Tomato Plants

Linford

Bought 5 tomato plants (moneymaker variety I think) in April and planted them in the garden, not in a green house, good sunny spot (when there is sun). We had flowers from early May and there are a few tomatoes on the plants now.

My problem is that the tomato plants have gotten huge, 5ft high and nearly as wide, there are hundreds of flowers on the plants at every stage from new bud to tiny tomato. I have been given various bits of information from different people as to what we should with the plants:

1) Cut off any new flowers to let the other flowers turn into fruit and help the existing fruit grow.

2) pinch out any new shoots (not really sure what this means, is it leaves, flowers, both, any new growth).

3) Cut off any stalks that just have leaves on them as this will enable the plant to concentrate on producing fruit and not leaves.

What if any of this advice is right? Also how big will the plants grow and should we do something about them continuing to grow.

Any help is much appreciated.

bmaxi

Moneymaker is a cordon variety which will just keep growing. The result of this is that lots of flower trusses will set but not many will mature. You need to stop it growing, i.e. nip off the growing tip after about 5 or 6 trusses have set, Any shoots that appear in the joint between the main stem and a leaf stalk should be removed. You can remove yellow leaves and leaf stems beneath flower trusses but don't go mad at this. Keep well watered and feed every 4 or 5 days and 5 Moneymaker plants should give you enough fruit to put you off tomatoes for life:)

Irish Gardener

Some helpful pointers here .... http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=254

Linford

Thanks very much for that.