Tomatoes out of control. A good thing.

[Signal30]

My tomato plants are happy. So happy that they are out of control. I apparently did not keep them pruned well enough because my raised bed has now a giant fat tomato bush in it. Branches reaching way out of the bed and everything. 8 plants interlaced.

I don't want to cut them off because literally every branch had tomatoes on it some of them monsters.

Should I just stake some of the branches for support?

[mmmfloorpie]

Should I just stake some of the branches for support?

+1

[Signal30]

Thanks for the second opinion. I am doing my best to make sure the branches are not touching the soil.


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[Bobberman]

I never like to prune to one or two main stems but I am going to do it with several plants this year to see what happens compared to the wild ones! My tomatoes have tons of flowers and small tomatoes! We got some needed rain today and I am affraid that they will crowd each other out since they are like a 3 foot round bush about 4 foot high!!

[gixxerific]

Yes stake them X2. But be careful not to break them and do not mess with them when they are wet.

Your title is funny, a guy I work with who I gave some of my plants to and myself were talking about our plants today. They are getting out of hand. Some of mine are over 7 foot already. He was almost complaining about how big his were getting.

I told him never complain about that, ever!!!!

Too small is a bad thing too big is a good thing. Just keep them trimmed up so they can have some airflow and enjoy your bounty.

[gixxerific]

One more thing I have let my tom's run on the ground before when I ran out of stakes. Never again. They don't do well on the ground, they are more susceptible to rot, disease, insects etc.

[Signal30]

Most of the plant you see are actually cherry species. The other side has Beef Master, Better Boy, and what I thought was a cherry but apparently not, (perhaps another better boy, and Early Girls. My Roma is producing like crazy.


I got lucky and scored some free dirt/manure mix soil from a farmer. Also, Cincinnati has been getting rain every few days and humid.

I got to stick my head in that forest and cut back the stems due to them touching the ground. This is my first year and I had no idea they grew that fast on a daily basis.

[Signal30]

Well I did tidy up the plants a bit. I unfortunately lost some when cutting away, but the weight from the branches split some of them and no matter how careful their wasn't much I can do.

Also, I see all kinds of videos on how to prune tomato plants but noting on tips on what to do when the side branches grow long and horzontal.

[gixxerific]

I have been out meticulously trimming my jungle. At least trimming the bottom and some of the middle growth you can't even see what's going on in there. Which is bad for airflow which is good for fungi. I trimmed off a few that had tomatoes on accident it's just so crazy it's hard to see what you have. That is why I go slow but still you get one every now and than.

I have tied up some branches that are going out the side you just have to be very gentle, and remember not when they are wet.

Remember you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet, so don't fret too bad on the ones you lost.

[TZ -OH6]

My mother used to have an interesting array of ropes and strings to support horizontal branches (She also believed that if you could squeeze in one more plant you could probably also squeeze in five more, and pruning was what happened when you stayed in the bathtub too long). IMO horizontal support after the fact doesn't really work. The weight of fruit always causes problems. For horizontal branches you need horizontal support, either tied off to horizontal bars of a trellis or laying on a flat table trellis. In the end you just have to do whatever you can to deal with the mess. I prefer to sink in multiple stakes and make vertical whatever I can.

[Signal30]

Yeah I am about to see how resilient tomato plants actually are. I thinned them up a bit(by a bit I mean A LOT) and tri-staked each plant. Some would say I butchered the crap out of them.

They are tall, they are supported, and they are still alive. Some tomatoes were sacrificed, but there is definitely airflow.