that some of the vines are trying to slide down the posts. Besides, some varmit is taking chunks out of some of them. I did use cages about 3-4 years ago, made from 1" chicken wire, just to keep the critters out. Sure would have been easier at the beginning of the season.

Jack

 

[Luremaker]

Our tomato plants are loaded,...

Jack

We just finished planting our tomato plants this evening. They are between 6 and 12 inches tall. We had frost last week. It will be 2 months before I see any ripe tomatoes.

 

[Chuck52]

Looking to be a good tomato season here in mid-Missery, too. I've got over forty plants in the ground so far and ran out of cages I built from concrete screen wire, so I've got the rest staked with t-posts, pieces of rebar, old walking sticks, and about eight are spread out along a cattle panel. Until I started heavy mulching of the caged plants I was getting so many weeds that were hard to pull in the cages that I thought about using only stakes. The mulching makes the cages work great. I've never had plants that out grew my 5 foot cages, at least out the top. They do usually grow out of the cages and I have to keep poking branches back in. Staking can be a pain for some types because they really want to have multiple main branches. Black Krim is like that. I guess you can keep them pinched back to a single main stem, but I usually have lots of plants and too little time to keep up with that. I don't support the roma-type tomatoes, just surround them with mulch and let them sprawl.

Black Krim, carbon, black, Annais noir, Park's Whopper, Mountain Fresh, black cherry, sweet 100's, and one that may be Mr. Stripey or Zebra....lost the label. Naturally, the one plant with the biggest green tomato is the one I'm not sure of the variety. I also have a few volunteers that I'm letting grow. Anyone else try the black cherry? As far as I know the seeds are only available from Tomato Growers Supply, and for me anyway they have a poor germination rate. They're so good I grow them anyway.

Chuck