Train your cordon tomatoes to encourage lots of fruit on a big, vigorous plant. Tomatoes either grow on a bush, in which case it doesn’t need training or a vine. Those grown as a single-stemmed vine are known as ‘cordon’ tomatoes and are trained to increase production and stop side shoots growing into an untidy plant.
Train Tomatoes
When you pick up your ready-grown tomato plants from the garden centre here in Co. Limerick make sure you collect some sturdy bamboo canes too to sink into the ground alongside each tomato plant. Tie the plant loosely to the support with soft jute twine.
Shoots repeatedly emerge in the join between the main stem and the leaves as the plant grows. These will just produce lots of leafy growth and smaller fruits, so it’s better to pinch them out for a heavier crop of better-quality fruits. Just snap them out between forefinger and thumb once they are about 10cm long.
Keep your plants well-watered and feed with liquid tomato feed once flowers appear. When the plant hits the greenhouse roof (or about 2m tall if you’re growing outside) ‘stop’ upward growth by removing the growing tip. You should be picking your first ripe toms from mid-July.
