The Saturday Swot Shop. Something along the lines of ‘I learn something new everyday but it only occasionally sticks’. Saturday Swot Shop is this week’s thing what stuck !
Everything I read on tomatoes talks about the truss ?
- I’m not surprised, no truss, no tomatoes.
Really ?
- The truss is the branch of yellow flowers. The flowers wither, drop off and leave behind the tiny green tomato that has been developing at the centre of the flower.
So all the branches with leaves on, they’re never going to get flowers on them?
- That’s right, they won’t. Flowers grow on their own branches, separate from the leaves, and the flower branches are called trusses. And it’s the flowers that bear the fruit.
So what does ‘when the truss has set’ mean ?
- It means the flower has dropped off and the plant now has a tiny tomato!
When the tomato forms, that’s called setting.
I now feel all set on Trusses !
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
This is my first attept at growing tomatoes and I have found this information very usefull.
Thankyou
Good luck with your tomatoes – I hope you have a great first year. Glad you found help here !
Hi Sally,
I Have just started growing hygroponic tomatoes. I have observed what looks like abnormal leaf growth on some plants, I can not quite figure out if it is nutrient deficiency or disease or pestt related. If I sent you a photograph would you be able to help?
Hello
I am not an expert on identifying plant disease – however there is a website I have found really helful. It belongs to Cornell University. Here is the link . I hope you find something to clarify what your tomatoes are suffering from.
Hi,
This is my second time trying to grow tomatoes. The first time was a disaster with red cherry tomatoes. But I think I’m doing pretty good now 
Growing plum tomatoes and tiny tim, and I think I just saw a “truss to be” this morning on my plum tomato plants. That’s when I browsed online and found your blog and found some useful info! thanx!
So glad that I found your blog
Hello
I am so glad you’ve found it useful – and thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment ! I hopped over to your blog and had a look – as I knew that no-one who was experiencing the joy of ‘trusses to be’ ! could be in the UK. And looking at your photos – both of the chilli and tomato plants – was like coming out of a dark basement into bright sunlight. I was just blinking at all that tender, green, new growth. The uk has gone grey, soggy and apart from the evergreen plants – mostly leafless now – so it was a real treat to see your pics !
Thank you!! I have felt so dim not knowing what a tomato truss was, but you have helped me immeasurably!!
Hello – I am so glad to have helped and thank you so much for letting me know. Funnily enough I thought you had commented on yesterday’s post as that was on the exact same subject! When I got started on tomatoes (and I’m sure it’s the same for all gardening) I found the books helpful – but on the other hand they assume that you must “know that” and so don’t explain it. And so I found I was often stumped by the basics – which seems the wrong place to get stuck!
Have had a quick look at your blog – your raised beds look beautiful – and I’ll read more and look forward to seeing how it all flourishes!
First time I have tried to grow tomatoes & this information is very helpfull, should all the branches not producing flowers under the Trusses be removed to allow stronger growth.
Hello
Thank you for stopping by and getting in touch – and glad to hear you’re finding the site useful!
You wouldn’t think there was much room for controversy in the area of growing tomatoes – but you’ve hit on the area where there is. To remove or not to remove the leaf branches – and if so how much and when!!!
My opinion is that whilst you need leaves to produce food for the plant and its fruit – you also need air to circulate and the foliage of tomato plants can get overwhelming especially if you are growing in a small space.
So what I would recommend is waiting until the bottom truss of fruit is ripening nicely – and then remove the leaf branches below it. The older leaves don’t contribute much to the plant’s processes so it should be gain on the air circulation front and no loss on any other!
Hope that helps – and that you go on to enjoy a summer of delicious homegrown tomatoes!
I’d like to agree with Sally’s comment above re: pruning the plant. It is a good thing to do, especially if you start to see the leaves below the first truss dying off. They have done their job. Remove them as they won’t help the plant any longer and they also have the chance to help soil-born diseases spread to the plant as they wilt.
Another controversial area is feeding. many say don’t feed before the truss has set but it all depends upon where you are growing them. All plants need nutrients all their life. I suggest feeding plants weekly before they flower and during ( it’s May, in the UK that’s going to be about now for most people growing outside) but only use a balanced plant food ( nitrogen and phosphorus for general use so as not to force the plant into putting all its energy into the leaves but to encourage enough growth there so the plant is healthy. Big, bushy green plants look lovely. They don’t tend to produce a lot of fruit.
When the trusses have set you can feed with a tomato food that’s higher in potassium rather than nitrogen and this should help the plant get that energy into growing nice, lovely fruit.
Plenty of experts write about that all over the web. I’m certainly not one of them so take a search around.
Small crop for me this year, just for the fun of it but looking forward to Gardener’s Delight, Super Sweet Cherry, Plum Roma and Red Zebra. All of which are just coming into flower on the first trusses. Finger’s crossed.
Hello
Thank you for stopping by and getting in touch.
I smiled so much when I read on to your 2nd paragraph which opened with the oh so true line – that feeding is another controversial area! I could have typed the words myself! I hadn’t fed until the first truss was just fruiting in previous years. But this time around I am feeding a very dilute seaweed feed whilst they are in pots indoors and I think they are doing better for it. So I am going to continue with that and then switch to the high potassium feed at sign of first fruit.
Your varieties sound lovely – I’d be especially interested to know how you find Super Sweet Cherry and Red Zebra as I haven’t grown those varieties. I did try the Green Zebra last year – but it’s very confusing growing a “green” tomato. So for the stripes I’m going for Tigerella again!
I am having a com petition with my boyfriend on who can grow the best toms!
when is it best to start feeding them and how long for?
Cheers…. hope I beat him Jane
Hello – Thank you for getting in touch. Are you both growing the same variety? I am assuming that for you best will mean taste? although it’s an assumption that doesn’t hold up in all competitive tomato growing circles – apparently “Cedrico” which has been the standard showbench tomato for many years – is the perfect tomato in everything but the experience of eating it!
When it comes to feeding the advice varies – I am finding this year that by feeding with a liquid seaweed feed before the plants start flowering that my plants look stronger – however most advice is to start feeding with a high potash feed when the first truss is in flower and keep feeding all summer whilst the plant is producing fruit. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions – but you might want to think about dividing the total amount for say a week – into smaller feeds and feed everyday or every other day – so same total amount but divided up.
And then if you are in the UK – Which Magazine found the best Tomato Feed to be the Chempak Tomato feed – avaliable now from Thompson and Morgan.
Good Luck – and I hope you both enjoy wonderful tomato crops!
Hi.. thanks so much for the blog.. now I know what a truss is and when its set. I know nothing about growing tomatos and am having a bash for the 1st time because Tescos had some small plants for really cheap. So I got them and put them in the ground in a spot that gets plenty of sun. I’m now wondering if they’re meant to be outside just yet.. they’re about 15cm tall.
Hello
Thank you for stopping by and getting in touch. It’s great to hear from people who are going to experience the joy of a homegrown tomato for the first time! Two years ago I celebrated mine with a silver domed platter and glass of fizz! They will be fine outside now -I know there’s been a teeny drop in temperature and it’s been a bit wet these past few days – but nothing a tomato plant no matter how small – won’t be able to cope with. They need to be outside now to put on the growth in time to get going with producing tomatoes for you – it’s a horribly short season as it is – so the beginning of June is fine for them to be out – and a sunny spot sounds just right.
I hope all goes well – and that in a couple of months you can bypass the tomato aisle in Tesco in favour of homegrown!
I have four tomato plants on the go: two on the deck, south facing and in a double layer of growbags (one atop the other – Monty Don’s recommendation) and two, each in a large pot, in a little plastic-covered greenhouse I got for £12 at Wilko’s. The ones outside in the growbags are not as big as the “greenhouse” ones, but what is concerning me is the leaves have yellow-beige blotches on them and in some places, holes are appearing. My father-in-law’s tomatoes that are outdoors are doing the same thing, and its also showing up on my pepper plants, also in pots on the deck. A truss has started on one of the problem plants. Any ideas? I don’t know what variety these are – they were a gift from friends visiting from Dover.
Hello Katy
Lovely to hear from you – but sorry to hear that you are having tomato troubles!
I am not an expert on diseases – as luckily to date have not have had to contend with too many.
Have your pepper plants/father-in-laws plants all been following the same routine? I guess what I am wondering if the yellow-beige blotches are an ongoing problem – or is it that you had them somewhere early on where they were undercover or behind glass and they got scorched by the sun – as that description could fit that – is it all leaves or just the bottom few leaf stalks?
Last year I had some Gardener’s Delight plants that got holes in the bottom leaves – where they got munched by something but then left alone – until they came back for some low lying ripe tomatoes!
I am sorry not to be of more help – unless it’s a very standard thing – like blight where there is a very distinct set of symptoms – it’s a bit difficult to know…I would say if it’s the pepper plants as well – then it’s less likely to be a disease or a virus – and more like the growing conditions – like the scorching – or did you all use the same compost – and could that have had something in it….
Good Luck – and I hope they all come good!
Thanks so much. I moved the plants away from glass walls on the deck & also sprayed with an organic insecticide. It is just the bottom leaves and the rest of plant is looking pretty healthy now. Thanks for the advice and inspiration!
Phew! Am very glad to hear that! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out ( of course the irony being is that right now there’s been precious little sun to scorch the plants!) but I am sure it will return! Hope all continues to go well – and that you are blessed with a home grown glut!