My Thoughts

This week we have continued to have some beautiful weather. The weekend was an absolute scorcher, getting into the mid 20's on both Saturday and Sunday. The tomato plants have enjoyed the sun and have grown considerably. Of course the tomato plants are still susceptible to the cold, if the warm weather is replaced by a cold snap the tomato plants could still die.

I have noticed that the tomato plants are already developing internodes or suckers. Last year I removed the first sets of internodes from the base of my tomato plants. The reason behind this was because I felt that if left, the trusses of tomato which would have grown, would be too close to the damp soil and could start to rot. Any tomato grower knows that tomato plants are prone to different kinds of fungal threats, so to ensure the base had room to breath and did not become damp / humid (the kind of environment which bacteria just loves) I pinched out the first few internodes.

I am not sure if this technique is recommended by other growers, I have certainly not come across any mention of it in books or websites, so it may be me just being over cautious, but it certainly worked and the trusses which did set further up the tomato plant were full of fruit and did not hang too close to the soil.

This year I may experiment with one plant and leave the internodes in place and see what happens. It will mean I will get fruit from that plant earlier, but will the lower branches be more susceptible to rot? Only time will tell.

I have heard it is possible to replant your internodes, I did not try this last year, but apparently if you leave the internodes to grow to about 3-4 inches before pinching them out and plant the internode in another grow bag it is possible to get tomatoes from the internode. I may try planting an internode this year to see whether any fruit is produced.

Of course one way to ensure your lower trusses of tomatoes do not hang down near the soil is to support them by loosely tying the branches to a cane or trellis. I have heard of people creating cages around the plants, made out of chicken wire or similar material, so they can train the branches out through the cages. Once the fruit sets, the cage helps support the branch and prevents it drooping on to the ground. Since I am growing my tomato plants in a grow bag and space is limited between each tomato plant, fashioning some kind of cage was not possible.

Well that is enough this week, let's hope the good weather continues.