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+--- Thread: Extending tomato height (/showthread.php?tid=482)
RE: Extending tomato height - Mark_Riga - 20-08-2020
I was going to add that I don't find the top trusses to be that prolific. Though my plant tend to be conking out when they are developing and they often do nothing.
RE: Extending tomato height - Mikey - 20-08-2020
The control freak in me would probably struggle with allowing that to happen. I find it hard enough to find the armpits on single-stemmed plants. I'm not sure how I'd cope with a double or triple stem.
Do you find it brings on the likelihood of early blight, I'm always trying to delay any potential blight by making sure I've got plenty of air around the plants and low levels of moisture at ground level. I'm always interested in how others manage to avoid the inevitable.
RE: Extending tomato height - Scarlet - 21-08-2020
I also do double or even triple stems with no issues.
I never thought of using house bricks! I currently have a rubber horse mat cut in half through the middle.
I would really like to make a cold frame area for plants/ halfway house from greenhouse to outside. That's another ground cover issue.
RE: Extending tomato height - Mark_Riga - 23-08-2020
I don't find blight to be a problem in a greenhouse. I have had an occasional suspect leaf that is immediately removed. What I find is a problem later on is botrytis or grey mould.You need to keep a careful watch and remove any affected leaves before the fungus reaches the main stem.
I have also been plagued with tomato leaf mould that spreads very quickly through a greenhouse. I suspect it arrived via infected seed. I have one greenhouse which is clear this year so will save my own seed from plants in that greenhouse. In the polytunnel, it is starting to spread and I think it is from some marmande plants so I'll get rid of any of those seeds I have left.
RE: Extending tomato height - Mikey - 25-08-2020
Isn’t botrytis also know as botrytis blight, I fight it every year. It’s in my one greenhouse already and I’m pulling off affected leaves and stems trying to holt it as much as possible, the weather isn’t helping at the moment mind.
RE: Extending tomato height - Scarlet - 26-08-2020
They are two different things. There is botrytis blight - or botrytis cinerea?? (Not sure if I've spelt that right) which is grey mould. I've never had blight in the greenhouse but one year I did get grey mould and it was difficult to contain. I use a hose pipe to water and I think I just had everything to damp.
Now I take off loads of leaves, cover most of the ground with newspapers and only water into milk bottles that are sunk into the ground.
The doors are open and I've got good low down vents. So it stays dry.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=165
I also keep my doors slightly ajar during the winter as I start plants of in September.
RE: Extending tomato height - Mikey - 26-08-2020
It’s tricky in this windy weather not to batten down the hatches. My one greenhouse is missing a pain of glass which is clearly helping with ventilation. I’ve only had 4 toms in there so far but they didn’t get in the Earth until sometime in June so weather they will ripen is a different matter.
I’m finally picking some sunblush toms they are merrily ripening, but it’s been a pretty rubbish year all round really. I’m going to get some plastic cloches set up to see if I can force some carrots.
RE: Extending tomato height - Mark_Riga - 26-08-2020
'botrytis blight' appears to be an American term for botrytis. when i did a search. In UK, blight is generally known as the dreaded lurgy, a disease affecting the Solanaceae family, mainly potatoes and outdoor tomatoes while botrytis, grey mould, affects many more plants especially under glass.
I find on tomatoes that it spreads on any even slightly damaged leaves showing some browning. I've also noticed, from now on in the year, it can start where the dead petals of a flower drop on a healthy leaf. This can cause a damp spot now and give the fungus a way in.
RE: Extending tomato height - Mikey - 26-08-2020
There is never a moment that you can’t keep a close eye on tomatoes. Pinching armpits, Tying in growth, stopping height by pinching tips. Removing or reducing leaves for sunshine, controlling temperature water and air flow, watching out for overgrowth, new stems on the ends of flowers seems common in my greenhouses, keeping a close eye on disease. I spend at least 3-4 hours a week on tomatoes alone. Thank heavens I don’t put a value on my garden time.