Extending tomato height

I’m hoping for an Indian summer as they were very late going in.

I’ve got to ask what kind of truss can you wear?

Your education is definitely lacking  . This is the most decent pic, some others are rather explicit.  Google hernia truss to see what I mean.

   

Is that some sort of cricket protection, or are you involved in a bit of S&M JJB.

OMG!! That is a super clean GH!! If you are laying the stem down ( isn't that what they do in big tomato green houses)) I've read something like that somewhere?
Anyway, if those stems are lying on the ground why don't you cover them with earth. They should form roots - would enable the plant to take in more water/feed.

Thank you scarlet.

I think I saw NT doIng it in one of their Devon properties a good few years ago except they tied the horizontals to a cane and kept them in pots rather than the ground. I haven’t buried the horizontals as I don’t want to water the beds only the pots. I find it easier to measure volume this way so I don’t overwater, plus I don’t want to create too much humidity through evaporation inside the greenhouse.

My greenhouse regime might border on the mad to be fair, they get annual scrubs with a caravan hose and brush set, every 3 to 4 years I strip all the glass out so I can clean the joints replace any worn or rusty clips, steam clean the frame, then I get the spirit level out so I can pack any settlement.
I change the soil in my greenhouse beds annually, that greenhouse had a little over a metric tonne of mixed compost and manure this year. The spoil, top dresses my veg beds and borders, so nothing goes to waste. I also had to lift and relay the slabs in June as ants had moved in by the door. I’ll need to concrete the internal border in over the winter, because I stand on it to tie in the corner canes, and a couple of blocks have moved a little.

OH said I’m mad as I’ll happily clean the greenhouse glass but she has to get somebody in to do the house!! It makes perfect sense to me, the house doesn’t feed me, it keeps me warm.

I'm very much in agreement with your wife

I don't take the glass out - the sheets are too big and heavy. But I clean everything thoroughly every year. I would love to be able to give my self some proper flooring. I'm just rubbish at DIY - well it's carrying heavy stuff - I couldn't pick a slab up I would pay for it later with a bad back.

But I only weed a couple of times in there I try to keep weed and moisture down by topping the soil with newspapers

I agree with your Missus too, Mikey.

My GHs are on concrete/slabs and the only soil in there is whatever comes in each year to fill the tomato pots. At the end of the year, the pots are emptied onto the "beds" which are just frames sitting on the slabs. Over the years the soil builds up and I grow salads, beans and short rooted veg in it. there's something growing in them all year round. The beds in GH No 2 have been building up for 20+ years without any real problems. Works for me.

So are you all saying I'm mad or I should clean the windows?!?

I never quite understand the obsession with clean house windows when there are voiles and net curtains that hide all the glass so you can't see out anyway. I'm happy on Mars, you can keep Venus.

Have you thought about laying bricks on edge as a floor in the greenhouse Scarlet?

So are you all saying I'm mad or I should clean the windows?!?

I can't believe you need to ask!! Forget cleaning the windows, you're clean round the bend.

Well, I've never been so insulted in all my life.....

Probably more accurate, I've never been so insulted in all of today.

Anyway, getting back to the topic, You can double the height of a good tomato plant by letting the first armpit sprout under the first truss grow. Obviously though it needs a bit more room. I've got a gardeners delight growing that has just reached the top with both vines and has about 15 trusses on it. The largest has got about 125 tomatoes developing and about 100 more flowers that possibly could.

So far, I've only had 800g off it but I'm hoping for over 7kg. It started a bit late as it is one i grafted (don't think that would affect its vigour except to enable it to grow in diseased soil) and that sets them back a couple of weeks. Next year, I'll have to start them off a couple of weeks earlier which would mean sowing about 1st March. I think I'll be saving some seeds off it this year.