I am growing plum tomato's for the first time this year and I am not
sure if they should be grown as cordon or bush plants. Can anyone
advise. the plants are being grown in a greenhouse in North West
England.

I am currently developing a gardening website
(http://plantsman.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk and would appreciate
comments/advice on content,improvement etc. if anyone is interested.

Spenny

"spenny" wrote
I am growing plum tomato's for the first time this year and I am not
sure if they should be grown as cordon or bush plants. Can anyone
advise. the plants are being grown in a greenhouse in North West
England.

Sorry to confuse the issue but we have grown "Roma Improved" which is
determinate ie. a bush variety and have also grown "Vicki" which is a mini
plum but indeterminate ie. you grow it as a cordon.
The Roma could not be made to grow as a cordon at all, and I tried, so I
would expect it to be obvious in due course what the plants want to be.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

"spenny" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am growing plum tomato's for the first time this year and I am not
sure if they should be grown as cordon or bush plants. Can anyone
advise. the plants are being grown in a greenhouse in North West
England.

I am currently developing a gardening website
(http://plantsman.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk and would appreciate
comments/advice on content,improvement etc. if anyone is interested.

Spenny

I always grow some Roma plum tomatos and I'm in NW England too, they are the
best for bottling. How to grow them, I've found the baest way is to let the
first two side shoots grow, otherwise cordon, that is cordon all three
stems. You can tie them to one cane.

In article , Bob Hobden
writes

Sorry to confuse the issue but we have grown "Roma Improved" which is
determinate ie. a bush variety and have also grown "Vicki" which is a mini
plum but indeterminate ie. you grow it as a cordon.
The Roma could not be made to grow as a cordon at all, and I tried, so I
would expect it to be obvious in due course what the plants want to be.

Bob, could you clarify the difference between determinate and
indeterminate tomatoes please? It is something I have frequently seen
referred to in this group, but have never been quite sure what it is.
TIA
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
In article , Bob Hobden
writes

Sorry to confuse the issue but we have grown "Roma Improved" which is
determinate ie. a bush variety and have also grown "Vicki" which is a mini
plum but indeterminate ie. you grow it as a cordon.
The Roma could not be made to grow as a cordon at all, and I tried, so I
would expect it to be obvious in due course what the plants want to be.

Bob, could you clarify the difference between determinate and
indeterminate tomatoes please? It is something I have frequently seen
referred to in this group, but have never been quite sure what it is.
TIA
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Linc

If you go to www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/veggies and go to tomatoes
believe that might help....H

"Alan Gould" wrote after Bob
writes

Sorry to confuse the issue but we have grown "Roma Improved" which is
determinate ie. a bush variety and have also grown "Vicki" which is a mini
plum but indeterminate ie. you grow it as a cordon.
The Roma could not be made to grow as a cordon at all, and I tried, so I
would expect it to be obvious in due course what the plants want to be.

Bob, could you clarify the difference between determinate and
indeterminate tomatoes please? It is something I have frequently seen
referred to in this group, but have never been quite sure what it is.

Determinate (Bush) means the plant height is genetically governed, it will
always insist on bushing out and will eventually grow a flowering spur at
the end of it's main stem, what there is of one, so stopping it's upward
growth.
As I said, "Roma" is a classic example of this type. (nice tomato too but
seems very prone to Blight)

Indeterminate (Cordon) means it will just keep elongating it's main trunk,
there are only ever lateral flowering spurs so no natural end to it's upward
growth.
Most tomatoes are this type perhaps because they are easier to grow/ripen.
The Bush type do tend to hide their fruit amongst the leaves and are short
so the fruit is closer to the ground.

If, like most people, you have only ever grown Indeterminate then try some
"Roma" and you will see the difference in growth type, it's very obvious
almost from the start and no matter how you try they will not grow as
cordons.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

Alan wrote after...
Bob replied
Determinate (Bush) means the plant height is genetically governed, it will
always insist on bushing out and will eventually grow a flowering spur at
the end of it's main stem, what there is of one, so stopping it's upward
growth.
As I said, "Roma" is a classic example of this type. (nice tomato too but
seems very prone to Blight)

Indeterminate (Cordon) means it will just keep elongating it's main trunk,
there are only ever lateral flowering spurs so no natural end to it's
upward
growth.
Most tomatoes are this type perhaps because they are easier to grow/ripen.
The Bush type do tend to hide their fruit amongst the leaves and are short
so the fruit is closer to the ground.

If, like most people, you have only ever grown Indeterminate then try some
"Roma" and you will see the difference in growth type, it's very obvious
almost from the start and no matter how you try they will not grow as
cordons.

Thanks for that Bob. Yes, from what you describe I suppose we have only
grown Indeterminate. We tend to keep to the reliable old favourites now.
This season we are growing Harbinger and Ailsa Craig in the greenhouse,
as cordons of course. They already have small toms on their lower
trusses and they look set for a bumper crop. Outside we have some
Gardener's Delight which we usually grow as bush, but I am trying them
as cordon this time to see how they perform. They have done very well as
cordons inside, but outside a lot depends on what sort of summer we get.


I suspect that after a few years growing things we all tend to stick with
the varieties we know and have success with, although we have changed our
favourite Toms over the years.
We only grow Toms outside on the allotments, although I have planted out a
neighbours greenhouse for them with the same varieties, so this year we have
Ferline (French, blight resistant); Panovvy; and Alicante ('cause it came
free with the Kitchen Garden).
Not growing Brigade (excellent for cooking, sauces, etc) this year because I
couldn't find any seed which is a real shame, and we decided Roma is just to
susceptible to blight to bother with.


--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

On Mon, 6 Jun 2005 15:40:20 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

Ferline (French, blight resistant)

Bob....
I'll be interested to know how Ferline does, both fruit-wise and
blight-wise. I've had it recommended as blight resistant.
Where did you get the seed?

Pam in Bristol

"Pam Moore" wrote ...
after "Bob wrote:

Ferline (French, blight resistant)

Bob....
I'll be interested to know how Ferline does, both fruit-wise and
blight-wise. I've had it recommended as blight resistant.
Where did you get the seed?

Grew them last year too, nice big but normal shaped fruit, we liked them, OK
for salads, but we tend to use most of our Toms for cooking, sauces etc and
they were OK for that too. I left them in until the frosts destroyed them
and as far as I could see they didn't get blight despite the Roma in the
same row catching it early.
If you are growing Toms outside they are worth a try.
Got our's from T & M I think.
http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/list/tomatoes

I understand there are other French Toms that are blight resistant, anyone
know them and where they can be obtained?

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London