Tomato Disaster!

[Rox]

I am absolutely devasted. I have just come back from the greenhouse at my husband's work which we've had on loan for this summer to grow our tomatoes, chilis and cucumbers. I'm been going everyday to look after the plants during my lunch hour and things were going very well. For some unknown reason, the gardener who normally looks after the flowers at this place and knows nothing about veg at all, decided to intervene and show my husband a 'tip'. He proceeded to remove ALL the sideshoots off my entire crop of determinate toms - my red alerts and plum Italias!! He didn't even bother to wait and ask me what sort of tomatoes these were before skinning the plants! Needless to say, by the time I arrived all that was left were some severely dehydrated beautiful branches, the majority of which already had flower trusses just visible.  :-[ :-[ I am trying to rejuvenate a few of these stems now, hopefully to produce more determinates, but they're really in bad shape. My question is, is there any chance the bush tomatoes might produce a few more side branches or any hope of them 'bushing out' or am I really destined to have only a truss or two of tomatoes which he didn't pinch out? Many thanks for any and all advice/thoughts.

[Rox]

[kitty]

dont know what you can do about the toms.


but i do have a rather useful kalashnikov you can borrow.......

[amphibian]

It just depends how old and tall they were and how many sideshoots we are talking.

[ruud]

You can make new plants of the removed sideshoots,just reduce them in lenght.Cut them down to ten centimeter in lenght,put those cuttings into the soil keep the soil moist and warm and they quickly produce new roots

[saddad]

I think the Kalishnakov is the only real answer!
>:(

[cleo]

That`s naughty,but not the end of the world-the main plants will bush out again,and as stated stems/side shoots can be potted on. Annoying though :-\

[Merry Tiller]

They will re-shoot eventually, just hope it won't be too late though

[Garden Manager]

You could try taking cuttings from the shoot tips of the plants - probably a better option than trying to revive the removed sideshoots. You will only get one cutting per plant but one from each plant will replace the 'vandalised' ones in time. Just pop the cuttings into a pot of good compost an keep moist and protected and they will soon root. Then grow on as normal.

Cant give you an answer as to what to do about the 'vandal' I am afraid  ;D

Hope this helps

[Paulines7]

That's very sad Rox.  I hope you said pointed out the error of his ways or else when you are not there he may do it again. 

He was probably only trying to be helpful and a bit of tact may be needed here but ......... he has to be stopped before he does any further damage.   ::)

I hope the help the others have given you on this thread will enable you to get them going again.   ;D

[Rox]

thanks everyone for the replies!  :)

one final question: is it better to keep the stem & shoot cuttings in the greenhouse (in a very warm, but shady place under a shelf) to help them root faster? Or should I just keep them where the cuttings currently are - inside my flat. I'm assuming high light intensity would only stress the plants at this time, and should be avoided until they root? But warmth (the more the better) will help them root faster - is this correct?

[Garden Manager]

I would reccomend keeping the cuttings in a warm place but out of direct sunlight. The light they do have must still be good though. What you must remember is that cuttings loose water and wilt very easily, hot sun sped this process up so what ever you can do to conserve moisture until rooting the better. That said tomatoes root very easilt from cuttings so it wont be long before they do root.

the ideal pllace is inside a plastic topped propagator, but failing that pop a plastic bag over the cuttings but dont let the bag touch the cuttings or they may rot.

Hope this helps

[dingerbell]

I would recommend locking him in a darkened room with a tape of Val Doonican on continual loop. Maybe a few hours of that will help him see the light. ;) :D Failing that...the Kalashnikov sounds about right.

[kitty]

mmm.....i thought the kalashnikov was  suitable retribution....think you're going  a bit far with the val doonican tape dinger{{{shudder}}}

;Dkitty ;D

[Ricado]

sorry to hear the bad news !  Id say feed the plants nitrogen and plenty of water, and youll find the plants will tiller out and eventually you should replace what you have lost.  Id feed twice weekly with a strong nitrogen feed such as miracle grow.  And really flood the plants with over a litre of water every day, better half this twice if you can.

good luck

ric  :)