fishboy

So I topped at the 4th node of my roma tomato plant. Were should I expect to see new growth, and how do I tell the diff. between new growth and those "suckers"? Plant looks great btw. The wick system I'm experimenting with seems to do well. Had some lower leaves with pale dry spots that seemed to be killing them. A friend said it was blight? Well, I cut those off and haven't seen any more. Haven't done any research yet.

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FB
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"Well it seems that some friends sort of die or just turn into whatever must've been inside them. But whatever all of us had then in common, grew up." -Ben Folds

Quest4high

Tomato plants come in two basic types. One type will set flowers and fruit and be done....this type is called "determinate." Typically these are more of a bush and the fruit mature at about the same time. The second is called "indeterminate" and is basically a vine. As a general rule....you do not top an indeterminate plant. It will grow, flower and set fruit until it runs out of room or is killed by frost or whatever. An inderminate type can produce fruit all season...you will have fruits in all stages of development and there is always a ripe one ready nearly every day .I had some that were in a greenhouse that I had to cut down in December. They had ripe tomatoes on them and were well over 15 feet tall.

I think the Roma varieties ....the oblong fruits used for paste and etc, are primarily determinate but I am sure there are some roma cultivars that are vining or indeterminate. Which is yours?

The bush type? Your topping will slow it down but should not affect them much otherwise as all of the fruit will be ready at once and she is done.

The vine type? Your topping will greatly slow it down. Fruits will be smaller and limited to a much smaller number. It's hard for these to catch up but they can do it.

Generally, I will remove the lowest leaf sets so that nothing touches the ground or whatever they are set into. Otherwise....I only remove dead or damaged parts. Some folks remove secondary growth called suckers but from experience....it does not make a difference overall.

Quest

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"Back in the day it was called sexual harrassment, now I call it an assault with a dead weapon" _Quest4High

The Grow Guide

Agent 86, a great bubbler bucket thread!
Buckethead thread...tooo funny.

fishboy

Thanks Quest. I believe mine is the vine type. I've been pulling the suckers off. So I'm not really sure where new growth should start. I guess I need to let one of the suckers grow out a new branch. I've really just been experimenting with this plant. It is not my goal to get a lot of tomatoes. Just like watching it grow.

__________________
FB
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"Well it seems that some friends sort of die or just turn into whatever must've been inside them. But whatever all of us had then in common, grew up." -Ben Folds

j-cdale

Haven't grown tomatoes in a while, but if I remember right suckers are the things that look like little asparagus tips. I was always told to remove them to refocus the plant's energy into growing fat tomatoes.