Tomato plants

Hi all, this is the first year I've grown tomato plants from seed and they seem to be doing ok so far

I just wanted to know whether I should be pinching them (& which bit) and if I should bury them deeper when I pot them on?

 

As JWK and Alex have said you've done a good job there Amy

 

Oooooh - they look a lot like mine - lovely.

I have cherry tomatoes though which are at a similar stage. In the next few weeks I will be moving them on again- would I plant cherry tomatoes deeper? Also - I need to learn more about pinching across all fruit and veg - anyone have a good link or can they explain. I have quite a few different crops on the go. SO far I am just watering, re-potting when needed and speaking to them!!! Yeah I know daft - but its more for my benefit than theirs. Was going to experiment a little with my cucumber and toms and place some outside (outside varieties) and some in the plastic grow home thingy i have.

 

Thanks all, will bury them deeper this weekend

 

If mine are that tall, I remove the first pair of leaves, ease them from the cell tray and place in a horizontally at the bottom of a pot and carefully fill so that the stem's in the middle and the upper leaves are just above soil level. If required, I'll repeat that with the next potting up.

Bush tomatoes don't require removal of anything, but if grown in over fertilized open ground they may put on excessive leaf/stem growth and removal of some of that will let light through to the first fruits plus direct the plant's efforts towards those fruit, rather than loads of additional stems/leaves/flowers that will never get to produce ripe tomatoes before they die.

Cordon tomatoes usually have their side shoots (AKA suckers) removed as they appear at leaf junctions with the main stem, and the growing points are removed when they reach their optimum height, usually one leaf above 4 trusses on outdoor cordons (as any more are unlikely to ripen) and greenhouse/polytunnel roof level for indoor cordons. Side shoots wont be appearing for a while yet.

Some growers of cordon tomatoes let a second stem grow from lowish level, but take that 2nd stem growing point out of that so it's shorter than the main stem. I do this with beefsteak tomatoes grown close to the outside/cover of poltunnels to increase the crop in a location where the height is restricted, either for an extra, smaller amount of toms, or to promote extra growth on a 'giant' tomato on the main stem if growing for competition.