Rookie tomato mistakes

Question

Help! I'm a first-time gardener who chose tomato varieties without fully considering their size requirements. I have three plants (Yellow Pear, Black Krim, and Mr. Stripey) and they are exploding!! I have them arranged in a triangle formation in a raised bed but every time I rig or adjust their supports, they outgrow it within a couple weeks (especially the Yellow Pear!!). Does anyone have any suggestions for untangling/supporting these monsters?

Catherine Smith · Answer

Those are nice looking plants. Just leave them, they'll do fine. Tomatoes do not cross breed and actually all that 'tangle' is providing weed control, shade and moisture retention to your soil. Next time you'll know better, which is how you learn this gardening deal. ^=^ Great job for a beginner, you've earned bragging rights...LOL

Heather (New House New Home) · Answer

They might be crowded this year, but you've learned a great lesson. I did the same thing when I first started gardening. After all, the little plants in the nursery surely can't get too big? At least that's what I thought. So now, I give each one about a 3 sq ft site. As for staking them....I use 1x2 stakes 7' long and tie the cages to them. At first, the cages suffice. But as the tomatoes grow, I have something to tie off the top of the plant. You can see more of how we do this on my blog.....http://www.newhousenewhomenewlife.com/2013/08/caring-for-tomato-plants.html

NancyLee · Answer

Hehehehe......I put in several plants - one a pink brandywine. I grew them years ago in Massachusetts and had lovely plants with massive amounts of tomatoes. This was my first summer here in the northwest. The brandywine grew 7 feet and produced ONE tomato!!!! Yes one! It was huge and delicious, but it was just ONE. There were several flowers but it's Sept - they aren't going to produce. So the day after I ate that tomato, I pulled up that plant..........

David Moffitt · Answer

One great thing to remember about tomato plants, is that they will set root where ever they touch the ground. Plus side for you, if they are doing well and growing to be monsters, you can prune off the upper growth, and just put it into a new hole or pot some where else, and it will grow another plant. This helps stunt the upper growth, without risking losing the harvest rewards at the end of the season.

Darlene Formanek · Answer

trim trim trim or just let them be

Mikell Paulson · Answer

I wrote this on a different question, you have a lot of green tomatoes, I don't know where you live , I live in WA. State, I always used to pull my tomato plants and hang them upside down by the roots. I hung them in the garage so they didn't freeze! I had vine ripened tomatoes all winter into spring!

Judy · Answer

Beautiful tomato plants! You've earned your Jr. Gardener's medal! For next year space them farther apart & use a do-it-yourself tomato cage. You can drive 3 or 4 stakes (I use 1 X 2's) into the ground around each plant then wrap around with twine to cage them in. One of the better ideas I've seen is to just have one 2 x 2 stake for each plant with a section of field fence attached to each stake to tie the tomato up onto. The fencing sort of curves around the plant a bit & it looks like it would work well. I have a 10 X 2 ft. bed so I just made one long tomato cage out of four 4 ft 2 x 2's for the 4 corners, sharpen the ends so they can be pounded into the ground, a couple of 1-1/2 ft 2 x 2's crosswise on each end for support & then three 8 ft 1 x 2's on each side about 10 inches apart. I bought some cheap soft rope on sale & zig-zagged it between the 1 x 2's to support the plants. In the spring I just pull the whole thing out of the ground & move it to another bed to rotate crops. I can put 4 plants in it & tie up one more to the end on the outside. If the plants grow too tall for the cage I just let them wander over the sides. It doesn't hurt them any. If I had to choose only 3 tomato plants I'd put in a beefsteak type for slicing & sandwiches, a Roma or Italian type type for sauces, soups & stews (great for drying too) & a cherry or grape tomato for nibbling & salads. I love the flavor of Sungold cherry tomatoes. Your local nursery, extension office or Master Gardener's club can help you select the best varieties for growing in your area.
Oh, almost forgot, there are 2 types of tomato plants, determinate, which are smaller plants that set their fruit all at once & then are done for the year, usually planted for canning tomatoes because you get a large crop all at once & indeterminate, which are the ones you have. They just keep growing & setting fruit until they're killed by the 1st good frost of the year. They're more difficult to control but the advantage is that you have a continuing supply of fresh tomatoes for months.

Mary C · Answer

I am NOT a gardener who has a LOVELY GREEN thumb by any means !!! having said that i have been told and shown that when one has a tomato plant one is suppose to CUT off the branches on the plant that DO NOT HAVE FLOWERS on them !!!! this will thin out the plant and help it to produce more fruit and also keep it a managable size ! hope this helps ...

Ruth Ashworth · Answer

Thanks for the info !!

Kiely · Answer

Thank you so much for all the great advice and comments, everyone! I spent some time pruning them back a bit today, and I think it's going to be a big help. I'm finally able to reach the ripening fruits, and it seems like there's going to be much better air flow now—plus I don't think I lost very many blossoms or young fruits. Minimal casualties. :) Thanks again for all the help!

Em Hooper · Answer

Looks as if you have indeterminate varieties. Look for determinate next year ( a good nursery will mark them or you can look on web for varieties. Tomato is a tropical vine and indeterminates will grow taller/longer so long as weather permits. You will have less of a tangle if you remove the stems that rise between the stem and an original leaf. Your thumbs are tomato green. Well done.

Em Hooper · Answer

Looks as if you have indeterminate varieties. Look for determinate next year ( a good nursery will mark them or you can look on web for varieties.  Tomato is a tropical vine and indeterminates will grow taller/longer so long as weather permits. Determinate has terminal length in its genes.

You will have less of a tangle if you remove the stems that rise between the stem and an original leaf. Your thumbs are tomato green. Well done.

Kiely · Answer

@Em Hooper admittedly, at the time i purchased these, all i knew was that i wanted heirloom varieties. i wasn't aware of determinates vs. indeterminates—but after i got going a little bit and continued researching and learning, I realized that I preferred the fruiting pattern of indeterminates anyway, but I just didn't expect them to get as huge as they did! I'll probably mix-n-match a little bit more next year though, now that i have a better idea of what i'm doing. This has been such a fun learning process, even with all the mistakes i've made :)

Em Hooper · Answer

Good point I hadn't considered. Since the weather and diseases have not let me have more than a couple of fresh red tomatoes in four years....I had better eat them green, if they 'come on' at all.

Em Hooper · Answer

Sadly, not in my garden. Weather has been freaky last few years.

Em Hooper · Answer

You got tomatoes. So you are way ahead of me in recent years! Did you check w/ your county home extension agent for literature on raising tomatoes? Good way to learn during the winter months--along with enjoying your gardening catalogs (while sitting by the fire?).

Catherine Smith · Answer

Everybody is having trouble with getting tomatoes to ripen this year. It's the weather, between the ' monsoons' and the temperature bouncing back and forth. They are having a tough time doing what they need to do.

Mikell Paulson · Answer

I was always taught by an expert to take all the non producing branches out! Tomatoes need air circulation. This also put more strength to go to the tomato for better fruit! Does not affect the flavor. When you think it is nearing frost time, pull them up and hang them by the roots in a garage where they will not freeze and enjoy vine ripen tomatoes for a long time!

Mikell Paulson · Answer

I left the roots attached! I had tomatoes into the spring. They got to where they were very small like a cherry tomato, but the flavor was great! I did 12 plants and so all the neighbors also had tomatoes!

Mikell Paulson · Answer

Catherine, I live in Port Angeles, WA. We do not get the heavy rains that Seattle area gets. We live in a rain shadow, and might get 15 inches of rain, most of that is winter rain. I can not tell you right of hand what the tomatoes were! My friend always started his from seed, and would give me starts. He told me always take out non producing branches. Makes for better fruit! I would pull them the end of October. I feel the need to tell you this part of WA. where I live is dry and very nice. we have a lot of retiring people move here for the climate! Last year we had frost twice! Thanks for your interest I hope that the hanging plants will do well for you! , Mikie I think that they were called Seattle Best!

Judy · Answer

The only problem I have with saving tomato seed is that if you plant more than one variety of tomato they cross pollinate & then heaven only knows what you'll get from those saved seeds. I like to plant a yellow cherry, a beefsteak type & a roma type. One could end up with some very interesting combinations.

Mikell Paulson · Answer

He has passed away, but I do know that his garden was all started from seeds, that he bought via catalog. He had records that went back 20 years on rotating crops an when and what to compost. His garden was a beautiful site. He shared with everyone! Wonderful man!

NancyLee · Answer

You can ferment the green tomatoes - delicious!

Rookie tomato mistakes

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Rookie tomato mistakes

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