Bob F makes a good point … but it’s worth pointing out that he’s only leaving one specific sideshoot … he goes on to talk about the need to remove the others growing from leaf axils. Otherwise the plant becomes very congested with too much foliage … the perfect conditions for blight.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I grow mine as single stem vertical cordons and quite close together, pinching out the side shoots as soon as I see them (which isn't always as soon as it should be), which seems to work. I don't see why diagonal/slanting cordons wouldn't work equally well, but if you try it please let us know how you get on. An experiment is always interesting
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I can't imagine a situation where growing a plant at an angle allows twice as much to be grown?
Nor can I. If it did produce a significantly higher yield then commercial growers would surely use the same technique. As far as I'm aware, they don't.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
That "lowering" technique is similar to what competition sweet pea growers do, isn't it? If I understand rightly it's a way to let the cordon keep getting longer and longer while still being reachable for cutting/cropping. Without a heated glasshouse (or climate with a really long growing season) I don't think it'd be useful for home tomato growers. 6 to 7 feet high or so is about as far as they can get here by September, at which point it's not worth letting them produce any more flowers because there won't be time for the fruit to ripen.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I think I unwittingly tried that approach about 10 years ago in my 6ft x 2ft greenhouse. I didn't pinch the tops out and just let them grow and grow. The stems were at all angles. They were quite a tangle at the top, but I did get a huge yield-
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If it did produce a significantly higher yield then commercial growers would surely use the same technique.
As far as I'm aware, they don't.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
https://www.greenhousegrower.com/production/your-guide-to-high-wire-tomato-growing/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I didn't pinch the tops out and just let them grow and grow. The stems were at all angles.
They were quite a tangle at the top, but I did get a huge yield-
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.