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Extend-o-matic tomato

Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
in Fruit & veg


The bottom of nearly every Sungold cherry tomato tress is forming into a new branch/sucker.  I've never had them do this before.. I've grown them for four or five years, on rotation around my raised beds.  This batch was from seed, from a reputable mail order company.  None of my other varieties of indeterminate are doing this, planted right next to them.. so I want to rule out environmental conditions.  
Have your tomatoes ever done this?
Utah, USA.
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Yes my Sungolds have sometimes done this. If it was early in the season I left them to fruit and they have, albeit smaller fruit. Otherwise I’ve just snipped them off.  I grow mine outside, sometimes in the ground and sometimes in pots and it’s happened to both so I don’t think it’s anything to do with growing conditions ... just something Sungold does.  I’ve a memory of some Russian Oxheart tomatoes doing the same thing in the past. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    Thanks @Dovefromabove .. glad to know it's not out of the ordinary.. I'll just snip them off then.  It feels like they might neglect the tomatoes to focus on these extensions.  
    Utah, USA.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I've got 2 Rosella - they're both doing it.
    I'm also growing Rose de Berne and some of the leaves have got plantlets growing from the centre of some of the leaves! - not seen that one before

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    I have grown Gardeners Delight tomatoes for many years and they have started growing  extended shoots in the ends of fruiting spurs. No idea why, they never used to in days gone by. I just remove them.
  • The-Greenfingered-JoinerThe-Greenfingered-Joiner Posts: 14
    Joyce Goldenlily said:
    I have grown Gardeners Delight tomatoes for many years and they have started growing  extended shoots in the ends of fruiting spurs. No idea why, they never used to in days gone by. I just remove them.
    I’m growing moneymaker and exactly the same is happening on a few trusses, shoots at end of fruiting truss. Glad I seen your post Joyce as I snipped them off too. 
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Never had much success with tomatoes in the Belgian garden either in the greenhouse or outside but here they do very well.   Big learning curve for OH and me.

    This year I have planted far fewer and we are being careful to try and restrict them to 5 trusses so we get fewer but better tomatoes.  I bought 2 Sungold plants from a GC in April because my usual source of heritage tomato plants was cancelled because of  Covid.

    They are the first to have fruited but now need almost a daily check for new shoots sneaking off in all directions and overwhelming the neighbours.   Only had that problem with Yellow Pear in the past.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,718
    I grow Super Mama F1 and i have two plants that have that have gone off in all directions this year. All of them are growing new shoots from the ground which I keep removing.I stop their growth at three trusses as they are huge tomatoes.
  • cornellycornelly Posts: 970
    Could be over feeding its happened to me in the past, when I was feeding more than once a week, on tomatoes grown in the glasshouse.
  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    @cornelly. Good suggestion.. that would be a reasonable explanation.. I've not fed my tomatoes with anything aside from organic fish, blood, and bone meal about four or five weeks before planting.. BUT I did trench compost kitchen scraps next to the planting area about two weeks prior.  I don't think that has much nutrients in it though.. more a 'feed the soil' type thing.

    Interesting it is happening to others for the first time (on the other side of the world from me).. I'll blame chemtrails*.. they are my usual excuse for most garden issues.

    *😉
    Utah, USA.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    It happens on my plants every year to a lesser or greater extent.
    It seems to start soon after I pinch the top off.
    I guess the plant is still desperate to grow.
    We've already taken out all the side shoots, so it comes up with other ways to continue growing

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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