Tomatoes & cucumbers growing in greenhouse
Angela Slater
Daughter of a farmer and market gardener so have always had a connection with the outdoors, whether it was keeping animals or producing fruit, vegetables and cut flowers. Along with my work at Hayes Garden World I also have a smallholding, mainly breeding rare breed pigs. I gained an HND and BSc in Conservation and Environmental Land Management, as a result I am an ardent environmentalist and have a keen interest in environmentally friendly gardening. In my time at Hayes I worked for several years in the Outdoor Plant and Houseplant areas

How to support your cordon tomatoes in the greenhouse

Supporting tomatoes is easy with canes and string

Only cordon tomatoes need some support as in the wild they would naturally grow to between 1 – 3m (3 – 10’), supported by other plants and sprawling along the ground. If you are growing bush tomatoes they do not need any support at all.

You will need:

  • wire
  • soft string
  • canes - 210cm (7’)

 

 

If you have a good depth of soil you will be able to just insert a cane about 15 – 20cm (6 – 8”) away from the stem to avoid damaging the roots. Tie in the tomato with soft string as it grows.

The best way is to attach a wire across the greenhouse, making sure it is taut, then attach a cane to the wire.

Another way is to tie a piece of soft string to the wire then tie the other end loosely to the base of the tomato plant. Make sure the string from the wire to the base of the tomato is fairly slack as you will need to be able to gently wind the tomato around the string as it grows.

For more tomato information just click the link to read the blog article: 'How to diagnose what's wrong with your tomatoes', 'How to feed tomatoes', 'How to pinch out the side shoots on your cordon tomatoes' and 'How to utilise a glut of tomatoes'.