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Has anyone tried this with tomatoes?

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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    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.





  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    That’s what he was said  in the small bit I quoted. 
    There’s a larger article but it’s a lot of reading,  didn’t think people would want to read the whole lot. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    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
  • MikeOxgreenMikeOxgreen Posts: 812
    I can't imagine a situation where growing a plant at an angle allows twice as much to be grown?
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    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.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Reading this article shows that in much commercial growing, plants are lowered and then they are strung up again at an angle … looks very complicated but it must have its advantages 
    https://www.greenhousegrower.com/production/your-guide-to-high-wire-tomato-growing/



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





  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    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
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Agreed @JennyJ 😊 … however it would seem to prove that tomatoes don’t have to be upright. 😊 

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





  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    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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