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d'you know-i have had this experiance with roma toms 4 years on the trot-they never get many toms on them-i am swamped with other toms(thankfully)but i never seem to get many -the trusses are very small....what am i doing wrong....

its bound to be me!
kittyromaless ???

Kitty, I grew them last year for the first time and got a fabulous crop. I just put them into the soil about now - the plants were grown from Mr.Fothergills seed and were about 9-12" tall when I put them in. The stems were buried up to the first 2 leaves. There was a 3ft cane for each plant. They are a bush tomato, so no pinching anything out, I just left them to it. I did water for the first couple of weeks, but after that, didn't water, didn't feed. They have a very lax habit, sprawling everywhere, and the stems carrying fruit were heavy so I didn't try to support the stems by tying them (I was afraid they'd break) I just either let them trail onto the soil, or in a few cases put old bricks or whatever there was laying about to try to lift them away from slugs. In any event. the slugs didn't attack the fruits much as the skins are a lot tougher than salad tomatoes. When slugs did attack a fruit, they sort of hollowed it out, leaving just the skin.
I hope this helps, and wish you luck.

Modified to add - grown outside.

well....i do that too-tho i try to make them stay on the canes!
control freak see?lol!
fingers crossed for this year-the only thing i can think is that we are on fairly clayey soil and our garden lotties fairly shady for half the day-
thanks for your help jennym!
kitty

thank goodness I just read this thread with jenny's advice!
just sown Roma toms for the first time, so will get them into the garden in about a month.
and I would have done all the tying and pinching as I didn't realise they are bush toms, what joy to let them scramble - they can go thru the black plastic, yay!

not quite on topic but for plum toms,while Roma are not bad,I prefer Principe Borghese outside and with shelter(never tried outside) Red Debarao is stunning.

It`s all so personal.

oh no, have been pinching out side shoots !!!! aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh ... couldn't get any dratted tomatoes to germinate and then I destroy the blummin expensive garden centre ones !!!!! 

:'(

at least I've been saving the side shoots and putting them into compost (although they are about the size of 10 gnats standing on each others shoulders)

Boo !!

I am growing roma (outside) for the first time, with san marzano, so will be watching very closely ...

Im also growing them but in large containers, well I have a friend whos mum works for a local baker and she has kindly saved me jam buckets which would have otherwise have been disposed of, they are great much wider and deeper than ordinary tomato buckets. So if anyone has any similar contacts its worth asking.

The plants are doing really well have a few left over so may put some in the ground at my plot. In fact I am overrun with tomatoes and courgettes this year... typical all the seeds planted have taken if I had been a little less enthusiatic at sowing stage probably none would have taken..ha ha.

i'm growing roma inside and out, all loking really good so far. inside ones have quite a few stems, however, i'm now pinching out side shoots to allow for air circulation and room, i think i have enough trusses to be going on with with them. ooutside ones are a bit slower going so will stop the side shoots shortly. first time for roma for me and am pleased so far  :)