Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Beef tomatoes often put too much energy into the bottom truss. Picking at breaking stage helps the rest of the plant grow and ripen more evenly.
Beef tomato plants sometimes give their all to the first truss, closest to ground level. On these Beefmaster plants, I had already removed the lowest truss to allow them to grow more of the plant before asking them to grow tomatoes as well.
Here it feels like an imbalance in favour of the tomatoes! The first truss is growing so strongly that it’s slowing development higher up — the second truss is just beginning to ripen, the third still looks immature, and the fourth only has one fruit.
I'm lessening the strain by picking the fruits at breaking stage — that's the term for the first sight of colour. There’s no loss of flavour, because tomatoes ripen very well off the plant, surrounded by the ethylene gas they emit.
They also ripen better at temperatures below about 30°C/86°F, and my greenhouse is often hotter than this. This way, the plant can redirect energy into ripening the upper trusses. No feeds or fertilisers are used here — just compost and a surface mulch of cow manure.
It’s one of many small decisions after planting that make a difference in how the plant grows.
#tomatoes #beefmaster #greenhousegardening #tomatotips #gardeningadvice #cowmanure #charlesdowding #summergardening #nodig
Beef tomatoes often put too much energy into the bottom truss. Picking at breaking stage helps the rest of the plant grow and ripen more evenly.
Beef tomato plants sometimes give their all to the first truss, closest to ground level. On these Beefmaster plants, I had already removed the lowest truss to allow them to grow more of the plant before asking them to grow tomatoes as well.
Here it feels like an imbalance in favour of the tomatoes! The first truss is growing so strongly that it’s slowing development higher up — the second truss is just beginning to ripen, the third still looks immature, and the fourth only has one fruit.
I'm lessening the strain by picking the fruits at breaking stage — that's the term for the first sight of colour. There’s no loss of flavour, because tomatoes ripen very well off the plant, surrounded by the ethylene gas they emit.
They also ripen better at temperatures below about 30°C/86°F, and my greenhouse is often hotter than this. This way, the plant can redirect energy into ripening the upper trusses. No feeds or fertilisers are used here — just compost and a surface mulch of cow manure.
It’s one of many small decisions after planting that make a difference in how the plant grows.
#tomatoes #beefmaster #greenhousegardening #tomatotips #gardeningadvice #cowmanure #charlesdowding #summergardening #nodig
