So I never really took gardening seriously before. This year I'm all in because I haven't grown anything in a while. The results are pretty good so far.
Ok so question is should I just pile more dirt or mulch under this? Or should I try to pull the string tighter to lift it up? Don't want to break anything.
This is another Kellogg's breakfast I have going. My first time growing em and they are all going insane.
by Rustyjay13
33 Comments
I’d probably snip the two smaller ones off to relieve some of the weight, plus snip the stem at the end to keep those little ones from pulling energy of the rest. Looks like you’ve got it supported which is about all you can do. Worst case scenario, the one that’s one the ground rots a little. I think you’ll be OK by the time that happens to let the rest ripen on the shelf.
Use a forked stick as a prop.
Maybe put something under them to support them. Something that does not allow water to pool
I probably have too much junk in my garden, but I must have a million things I could put under those tomatoes to prop them off the ground. Overturned cheap metal baskets or empty flowerpots come immediately to mind.
I wouldn’t pile dirt -that’s asking for rot and critters.
You could adjust the string, but that sounds fiddly.
I would grab some more clips and gently, and slowly, try to secure them to pull a few more tomatoes just an inch or two higher off the ground. This is also a good example of why some fruit pruning may be needed, in some cases… As the weight of all that could snap the whole branch of fruit.
Personally, I only fruit prune in situations like this, and even then I would go ahead and pick the two greenest tomatoes of the bottom three and make fried green tomatoes with them. Leave them and risk it if you don’t like fried green tomatoes though. It’ll lighten the load on the fruit truss though if you pick them, and that bottom middle tomato looks like it’s almost ready to start ripening anyway. Good luck! 🙂
Show off 😝
You could try to lift the lower parts of the truss as well. If it was me I would try to find a piece of styrofoam or similar and just rest the tomatoes on that instead of the ground.
Damn, wish I could respond to all at once. But sometimes the answer is obvious. I didn’t think about a prop from underneath. I will also consider clipping some smaller ones off.
Literally put anything clean under them. Clean brick, wood, pot. Anything
Put a piece of plywood under them 🙂
Several y-shaped sticks staked into the ground, custom snipped
I would probably prop it in several places from the base to the end. You can get creative with teepee placed stakes, even tie them up to taller stakes as additional support.
Rain or shine, I’d be out there holding them up 😍
Omg. This is how many tomatoes I have growing on my entire Beefsteak plant!
I would add another L&L pulley and string and 2 more clips. And maybe a cushion. Gotta protect those babies!!
I like the forked stick idea that one commenter suggested, never would have thought of that. Id just pull off the lowest hanging one and fry it lol
Y’all are making it too hard! Pull a couple and fry them suckers. Are those Cherokees? Im growing them too. Monster bush, need lots of room. Great flavor though.
I want to have that problem
Looks great! I am going to have to try some of those! What zone are you in?
Cut out a square of landscaping fabric to place underneath of them and tie the branch back to the stem for support. Looks awesome, what variety?
In addition to keeping them propped up, you can also pick one or two and ripen in a paper bag with a banana in it.
This makes me excited for my own Kellogg’s Breakfast plants. I can’t tell for sure from the photo, but I am curious if yours has potato leaf or regular leaf. I grew five from seed and some are regular and some are potato. I dropped a line to TomatoFest, where I bought the seeds, and Gary told me they get both! I wonder if this is a hybridization remnant of some kind.
PS congrats on the beautiful fruit!
You could just put a board under them—one of our clients uses wooden shingles.
Gardener’s Supply sells plastic melon baskets that we use to boost melons and squash off the ground, so pill bugs don’t munch holes in them. They work great for these drooping bottom tomato trusses.
What about a nice fluffy pillow of clean pinestraw? Great grandma grew bush tomatoes and never staked or tied a one of them. She just let them sprawl out on a bed of pinestraw.
Support them
Get some of those melon cradles and plop it under the bunch of there is nothing overhead to tie to.
Yes. You put something underneath them to hold them up.
how about removing a few and tightening string .
I’ve had the best luck using a upside down plastic plant pot under fruit like that. Cardboard, wood, bricks are all attractive to slugs and bugs. I think they like the moisture. So I just use the plastic plant pots that nursery plants come in. Water doesn’t pool. Haven’t collected any critters with them. It works. I failed to do that with a huge bunch of Kosovo tomatoes last year. They got too heavy and ripped the branch right off the plant. They weren’t all even full size yet.
You should have tied the trunk to a pole as it grew.
You could use those little plastic army men to block them from contacting the ground. They will also act as a scarecrow to any suspicious looking hornworms in the area.
Mine have been fine in the past with just a stick underneath to keep them of the ground but I would have to keep putting it back on, I assume the wind knocks it off. I bought some breathable bags, marketed for holding up fruit and protecting it from animals. I’m going to try those and tie it to the trellis.
BuT tHoSe WoOd ChIpS aRe StEaLiNg YoUr NiTrOgEn!!!!
I’d cut off the 2 or 3 smallest tomatoes, the other will get bigger, and your cluster won’t be as likely to break off where it attaches to the main stem.