Thanks everyone....I'm going to give it a trim now and post the pic again to see if I've done it right
I don't know if it's me getting muddled but I though determinate were the bush type and inter-determinate this type....I think I'll just call them bush and straight it's easier
By the way, I'm not 100% sure they are Alicante, I just know they aren't. Moneymaker and are definitely the tall straight type, it's just Alicante is sticking in my mind for some reason!!
Looking at that, I think I can see tiny side-shoots just appearing: if you look at the back edge of the pot and then just above it, you can see that there's a big leaf going our to the right, and then between it and the main stem, a tiny sprouting shoot, and the same at the next joint up. These are (unless the camera deceives me) new sideshoots and should be pinched out. That is where you find the side shoots, at a leaf joint between the leaf and the stem. They come back sometimes and you have to keep doing it.
Having said that ... my daughter has an allotment and grows Gardener's Delight, which is an upright and should have the sideshoots removed. She was too busy/careless to bother (and went on hol in August), and she still had a terrific crop of tomatoes. The old boys on the allotment were critical at first, and then quite envious of her success, as she had far more tomatoes than anyone else! So it's not that crucial.
Miracle Gro is a "balanced" fertiliser and won't do any harm - it will have fed the roots, leaves and shoots. At the worst it might leave the plants low in magnesium, which would discolour the leaves, and it may have made them a bit leggy. But they'll be fine, I'm sure. Eventually you should get yourself some tomato feed, which will have the right balance of nutrients (high in potassium to help fruiting, and probably with magnesium too), and start administering that when the first tiny fruits start to form.
OL oops. Never mind you can plant it deeply when it goes into final pot. Leave it alone for now and when it starts to look like it did before follow what Potters showed you.
I'm reporting you to the Cruelty to Tomatoes society.
Okay OL - don't panic, but my advice would be to plant out and bury some of that stem so that some of the hairs can become extra roots. This will help the plant to re-group. Don't feed until the first truss has set. I have used Miracle Gro this year because I have found a cheap supply of it. The fertilizer is slow release anyway, so it won't overload your plant - only reason for not fertilizing too early is so that the plant concentrates on reproduction. Are you planting into the greenhouse soil or into a bigger pot? If using a grow bag you might want to consider a bit of ring culture so you can get it in a bit deeper.
OL. - only two of my tomato plants have any flowers on them (and they're both called Dave) - the others (a mix of Dave and Roma) aren't even showing signs of even thinking about flowering yet.
OL- if you imagine that the branching stems which carry the flowers/fruits are at roughly 90 degrees to the main stem, and the sideshoots come off at approximately 45 degrees to the main stem, in between the other two. As others have said, when you pot on to the next size, just plant deeply to get that bare stem covered a bit more.
And don't worry
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
Thanks everyone....I'm going to give it a trim now and post the pic again to see if I've done it right
I don't know if it's me getting muddled but I though determinate were the bush type and inter-determinate this type....I think I'll just call them bush and straight it's easier
By the way, I'm not 100% sure they are Alicante, I just know they aren't. Moneymaker and are definitely the tall straight type, it's just Alicante is sticking in my mind for some reason!!
Oops, i didn't see your picture post until after I'd chopped Potters, but this is what I've done....it looks very bare
Ps ignore the label, the pot was recycled and I couldn't get the label off!
Looking at that, I think I can see tiny side-shoots just appearing: if you look at the back edge of the pot and then just above it, you can see that there's a big leaf going our to the right, and then between it and the main stem, a tiny sprouting shoot, and the same at the next joint up. These are (unless the camera deceives me) new sideshoots and should be pinched out. That is where you find the side shoots, at a leaf joint between the leaf and the stem. They come back sometimes and you have to keep doing it.
Having said that ... my daughter has an allotment and grows Gardener's Delight, which is an upright and should have the sideshoots removed. She was too busy/careless to bother (and went on hol in August), and she still had a terrific crop of tomatoes. The old boys on the allotment were critical at first, and then quite envious of her success, as she had far more tomatoes than anyone else! So it's not that crucial.
Miracle Gro is a "balanced" fertiliser and won't do any harm - it will have fed the roots, leaves and shoots. At the worst it might leave the plants low in magnesium, which would discolour the leaves, and it may have made them a bit leggy. But they'll be fine, I'm sure. Eventually you should get yourself some tomato feed, which will have the right balance of nutrients (high in potassium to help fruiting, and probably with magnesium too), and start administering that when the first tiny fruits start to form.
OL oops. Never mind you can plant it deeply when it goes into final pot. Leave it alone for now and when it starts to look like it did before follow what Potters showed you.
I'm reporting you to the Cruelty to Tomatoes society.
I have a friend who describes the pinching out of sideshoots as " shaving their armpits" Which describes it nicely.
It'll be fine OL.
And you're right, the long tall ones are indeterminate, my mistake! Which is why we call them the tall ones and the bush ones too!
Okay OL - don't panic, but my advice would be to plant out and bury some of that stem so that some of the hairs can become extra roots. This will help the plant to re-group. Don't feed until the first truss has set. I have used Miracle Gro this year because I have found a cheap supply of it. The fertilizer is slow release anyway, so it won't overload your plant - only reason for not fertilizing too early is so that the plant concentrates on reproduction. Are you planting into the greenhouse soil or into a bigger pot? If using a grow bag you might want to consider a bit of ring culture so you can get it in a bit deeper.
OL. - only two of my tomato plants have any flowers on them (and they're both called Dave) - the others (a mix of Dave and Roma) aren't even showing signs of even thinking about flowering yet.
I grow Roma, you dont pick out side shoots of those, they were fantastic last year, I still have some in the freezer.
OL- if you imagine that the branching stems which carry the flowers/fruits are at roughly 90 degrees to the main stem, and the sideshoots come off at approximately 45 degrees to the main stem, in between the other two. As others have said, when you pot on to the next size, just plant deeply to get that bare stem covered a bit more.
And don't worry
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...