In a previous post I built a trellis frame for stringing up the cherry tomato plant varieties - Built Trellis and Future Greenhouse Frame for Stringing Up the Cherry Tomato Vines. The tomato plants have grown much larger since and were ready for pruning, staking, and stringing up to the trellis.
Determinate and Indeterminate Growth
Determinate growth tomato plants stop growing taller after reaching a certain height. Indeterminate growth tomato varieties continue to grow from the top of the plant into a long vine - until the end of the season. They do produce branches, but with the trellis and string method the branches are pruned - or suckered. The plant will focus it's energy on producing tomatoes - not branches. The tomato plants will have a stronger root system, can be planted closer together, and will ultimately produce more tomatoes using this method.
Indeterminate Growth Cherry Tomato Varieties
In the pictures below you can see the Sugar Rush, Sakura, Jasper Hybrid, Sweetie and Candyland indeterminate growth cherry tomato varieties planted this year. The Sakura variety is a consistent - all season producer of cherry tomatoes. More than half of the cherry tomato plants in the production garden next year will be Sakura.
Sugar Rush |
Sakura |
Jasper Hybrid |
Sugar Rush, Jasper Hybrid, and Candyland are decent producers and will add excellent color and flavor to the cherry tomato selection. I decided to test out the Sweetie cherry tomato variety after finding a seed pack of them at a local store.
Sweetie |
Candyland |
In the picture below you can see the tomato varieties planted in rows under the trellis.
Removing Sucker Branches
The cherry tomato varieties are planted close together, so I want the cherry tomato plants to grow in one long vine. In the picture below on the left you can see the red 'X' on the branches that need to be removed. The branches grow up and out of where the tomato fan leaves grow out of the main tomato stem. In the picture on the right you can see the tomato plant after the branches were removed.
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Staking and Stringing
- A string is tied to the trellis above
- The string is carefully wrapped -not too tight - once around the base of the tomato plant stem then tied to the stake
String Plant to Stake
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Wrap Plant Up String
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- The tomato plant is gently wrapped around and up the string
- The string going from the plant to the stake, then from the plant to the trellis should not be too loose, but should also not so too tight as to constrict the stem so much that it chokes the plant as it grows larger
Tomato Plant Strung - Click to watch the Video
In the picture below you can see all the larger cherry tomato plants have been pruned, staked, and strung - the other plants will follow as they grow larger. Every week the additional tomato plant growth will be wrapped around and up the string. I'm looking forward to seeing the trellis frame filled with green - and speckled with red.
Fruits of the Labor
In the picture below you can see that the Sakura cherry tomato variety was the first to start producing fruit. Within a couple weeks there will be a continuous flow of cherry tomatoes.
Have a great day!
Really great work on the animations, and labeling of the plants.
And I love how you use logs for structures.
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Thanks - the gif animations I've been using for the video highlights. 2 minutes of video summed in 10 seconds of gifs seems to work well for the blog format :)
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I agree with you, I have done the same to highlight certain clips from my videos!
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I’ll like to here about growing tomatoes next time we talk. Mad respect for your garden! That’s some hard work and dedication.
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Well thats a pretty amazing tutorial. Makes me want to buy a tomato tree.
Looks very neat.
And the gifs really work well with this. Videos can take you out a bit, but a well placed gif really strengthens the text with visual pointers. Nice
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I can’t wait to have some land cleared so we can do this. I have to use cages in the green house.
You way seems to be more practical
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I was thinking of getting cages for the roma tomato plants, but since they ended up being planted under the trellis, I decided to string them up too (didnt remove the roma branches, but I'll send a string to the slouchy ones :)
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Hi jackdub,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
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Thanks @curie - that's awesome news - much appreciated :)
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We always do better with the cherry tomatoes compared to to the bigger varieties. Maybe this year is different. There are a lot of big toms out there starting to look pink.
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Spring was a bit chilly this year. I'll be wrapping the trellis into a greenhouse for this fall - so next spring will be a little warmer for the tomato plants.
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What an ambitious tomato trellis! great to see it come together and to get educated along the way. The pruning and staking is especially well explained and I can use that even though I don't have a trellis to work with :)
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Thanks - anything tall you can attach a string to :)
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Nice trellis for Cherry tomatoes!
Thanks for sharing this.
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Interesting. I have never heard of indeterminate/determinate growth before, mind you i am not green-fingered at all....
So i take it that the determinate grow plants will have bigger tomatoes? Based on the fact that at a certain point the energy will go into the fruit? or am i barking up the wrong tree?
Looks like a good project you have there!
Are you using rain water to water them with too?
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I think most of the cherry tomato varieties grow in a vine - inderminate. The cherry tomatoes are smaller, but more of them grow. Great size for salads - a specialty market - cherry tomatoes can be sold for more money. You would get more tomato volume from growing a larger tomato variety like beefsteak - or even roma - they would be a better choice if the tomatoes were for slicing or making sauce :)
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Great info, thanks man
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Love that you used young trees for your poles. Must only have a few $ in the string cost but is effective as all the more expensive alternatives.
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Every time a clear a few trees I'll save the straight ones. Cedar and Juniper trees, so they are decently water resistant - great lumber for projects around the property :)
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Here we have mostly pine or shrub oak and neither are really great for lasting the high humidity and sun here.
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As always, informative post on growing!
I have a real taste for good cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, pesto and leaves with some mozzarella of course, could eat it all day!
How long has it taken your plants to get to this stage from seed? and im also wandering what your climate is like? im thinking its too late in the year to plant tomatoes here in the UK but perhaps not?
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These tomato plants I started indoors in April, so about 3 months to get to this stage. I like to give the fruiting plants an early start. It might be a little late to start them now, but you might get some tomatoes - especially in a greenhouse to extend the season. I'm near toronto, canada.
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I gotta upvote you. Cuz you're an amazing gardener and fellow SMA head. And you take your time crafting a post. Well done, sir.
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Thanks @movement19 - I'm looking forward to seeing the variety of cherry tomatoes side by side once they're all givin :)
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