Cherry tomatoes

[curatokid]

Do you have to remove the side shoots on cherry tomatoes ??????

[El Cid]

It depends on the variety.

If they are the small bushy type, then no. Often when they call them "cherry" tomatoes it just means they are small fruit. I have some with huge bunches of small fruit but they grow in the conventional way.

With the "cordon" types, if you do leave a few side shoots it won't do any harm but the plants get a bit untidy. Usually you remove the side shoots as there will be too many trusses for the plant to cope with but here in Spain (as opposed to the UK) the weather will allow bigger crops. I have a couple of plants that have nearly finished and one has at least 50 trusses on it - all very small of course - perfect cherry size!

Sid

[curatokid]

Thanks Cid, mine are Dobies cherry toms, I will let them grow as a bush and see what happens, I have rigged up a support system as they tend to fall all over the ground.

[El Cid]

You'll soon find out what type they are. If they are the cordon type the shoots will go on and on if you don't pinch them out. If they are a true bush variety they usually don't grow past the third truss and rely on side shoots.

Sid

[Martin Page]

As a good rule of thumb for cherry tomatoes - grow them as cordons ... if they go blind at the tip they will produce more than enough side shoots to catch up those that you havent pinched out . More importantly they will be somewhat higher of the ground when they fruit keeping them out of the way of snails and the like

[José5]

Do you have to remove the side shoots on cherry tomatoes ??????

Hola! Well, you don't have to, but it is better to remove the very bottom side ones because all the strength goes to these instead of to the fruit bearing! I have hundreds of lovely little very sweet tomatoes grown from seed! Milegro!! Jose5. Dios de Bendiga.