For your Too Tall Tomatoes: They are not getting enough light. You said "They are shooting up quickly, but there are only 1 or 2 tiny bud clusters that didn't start til about 4ft from the ground". Sounds like tall, spindly plants that are light starved. I've grown most the varieties you mentioned. They should be much more bushy and have multiple flower clusters starting a foot off the ground. You also said there are "trees shading them starting around 1pm". Tomatoes need 6 hours of mid-day sun to produce well. I'm sorry to say that you will probably get very little (if any) fruit with only morning sun. You may want to consider relocating your garden or growing plants that are more tolerant of low light (leafy greens, herbs, etc).

Hi there, What if we have a long indian summer? You could be in tomato heaven... I don't mind topping or pruning...so I'd prune anything that's not going to make fruit - but I wouldn't want to top plants if they are flowering...until you KNOW you are a week or 2 from a cold snap. If you have these in a row, maybe add a few taller stakes, and string 1-2 wire lines across the top to support any higher fruit? Another idea: I have a friend who uses 10' green plastic coated steel rods (rebar) stakes - with cloth strip ties (I'd use red - to stimulate more fruit production) and his system works great! Bamboo also comes in about 12' lengths and can do the job. Do you have another garden item for support you can move there temporarily? For example - an 8' Arched Trellis, or a tall paint ladder? I don't agree that new fruit won't ripen...sounds like these folks all grow only giants - which I don't. I prefer to get more for daily cooking rather than a few big ones for show. Ripening depends on many variables - the size and variety -and in my experience - your weather, access to light, & level of care/neglect. If they get any color change at all they'll ripen even - even off the vine. As soon as the season turns cold, I pick ALL fruit with any color beginning to turn, and top plants back to then next existing viable fruit. After watering and pruning, I dig and bring in as many as possible to extend the season. other people just add a cold frame - but I don't have anything that large - and still don't trust it to protect plants from the evil black stem. I keep mine going that way for 2 months months - in a chilly sunroom. I think the coldframe people may get just a few weeks. (peppers make it all winter and go back outside) Good luck designing your own system! Here is a link that might be useful: as many staking methods as gardeners!

We had a real hot summeer this year, as such, most of our tomatoes heirlooms and hybreds shut down a little. Our indeterminate grow very tall some 10' to 15' tall but you can prune them to the desired height you want. I think that some heirlooms produce well in the heat the Cheerokee purple does well for us in the heat and our early girl hybred kept putting on tomatoes all summer but the size got very small. Black Cherry does well and our Mo Pink seems to do good in the heat. We grow the vines up on a horizontal cattle pannel that is mounted about 2' above the soil some of our vines grow to the top and them fold over to the ground on the other side. I don't pull our tomatoe plants when they stop producing because I think that they often start putting on again when it finally cools down. Personally we find that growing some heirlooms and some Hybreds work well for us. I like the variety and taste of the heirlooms and the number of tomatoes put on by the hybreds. When canning we mix everything

I decided to grow all the tomatoes on a single stake, getting rid of the side shoots. I read up on this method, and although I wonÂt get as many tomatoes per plant, the ones that I do get would be bigger. Well I'm sorry you chose this way to go but since you did you'll learn some valuable lessons in the process that will help you decide how to grow them in the future. ;) What should I do with these plantsÂÂtop them ?? or let them keep growing. If you want to get tomatoes all you can do now is let them keep growing. Or if you want to experiment, top one of them and see what happens. 2 side shoots will develop just below the cut and then you will have to stake them or provide some sort of support. For the plants that are "just" 4-5 feet tall as of now, should I allow some side shoots, so that the plant wonÂt top out at 6 feet. You can but they will still pass 6 feet assuming they are all indeterminates (Beefsteak and most cherry varieties are). As Jeremy said, no way to know what "regulars" are, we need the variety name. You might want to consider driving some more stakes between the existing ones and then run string between them to help support the plants. Dave