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Has anyone tried this with tomatoes?

adamadamantadamadamant Posts: 278
in The potting shed
Can anyone tell me if you can grow tomato plants this way?  Winding them up a string as normal, the string being tied to an overhead horizontal support, but instead of having the tomatoes immediately below the support, and the string going straight up vertically, can you can slightly angle the string rather in the way you would angle bean poles?  I dont have a massive amount of space, but if I could put the tomatoes out from the main structure, with the lines going up at an angle, I could get probably two rows of tomatoes in, instead of just one.  I don't see how it wouldn't work, but someone might know if I'm walking into a trap!  Thank you! 
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  • StephenSouthwestStephenSouthwest Posts: 635
    Yes absolutely you can.
    I'm experimenting with training a tomato on a horizontal string this year, which is probably an angle too far!
  • adamadamantadamadamant Posts: 278
    My dear departed friend nicknamed Tomato Man used go bury them sideways!  He always had a bumper crop. Thanks for the great reassurance 

  • worriedvillagerworriedvillager Posts: 1
    You can put them up an angled string but the real question is how much space you have between plants. Put them too tight together and the airflow is restricted. Plus light is restricted which means lower yield per plant. 

  • adamadamantadamadamant Posts: 278
    Good point - thanks. Will space them a bit more. 
  • MikeOxgreenMikeOxgreen Posts: 812
    A tomato plant sits on its stem so this doesn't sound like a great idea. Please report back at the end of the seasons trials and let us know how it went.
    The laws of Physics predict 'not very well'.
  • adamadamantadamadamant Posts: 278
    Will let you know. And take some photos too
  • rowlandscastle444rowlandscastle444 Posts: 2,612
    One of my neighbours tried to grow cubic tomatoes. He constructed small plastic cubes, and put them around the fruit as they grew. While I never took any photos, it was a highly successful experiment - but rather odd.

    Has anyone here tried it? I don't grow tomatoes anymore, but I loved the idea. 😀
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should 🙄 

    🤪 

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





  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Dovefromabove said:
    Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should 🙄 

    🤪 
    Too true!
    Square tomatoes.... growing tomatoes horizontally...
    Some people have too much time on their hands 😁

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Nothing wrong with growing the horizontally, I love Bob Flowerdews methods and he get results.
    quote from his article
    ” It is also not necessary to remove all the sideshoots as recommended. I find that if I leave a strong growing sideshoot from the base then I can grow plants with two stems instead of one. This saves on the number of plants to fill a row and gives about as good a yield as two single stemmed plants. Three stems also work but do give less total crop per yard. However the great advantage of twin stems is there are half as many plants to plant and water and there are far fewer sideshoots to remove as often as the twin leaders take up more of the plant's energy.”
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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