Growing my first tomatoes
Discussion
Having realised that shop 'marters' are very expensive and often taste of cardboard, I decided to buy some plants and grow my own...
I now have three marter plants - Gardener's Delight, Alicante and Moneymaker, growing very happily outside in a gro-bag. They're about 18" high and bushing out rapidly and I need to decide whether to let them grow naturally into bushes, or pinch out the side shoots to make tall plants.
Bushes would be less likely to need supports/staking but is the yield reduced?
I now have three marter plants - Gardener's Delight, Alicante and Moneymaker, growing very happily outside in a gro-bag. They're about 18" high and bushing out rapidly and I need to decide whether to let them grow naturally into bushes, or pinch out the side shoots to make tall plants.
Bushes would be less likely to need supports/staking but is the yield reduced?
Lidls were doing large vine tomatoes at £1.19Kg the other day - I bought 5 for 80p and they do actually taste like tomatoes 
I know what you mean - fruit and veg seem to be tasteless when you get them from the supermarkets.
Last time I grew Moneymaker tomatoes the skins split. Only tip I've got is give them lots of tomato feed
I know what you mean - fruit and veg seem to be tasteless when you get them from the supermarkets.
Last time I grew Moneymaker tomatoes the skins split. Only tip I've got is give them lots of tomato feed
condor said:
Lidls were doing large vine tomatoes at £1.19Kg the other day - I bought 5 for 80p and they do actually taste like tomatoes
I know what you mean - fruit and veg seem to be tasteless when you get them from the supermarkets.
Last time I grew Moneymaker tomatoes the skins split. Only tip I've got is give them lots of tomato feed
This is due to a poor watering regime rather than anything to do with feed. What has happened is that the tomatoes are under watered and shrink, then when they are excessively watered, they expand greatly but the skins can't expand as quickly and so split. This is one reason why I'm not keen on growing tomatoes outside as it's out of your control.I know what you mean - fruit and veg seem to be tasteless when you get them from the supermarkets.
Last time I grew Moneymaker tomatoes the skins split. Only tip I've got is give them lots of tomato feed
WRT the original question, IMO definitely remove the sideshoots and train up a stake/cane, otherwise if you let it grow as a bush, the plant puts more of its energy/nutrition into growing surplus foliage rather than the fruits. You will need to support the plant well - preferably a few canes horizontally as well as the vertical ones as 6-8 tomatoes on a vine are quite heavy and can easily snap the plant in the wind.
When buying tomatoes I usually find that the ones sold loosely are superior, I think it maybe because having a large amount together lets them ripen more, the ones in plastic packets always seem very tasteless. Lastly it's worth saying that as with all salad veg, they taste much better at room temp or thereabouts, certainly not straight from the fridge.
Thanks folks - pinching it is. Will have to be careful to do only the leaves and not buds!
The vine tomatoes in shops are nice but stupidly expensive; I simply refuse to pay that much. It never used to be like that, but I think the 'ordinary' marters (Solanum cardboardalis) are genetically modified for shelf-life at the expense of everything else. (Clearly the shelf-life gene is dominant to the flavour gene...)
The vine tomatoes in shops are nice but stupidly expensive; I simply refuse to pay that much. It never used to be like that, but I think the 'ordinary' marters (Solanum cardboardalis) are genetically modified for shelf-life at the expense of everything else. (Clearly the shelf-life gene is dominant to the flavour gene...)
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