When tomato plants stems get to high, do they have a tendency to lay down?
By Phyllis from Edmonton, Alberta
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It's good to stake up tomato plants when they are younger so when they get bigger they don't do this. You can try staking them up now and if the stems aren't too bent they might recover. Also use a sling or bandage if tomatoes are bending a branch down. Otherwise the branch can break.
You can also leave them to vine on the ground; however they're more vulnerable to bugs and slugs, and so on there. But commercial growers do this for the tomatoes they grow for canning, etc.
When you buy (or grow) plants, there are "determinate" and "indeterminate" varieties. The determinate ones produce tomatoes that all tend to ripen around the same time. You grow these if you need a large amount all at once; such as if you will be canning or freezing. These plants tend to be shorter, and you can often get away with not staking. (These are what commercial growers use.)
The indeterminate varieties tend to produce over a longer period, and the fruit don't all ripen at once. These varieties are good for eating, or other uses where you don't need so many at once, but want them to be available over a longer period of time. These plants tend to continue growing, and are better staked or caged.
You can stake your plant up now. Just try not to break through the main stem. I like strips cut from worn t-shirts, as they're soft, surprisingly strong, and don't seem to "cut into" the stems.
One caution, while I don't have sensitive skin; if I am tending a lot of tomatoes on a hot day, (when my pores are "open"), I can get a good rash from tomato plants. So if you have sensitive skin, you may want to wear long sleeves.
Yes, you want to keep fruit and leaves up off the ground, but tomatoes aren't natural climbers like ivy - if you don't give them help, they'll sprawl all over the place. Either put a tomato cage around each one, and make sure the main stems grow up inside it, or provide a trellis of some kind and tie them loosely, gently, to the support.
I have used old nylons (knee-highs or the legs from panty hose) and strips of worn-out T-shirts. I got ambitious this year and replaced the stretched-out elastic in my pants, and used that for extra-long ties; that lets me wrap around a stem, around the post, up over the horizontal bar, down around another stem, and tie the ends together - and still give them room to move and grow! (Yes, my pants were pretty big in the waist by the time I got around to this! LOL)
Having used up my elastic waistbands, I cut up a plastic grocery bag for short ties for the less...exuberant plants. Strips of that were enough to wind around a tall slender stem, over the bar and around the pole, and back down to tie. Like the elastic, nylons, and fabric strips, this has enough give and soft edges so it won't strangle or cut the growing stem.
By winding it gently around a stem just below a branch, I make sure the stem doesn't just slump and slide right out of the sling. That can be a problem especially if you don't get them tied up right from the start, and then have to lift thick, heavy stems into a new position - they don't like it much and want to go back to where they were.
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